Gradients have many uses, such as making
Be sure to check off as you go along.
1) Go to File > New > Blank File, or press Ctrl + n, to create a blank canvas.
3) Open the Gradient Picker palette, in options bar/Tool Options, by clicking the tiny white arrow.
There are several preset gradients.
4) Select the Foreground to Transparent gradient.
5) Click on a blank area on the screen to close the Gradient Picker palette.
6) To make the gradient, simply click, hold, and drag a line, on the blank canvas.
Here, the line was drawn from left to right.
When you release the mouse button, the gradient appears.
Linear Foreground to Transparent Gradient
As you can see, a Foreground to Transparent gradient starts with whatever the foreground color is, black in this example, and fades to transparent.
Here's the entire options bar for the Gradient tool.
Photoshop Elements 10 & Earlier
Let's look at the left side of the options bar.
Left Side
There are three items on the left side of the options bar.
You've used this already, above.
Click Edit to make changes to the gradient, such as color and opacity.
Go to Edit a Gradient.
There are five types of gradients.
You'll use linear gradients most of the time, the first icon above.
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| Linear | Radial | Angle |
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The gradient appears along the line that's drawn. |
The gradient appears as you draw the line from the center out. |
You draw out a line, and the gradient moves from one side of the line to the other side. |
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| Reflected | Diamond |
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The gradient is drawn twice in each direction from the point from which you drag. |
Drawn from the center out, the end of the line creates a corner. The gradient is duplicated at 90° angles around the center point.
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Now, let's look at the right side of the options bar.
Right Side
There are five items on the right side of the options bar.
You can change the blending mode from Normal to Color, Luminosity, or Overlay.
If you're using an adjustment layer, you can leave the blending mode of the gradient set to Normal.
You can change the mode of the adjustment layer.
This will be described in the next section.
You can change the opacity to reduce the effect of the gradient.
If you're using an adjustment layer, you can leave the opacity of the gradient set to 100%.
You can change the opacity of the adjustment layer.
Use Reverse to flip the pattern of the gradient.
If the gradient goes from red to blue, selecting Reverse will make the gradient go from blue to red.
Select Dither to prevent banding between color transitions.
If a portion of a gradient is transparent, and this box is not selected, the transparent portion will be filled with the neighboring color.
Next.
Here's the entire Tool Options for the Gradient tool.
You've used this already, above.
Click Edit to make changes to the gradient, such as color and opacity.
Go to Edit a Gradient.
You can change the blending mode from Normal to Color, Luminosity, or Overlay.
If you're using an adjustment layer, you can leave the blending mode of the gradient set to Normal.
You can change the mode of the adjustment layer.
This will be described in the next section.
You can change the opacity to reduce the effect of the gradient.
If you're using an adjustment layer, you can leave the opacity of the gradient set to 100%.
You can change the opacity of the adjustment layer.
Use Reverse to flip the pattern of the gradient.
If the gradient goes from red to blue, selecting Reverse will make the gradient go from blue to red.
Select Dither to prevent banding between color transitions.
If a portion of a gradient is transparent, and this box is not selected, the transparent portion will be filled with the neighboring color.
There are five types of gradients.
You'll use linear gradients most of the time, the first icon above.
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|
|
| Linear | Radial | Angle |
|
The gradient appears along the line that's drawn. |
The gradient appears as you draw the line from the center out. |
You draw out a line, and the gradient moves from one side of the line to the other side. |
|
|
|
| Reflected | Diamond |
|
The gradient is drawn twice in each direction from the point from which you drag. |
Drawn from the center out, the end of the line creates a corner. The gradient is duplicated at 90° angles around the center point.
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Gradients are usually drawn:
• On masks in adjustment layers
• On selections.
The length of the line that you draw determines how abrupt or smooth a gradient will be.
A short line produces a more abrupt transition.
A longer line produces a smoother transition.
You can start or end a line outside of the photograph.
You may have to reduce the size of the photograph with the Zoom tool until you can see a gray border around it.
You can create more than one gradient.
Let's make a bright sky darker by drawing a gradient on a Levels adjustment layer mask.
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