Adjustment layers give you many options for editing
and re-editing your images. You can give a scenic
photo a more dramatic look or simply increase the
colors in a sky with a Gradient Fill adjustment layer.
The colors you see are often better than what your
camera captures, particularly when you photograph a
sunset or a sunrise. You can easily increase the
intensity of the sky with a Gradient Fill. You can
enhance the existing colors by using a black
foreground color, using a more intense version of the
same color, or even selecting another color to create
a stylized image. You can adjust how much of the
photo to cover with added color. Because you are
using a fill layer, you can go back and increase or
decrease the amount of color after you apply the
Gradient Fill layer. You can even change the color
that you applied to get a different effect or to create a
more dramatic look. This technique is most effective
on a photo with a large sky area and an open horizon.
1 Open an image that has a large
area of sky.
2 Click the Default Colors icon to
set the foreground to black.
Note: You can optionally click to
select a color to use as a gradient
for a creative effect.
3 Click the New Fill or Adjustment
Layer button.
4 Click Gradient.
The Gradient Fill dialog box
appears, and a foreground-to-
transparent gradient is applied to
the image.
5 Make sure that the angle is set to
90 degrees.
6 Click and drag the dialog box so
you can see more of the image.
7 Click Reverse ( changes
to ).
The gradient reverses to
black or the selected color
at the top, changing to
transparent at the bottom
of the image.
8 Position the cursor over
the image.
9 Drag upward in the image
until the gradient covers
only the sky.
10 Click OK.
11 Click the blend mode drop-down
menu and click Overlay.
12 Double-click the layer thumbnail
for the gradient fill.
The Gradient Fill dialog box
reappears.
13 Position the cursor over the
image.
14 Drag downward in the image to
increase the darkened sky or drag
upward to lessen the effect.
Each time that you drag in the
image with the Gradient Fill layer
selected, the look of the sky
changes.
TIPS
Did You Know?
Multiple layers increase the file size of your image.
Because Photoshop requires more memory to work
on larger files, you should merge layers that will not
be changed later. Pressing Ô+E (Ctrl+E) merges a
selected layer with the layer below. Pressing
Ô+Shift+E (Ctrl+Shift+E) merges all the visible layers.
Click Layer ➪ Flatten Image to flatten all the layers
into a new Background image.
Try This!
You can apply a Gradient Fill layer on a photo showing
a large body of water such as a lake or the ocean.
Experiment with different foreground colors for the
Gradient Fill for both dramatic and creative effects
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