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Last Updated:
Jan 30th, 2007 - 03:44:27 |
Here’s a fun way to add a little dramatic flair to your images using Layer Masks and Gradients.
1. Open your color photo in Photoshop. I’m going to be using a vividly colored photo of flowers from a Farmer’s Market in this example.
2. Now open your Layers Palette and create an adjustment layer that will sit above the layer containing your original photo. The quickest way to create an adjustment layer is by clicking on the half black/half white circle icon on the bottom of the Layers Palette as shown below.
Choose “Hue/Saturation” from the pop up menu that will appear when you click on the icon.
3. Clicking on “Hue/Saturation” will bring up the dialog box shown below. Drag the Hue slider all the way to the left (-100) to remove all color from your image. Since you are working on an adjustment layer this action will be non-destructive. In other words, no permanent changes are being made to your original image. After you have dragged the Hue slider all the way to the left, click on “OK” and your image will now appear to be black and white.
4. You will now see two icons in the Hue/Saturation layer in your Layers Palette. The first is the layer thumbnail which you can double-click to adjust or change settings. The second icon to the right is the Layer Mask thumbnail. Remember the Photoshop Mantra when working with layer masks…”White reveals, black conceals.” Notice that your mask is completely white, which means that it is revealing or applying the Hue/Saturation adjustment to the whole layer at the moment.
5. Select the Gradient tool from the toolbox.
6. Check your toolbox to verify that your foreground color is set to white and the background color is set to black. If not, hit the “D” key on your keyboard to apply Photoshop’s default setting.
You will need to change two settings for the Gradient tool in the options bar at the top of your screen. First, set the tool to apply a Radial Gradient rather than the default Linear Gradient. Second, make sure that “Reverse” is checked in the options bar.
7. Now click and drag your mouse on your photo to draw a gradient on the Layer mask. You will basically be drawing a black to white gradient on the mask which will be hiding the Hue/Saturation layer where the gradient is black and revealing the color of the original photo on the layer below.
Remember…”White reveals, black conceals!”
8. Experiment with the direction you draw your gradient in. Dragging from left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top, diagonally, or only drawing the gradient on a portion of the photo will all give you different results. Here are some examples using the sample photo.
Gradient drawn from the top of the photo to the bottom.
Gradient drawn diagonally from upper left corner to bottom right corner.
Gradient drawn from the top, stopping at the halfway mark in the photo.
10. Experiment, experiment, experiment! Try drawing several different gradients on the same adjustment layer for a unique look. Change from a Radial Gradient to one of the other types and see what happens. Apply this method to an entire layout rather than one photo and create a unique montage effect. The possibilities are virtually endless.
You can also use the Paintbrush tool to paint directly on the Layer mask using black as your foreground color. Experiment with changes to the opacity and/or flow settings to vary the look.
Above all…enjoy!
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