Make a custom gradient layer in Photoshop.
- Choose where you want to create the gradient.
- Select the Gradient tool.
- Select the gradient shape and color.
- Find presets or make adjustments in the Gradient Editor.
- Make adjustments in the options bar.
- Draw a line.
- Save your gradient to reuse it.
Why won’t my gradient tool work in Photoshop?
It looks like your issue is that you have the ‘foreground to transparent’ preset selected. It’s fading from your foregournd color (black) to beign 100% transparent so it won’t matter what your other color is. Try selecting the preset ‘foreground to background’ and select your color choices.
How do you apply gradient to a layer in Photoshop?
Specify gradient transparency – Each gradient fill contains settings (opacity stops) that control the opacity of the fill at different locations in the gradient. The checkerboard pattern indicates the amount of transparency in the gradient preview. Gradients need at least two opacity stops.
- To adjust the starting opacity in the Gradient Editor, click the left opacity stop above the gradient bar. The triangle below the stop turns black, indicating that you’re editing the starting transparency.
- Set the Opacity by doing one of the following:
- Enter a value between 0 (fully transparent) and 100% (fully opaque).
- Drag the arrow on the Opacity slider.
- To adjust the opacity of the endpoint, click the right transparency stop above the gradient bar. Then set the opacity as described in step 3.
- To adjust the location of the starting or ending opacity, do one of the following:
- Drag the corresponding opacity stop to the left or right.
- Select the corresponding opacity stop, and enter a value for Location.
- To adjust the location of the midpoint opacity (the point midway between the starting and ending opacities), do one of the following:
- Drag the diamond above the gradient bar to the left or right.
- Select the diamond, and enter a value for Location.
- To delete the opacity stop you are editing, click Delete, or drag the stop away from the gradient bar.
- To add an intermediate opacity, click above the gradient bar to define a new opacity stop. You can then adjust and move this opacity as you would a starting or ending opacity. To remove an intermediate opacity, drag its transparency stop up and off the gradient bar, or select the stop and click the Delete button.
- To save the gradient to the gradient presets, enter a new name in the Name text box, and then click New. This creates a new gradient preset with the transparency setting you specified.
- Click OK to exit the dialog box and select the newly created gradient. Make sure that Transparency is selected in the Tool Options bar.
A noise gradient is a gradient that contains randomly distributed colors within a range of colors that you specify. Noise gradients with different noise values.A.10% noise B.50% noise C.90% noise
- Select the Gradient tool.
- To display the Gradient Editor dialog box, click the Edit button in the Tool Options bar.
- Choose Noise from the Gradient Type menu.
- Set options for the gradient. Roughness Sets the amount of softness in the transition between colors in the pattern. Color Model Specifies the color model to use to set the color range to include in the gradient. To define the range of colors, drag the sliders for each color component. Restrict Colors Prevents oversaturated colors. Add Transparency Adds transparency to random colors.
- To randomly mix the colors, click the Randomize button until you find a gradient you like.
- Enter a name for the new gradient.
- To add your gradient preset, click New.
- Click OK to exit the dialog box, and then select the newly created gradient.
Why can’t I use the gradient tool?
How Do I Fix the Gradient Tool in Photoshop? If you’re a Photoshop user, you may have noticed that the gradient tool isn’t working correctly. The problem is that the gradient tool is using the wrong colors. To fix this, you need to change the colors in the gradient tool’s color picker.
- To do this, open the gradient tool’s color picker by clicking on the “Edit” button in the options bar.
- Then, click on the “Stop” button next to the color you want to change.
- This will open the color picker for that stop.
- Change the color to whatever you want, then click “OK.” PRO TIP: The “How Do I Fix the Gradient Tool in Photoshop?” article is a bit misleading.
It gives the impression that you can simply hold down the Control (Ctrl) key to reset the gradient tool, when in fact you need to hold down the Alt key. You can also add new colors to your gradient by clicking on the “Add Stop” button in the options bar.
- This will add a new stop at the location of your cursor.
- You can then change the color of this new stop using the color picker.
- Once you’ve changed all of the colors in your gradient, click on the “Apply” button in the options bar.
- This will apply your changes and close the gradient editor.
- Conclusion: To fix the gradient tool in Photoshop, you need to change the colors in the gradient tool’s color picker.
You can do this by clicking on the “Edit” button in the options bar and then clicking on the “Stop” button next to the color you want to change. You can also add new colors to your gradient by clicking on the “Add Stop” button in. A gradient map is a great way to add a bit of color to your otherwise dull and lifeless photos.
- Photoshop makes it easy to create gradient maps, and in this tutorial, we’ll show you how! First, open your image in Photoshop.
- A gradient background in Photoshop is created by using the ‘Gradient Tool‘.
- To make a gradient background, first, create a new layer.
- Then, select the ‘Gradient Tool‘ from the toolbar.
In Photoshop, there are two types of gradients: layer and solid. Layer gradients are applied to a layer and can be edited just like any other layer effect. Solid gradients, on the other hand, are part of the image’s pixels and cannot be edited after they’re applied.
- When you want to add your own personal touch to a project, creating a custom gradient is a great way to do it.
- Photoshop makes it easy to create gradients, and with a little practice, you can create some truly stunning effects.
- Here’s how to create a custom gradient in Photoshop: Open Photoshop and create a new document.
Adding a gradient to an image is a great way to add some visual interest and depth. There are a few different ways to do this in Photoshop, but the most common is to use the Gradient Tool. To add a gradient to an image, first open the image in Photoshop.
What is gradient map tool and how is it applied in Photoshop?
What are Photoshop CC Gradient Maps? – Gradient maps are a Photoshop CC tool that creates a new adjustment layer which choose a new color for each pixel of a certain value. In layman’s terms, the darkest areas of your gradient replace the shadows and below of your image, the middle replaces your general exposure, and the end replaces your highlights.
What is the difference between gradient and blend?
IMG credit: left and right L et’s talk color. I’m Brazilian, so it’s in my DNA to like colorful things. Like our national bird — behold the Toucan: The Toucan’s beak colors represent the aesthetic I’ll discuss in this article: vibrant, lively, and multi-colored. Nope, it’s not gradients. Welcome to the world of color blends, Take a look at the Slack logo below. The Slack logo How many colors are on it? 4? Look closely. There’s 4 base colors that overlap. Where they overlap, a new color is created: a blend. There are 8 colors. A color blend is created by intersecting two overlapping colors. It is, in a sense, the opposite of a gradient.
Whereas a gradient is the gradual merging of two colors, a blend is the (visually) sudden and sharp overlap of two distinct colors. The Slack logo is a colorful image the conveys playfulness, positivity, and interconnectedness, Only a company that doesn’t take itself too seriously would use such a logo.
Slack is a product that is all about connectivity, teamwork, and collaboration. The connectivity in their logo comes across not only from the 4 lines overlapping one another, but from the colors connecting and blending into one another. Image credit Here’s another gorgeous color blend logo: Image credit The RIOgaleão logo conveys movement, energy, and positivity. It does this by using vibrant & interconnected colors. As an aside, Galeão is the main airport in Rio. 🇧🇷 No surprises there. What’s your brand about? What’s your product about? What feeling do you want to convey? A few weeks ago, I began gathering images for UI inspiration for a side project I am working on (moodboarding).
- I felt drawn to colorful and vibrant images in my moodboard because that’s the feel of the product I am creating: playful, joyful, and culturally interconnected.
- When choosing colors, an essential starting point is to consider what emotions, feelings, and attributes you want associated with the product or brand you’re creating.
As you scroll through the images, consider how the use of colors evokes vibrancy, joy, playfulness, and connectivity, as we saw in the Slack and RIOgaleão examples. I invite you to also consider what other emotions and attributes they convey. The example above is interesting because the overlapping color blend (the green) is also a gradient.
- It seems the designer used some kind of a unique gradient to achieve the effect of a color blend. It works.
- It adds a nice touch to the overall image.
- Notice how, in the composition above, the colorful streak carries such a punch already that you don’t need any more colors in the rest of the image.
- Colorful blends work wonderfully against a muted background.
If you’re a designer, chances are, you’ve used color blends at some point or another in the past. In the pre-computer days, designers had to make color blends manually (see incredible examples in the Retro section below). But today, they’re a really basic feature of all design software, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Sketch.
- The basic steps are the same in all design tools: Step 1 — draw the first object.
- Step 2 — draw the second object, placed in such a way that it partially overlaps with the first object.
- Step 3 — with the object selected, open the “blend” dropdown menu, and select a blending mode.
- Note that depending on what tool or software you’re using, you might need to add more steps to this.
In Photoshop, you will need to make a new layer for the second object. Then you change the blending mode of the new layer. The basics of making a color blend (Sketch shown). The best thing to do is to play around with different blending modes. You never really know exactly what color you’ll get from each mode, so it’s fun to try. While you’re at it, also play around with the opacity of the objects.
If you change the opacity of one of the objects, the color of the resulting blend (the intersect) will also change. Knowing how to make a color blend is the (really) easy part. The trick is using them in a visually powerful way to create vibrant and stunning images. To do this, you need to apply design fundamentals effectively: the composition, the shapes of your objects, the hierarchy in the layout, good colors, the contrast created by the different objects’ colors, and more.
Let’s take a look at some more examples to get your juices flowing. See that image I made above? Imagine that I had made a new rectangle of a random color, and just dragged it to fill precisely the overlapping area. Then it would look like a color blend, but it would not in fact be a blend of the 2 overlapping colors (technically speaking).
- Sometimes artists do pseudo blends on purpose.
- In this article, there is one example that looks suspiciously like a pseudo blend.
- Can you spot which one it is? Post your guess in the comments! Now that you get the basics of color blends, let’s explore some beautiful examples.
- Time to talk less and look at pretty pictures more.
Color blends are not a passing fad. These blends from the 50s-70s are proof that good design is timeless. Image credit Let’s take a moment to contemplate how fucking fantastic that image is. Here it is again over a black background: Image credit The highly vibrant top half of the image is contrasted against the muted bottom half, which has only black, white, and grays. This creates excellent contrast and allows the colors to pop. I believe that the above image is by Swiss designer Karl Gerstner, whose works were produced in the 1940s — 1960s. Image credit This Swissair poster is from circa 1950s-70s. Image credit Not sure when these baggage tags were created, but they’re called “retro tags” on the site, so retro they are: Image credit The poster below from IBM’s award winning Think campaign uses retro style color blends: Image credit IBM’s Think campaign has won Gold at the London International Awards, following on from the Gold Design Lion at Cannes Lions 2012, Bronze Pencil in the One Show Design 2012 Awards, and Silver in Clio Awards 2012. Over 200 submissions were received from offices in New York, Paris, Singapore, London and Brazil. Image credit: left and right Image credit Designer Anat Rodan created the CMYK composition below: Image credit Image credit Image credit You don’t need a tricolor rainbow to create a fantastic color blend, either. Have a look at these gorgeous blend effects created from using just 2 base colors: Image credit If you look into the center of the above Idealism image for 10 seconds, you will enter a deep hypnotic state. Image credit Notice that with “only” 2 base colors, the effect is a bit more subdued (relative to some of the earlier examples), but is none the less striking. The last 2 get bonus points for still being legible: 2015 EXPO, Huber, and CMYK. Here are some color blends that use a softer color scheme. Image credit Color blends and gradients both create a vibrant and modern feel. For this reason, you can use color blends as an alternative to gradients. I think they both look good. Don’t get me wrong, I love gradients too. But which one is the web overly saturated with at the moment, and which one is sadly underutilized? 🤔 How might you apply color blends to the design project you’re currently working on? Can you think of some examples of apps or websites that use color blends really well? If so, share in the comments below! Did you catch the football (soccer) reference in this article? If so, post it in the comments.
How do I blend one image into another in Photoshop?
Method 1: Use a Layer Mask – To start things off, let’s look at Layer Mask. This is probably the most versatile and popular method of merging two images in Photoshop. It also comes with the benefit of letting you manipulate exactly how and where two images blend together. With the other two techniques we’re going to cover below, this last trick isn’t quite as easy.
- You can actually do a ton of stuff with Layer Mask, and to cover all of it would mean a whole separate tutorial just for this specific method, so here we’ll focus on the essentials for understanding this process easily.
- What is the purpose of masking a layer? Layer Masks basically control the transparency of a layer, but with one very useful twist: instead of a whole layer being given a certain level of transparency, the Layer Masks method lets you apply it at different levels across different parts of an overlaying (layered) image.
This is done by using black and white gradients. If you fill part of an overlying layer with white, it will remain visible, and if you fill it with black, it will be concealed to show the background image Basically, you can use masks to hide and show parts of both superimposed images very selectively.
Here’s the step-by-step process: Step 1: Select a background image and a top layer image that you want to merge together. It’s important that both images have the same size and that they both use the same color space option. Open both of them in Photoshop. Step 2: Now that you’ve opened up both images, you’ll see their respective tabs along the top of your Photoshop window.
To make your photos merge, all you need to do is click the Move tool on the left icon menu, and click the image you want as the overlay. Holding down the left mouse button and the shift key while dragging, move it over the image that will be your background and then release. Step 3: Now you have two layers in the same image tab and it’s time to add the Layer Mask. You can do this by moving down to the layer mask button at the bottom of the layers panel where your two image layers are listed on the lower right of the screen.
It vaguely looks like a little camera icon (with a hollow circle in the middle of it). Click on it and you’ll see a white Layer Mask square form next to your layer image icon in the layers panel. You now have a transparent Layer Mask between your two pictures. You can also change which image you want to use for the overlying image by clicking it and moving it up or down after unlocking whichever image was set as the default background by Photoshop.
Now, select the Gradient tool at the left of the Photoshop screen. Step 4: Making sure that the blank layer mask box next to your overlay image is selected, you can now merge by selecting the gradient tool (on your keyboard press G for quick access). Before you do this though, at the bottom left of the Photoshop screen, you’ll note two overlapping boxes, one white and the other black.
Read more: How to create a rainbow gradient in Photoshop
Step 5: With the gradient cursor tool, simply click at the edge of any part of the overlay image you want to replace with the background image, and then while still holding the mouse button down, drag the gradient line along until you’ve reached where you’d like the overlay image to remain, then unclick.
Step 6: You’ve just mastered the basic art of using a layer mask with broad gradient shifts. If you want a more precise edit, I’ll show you how to merge photos realistically in Photoshop using the brush tool. Instead of using the gradient tool, select the brush tool on the left panel of Photoshop, and at the top of the screen, set the brush thickness and hardness (lower hardness means a more soft-edged brush stroke).
You can then use this brush tool across your overlay image to more specifically remove parts of it and show the underlying image, or undo any mistakes by reverting to black with white in the foreground, (Pressing D or X to switch the two little boxes in the lower left corner) and re-revealing the overlay image.
Read more: How to Insert Images in Photoshop
Is there a way to blend in Photoshop?
Learn how to smooth and blend colors in Photoshop Learn how to smooth and blend colors
Select the Smudge tool (R) from the toolbar. If you can’t find the Smudge tool, click and hold the Blur tool ( ) to show the other related tools, and then select the Smudge tool. Choose a brush tip and and blend mode options in the options bar. Select Sample All Layers in the options bar to smudge using color data from all visible layers. Deselect the option to only use colors from the active layer. Select Finger Painting in the options bar to smudge using the foreground color at the beginning of each stroke. Deselect Finger Painting to use the color under the pointer at the beginning of each stroke. Click and drag in the image to smudge the pixels.
: Learn how to smooth and blend colors in Photoshop