How to change the Alpha Of an image

+ (UIImage *) setImage:(UIImage *)image withAlpha:(CGFloat)alpha{

// Create a pixel buffer in an easy to use format

CGImageRef imageRef = [image CGImage];
NSUInteger width = CGImageGetWidth(imageRef);
NSUInteger height = CGImageGetHeight(imageRef);
CGColorSpaceRef colorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();

UInt8 * m_PixelBuf = malloc(sizeof(UInt8) * height * width * 4);

NSUInteger bytesPerPixel = 4;
NSUInteger bytesPerRow = bytesPerPixel * width;
NSUInteger bitsPerComponent = 8;
CGContextRef context = CGBitmapContextCreate(m_PixelBuf, width, height,
bitsPerComponent, bytesPerRow, colorSpace,
kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast | kCGBitmapByteOrder32Big);

CGContextDrawImage(context, CGRectMake(0, 0, width, height), imageRef);
CGContextRelease(context);

//alter the alpha
int length = height * width * 4;
for (int i=0; i<length; i+=4)
{
m_PixelBuf[i+3] = 255*alpha;
}

//create a new image
CGContextRef ctx = CGBitmapContextCreate(m_PixelBuf, width, height,
bitsPerComponent, bytesPerRow, colorSpace,
kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast | kCGBitmapByteOrder32Big);

CGImageRef newImgRef = CGBitmapContextCreateImage(ctx);
CGColorSpaceRelease(colorSpace);
CGContextRelease(ctx);
free(m_PixelBuf);

UIImage *finalImage = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:newImgRef];
CGImageRelease(newImgRef);

return finalImage;
}

A pat on the back !!