diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 32cc91fe..a65333cd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -95,6 +95,9 @@ $img->save('public/bar.jpg', 60);
 $img1 = Image::make('public/img1.png');
 $img2 = Image::make('public/img2.png');
 $img1->resize(300, 200)->insert($img2)->save('public/bar.jpg');
+
+// create an empty (transparent background) image, without opening any file
+$img = new Image(null, 300, 200);
 ```
 
 ```php
diff --git a/src/Intervention/Image/Image.php b/src/Intervention/Image/Image.php
index 504ce6f2..d0359551 100644
--- a/src/Intervention/Image/Image.php
+++ b/src/Intervention/Image/Image.php
@@ -66,10 +66,10 @@ class Image
      * 
      * @param string $path
      */
-    public function __construct($path = null) 
+    public function __construct($path = null, $width = null, $height = null) 
     {
         $this->filesystem = new Filesystem;
-        $this->setProperties($path);
+        $this->setProperties($path, $width, $height);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ class Image
      * 
      * @param string $path
      */
-    private function setProperties($path)
+    private function setProperties($path, $width = null, $height = null)
     {
         if ( ! is_null($path) && $this->filesystem->exists($path)) {
             
@@ -124,13 +124,16 @@ class Image
 
         } else {
             
-            $this->width = 1;
-            $this->height = 1;
-            $this->resource = @imagecreatetruecolor($this->width, $this->height);
-        }
+            $this->width = is_numeric($width) ? intval($width) : 1;
+            $this->height = is_numeric($height) ? intval($height) : 1;
 
-        @imagealphablending($this->resource, false);
-        @imagesavealpha($this->resource, true);
+            // create empty image
+            $this->resource = @imagecreatetruecolor($this->width, $this->height);
+
+            // fill with transparent background instead of black
+            $transparent = imagecolorallocatealpha($this->resource, 0, 0, 0, 127);
+            imagefill($this->resource, 0, 0, $transparent);
+        }
     }
     
     /**
@@ -465,6 +468,8 @@ class Image
             break;
 
             case 'png':
+                @imagealphablending($this->resource, false);
+                @imagesavealpha($this->resource, true);
                 @imagepng($this->resource);
             break;
 
diff --git a/tests/ImageTest.php b/tests/ImageTest.php
index 57ba29fe..71e21c3a 100644
--- a/tests/ImageTest.php
+++ b/tests/ImageTest.php
@@ -173,6 +173,27 @@ class ImageTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_Testcase
         $this->assertInstanceOf('Intervention\Image\Image', $img);
     }
 
+    public function testAddImagesWithAlphaChannel()
+    {
+        $img = $this->getTestImage();
+        $circle = new Image('public/circle.png');
+
+        for ($x=0; $x < $img->width; $x=$x+$circle->width) { 
+            for ($y=0; $y < $img->height; $y=$y+$circle->height) { 
+                // insert circle png at position x,y
+                $img->insert($circle, $x, $y);
+            }
+        }
+
+        $save_as = 'public/final.png';
+        $img->save($save_as);
+        $this->assertFileExists($save_as);
+        @unlink($save_as);
+
+        $this->assertInstanceOf('Intervention\Image\Image', $img);
+        $this->assertInstanceOf('Intervention\Image\Image', $circle);
+    }
+
     public function testResetImage()
     {
         $img = $this->getTestImage();