The shading method is a simple but effective way of reducing image blooming in the measurement of open channel flows with the Particle Image Veloeimetry (PIV).The current paper proposes a simplified analytical model for light attenuation using this method.The model is verified against experimental data,and the influence of several parameters is illustrated numerically.The possible adverse effect due to the light attenuation is shown to be limited when the parameters in the shading method are in an adequate range,as shown by processing standard images of Case B in PIV Challenge 03.A simple criterion for setting the shade in experiment is given for controlling the errors caused by the shading technique within an acceptable range.