Photoshop tutorial 5

Adding Life with a Gradient Map


Overview:

This tutorial will show you how to use Gradient Maps to add life to dull photos.

STEP 1: Open your image

File -->Open (Ctrl-O ) Open your image.

STEP 2: Add Gradient Map

Click on the Create New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

Choose Gradient Map from the pop-up menu. This will open up the Gradient Map Dialog box.

With the Gradient Map drop down menu open, select a Gradient. I chose ‘Yellow, Violet’. You can find this Gradient by clicking the drop down arrow, and choosing ‘Color Harmonies 1’. You will be asked if you want to “Replace current gradients with gradients from Color Harmonies 1.grd?” You can select either “OK” or “Append”.

With the ‘Gradient Editor’ open you can pull in either (or both) slider(s) to adjust color depth. You can also change colors by clicking on the color handle, then the color swatch below. I chose to stick with Yellow, Violet. Click ‘OK’ in the ‘Gradient Editor’. Before clicking ‘OK’ in the Gradient Map dialog box, select “Reverse”.

STEP 3: Changing Blend Modes

With the new ‘Gradient Map Layer’ active select your blending mode by opening up the ‘Blending Mode’ drop down menu in the Layers Palette.

I chose ‘Soft Light’, but a lot of times I will choose ‘Color’ for a different affect (scroll down to the bottom of the page to see an example).

Before/After

You can use the ‘Opacity’ slider in the ‘Layers Palette’ to adjust the amount of effect in the final image.

Here is an example using the ‘Color’ Blend Mode. I also added a Curves adjustment for a bit more contrast.

Here is another example. I started out by creating a new “Gradient Fill” layer. Then I used a Gradient Map for a bit of color (which I had to turn way down with the ‘Opacity’ slider).