imshow displays black instead of transparent background of png image

I need to display a .png image that has transparent background in a figure. I also need to change the transparency of its solid part. I tried to do it using imshow like this:

figure
hold on
plot([1 2], [1 2])
axes("pos",[.1 .1 .1 .1])
foo = imshow("some_image.png");
foo.AlphaData = 0.8;

The problem is that the transparent background of my .png becomes solid black on figure. How to fix it?

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

figure
hold on
plot([1 2], [1 2])
axes("pos",[.1 .1 .1 .1])
[myimage, cmap, alpha] = imread("some_image.png");
foo = imshow(myimage, cmap);
foo.AlphaData = alpha;

[Denis Perotto]

Thanks, it works, except for the last line should be

foo.AlphaData = 0.8 .* alpha;

[Joshua]

@Walter Roberson

I would like to thank you for all of your responses throughout the years. I am new to MATLAB, but not new to coding, and you have made learning this language exponentially easier with your consistent, accurate tips. Your comment here is just +1 to the massive amount of times you have helped me in my project. Take care!