The gradient tool can create some amazing colour effects for a specific selection, or an entire image. Since it is a kind of colour fill tool, it is grouped in the toolbox with the with the paint bucket.

 

 

The gradient tool fills a selection, layer, or image with two or more blended colours. The gradient tool gives you a lot of choice and flexibility when it comes to choosing the gradient pattern, and the colours that will be applied.

 

 

To use the gradient tool you first select it from the toolbox, and then set up the gradient options from the options bar.

 

The best option to start with is the style option. You determine the style of your gradient, by clicking one of the five gradient style buttons in the options bar.

 

The gradient styles that you can choose from are:

 

 

These Gradient styles represent the geometrical pattern of the colour blend, which brings us to the next step; selecting a colour scheme.

 

To choose a colour for your gradient, click the small arrow in the options bar to display the gradient colour preset list. The current gradient colour will be displayed in the options bar just to the left of the gradient style buttons.

 

 

Presets that contain only two colour tones normally use the foreground and background colours.  If you change the foreground and background colours, the gradient will change as well. Gradients that display a checker pattern in their thumbnail contain transparent regions. (The background will show through where you see the checker pattern.) 

 

To select one of these preset gradient colour patterns, simply click on the thumbnail. The colour pattern you choose will appear in the gradient colour field in the options bar.

 

If you click the small arrow at the upper right of the gradient preset list, a menu will be displayed with options for loading more gradient patterns, saving gradients, resetting gradients, creating new gradients, and more.

 

If you want to customize one of the preset gradients, click its thumbnail and then click on the gradient colour preview field in the options bar (left of the style buttons). When you perform this action, the Gradient Editor dialog box will be displayed.

 

In the Gradient editor, you will see a band of colour running horizontally across the dialog box. Positioned along this band are small squares of colour called colour stops. These squares represent the colours that are being used in the current gradient.

 

 

 

To change the colour in your gradient, double click on a colour stop. Then the colour picker tool will appear, displaying a range of shades associated with the particular colour stop you clicked. When you choose a new colour with the colour picker, that colour will be added to the gradient in place of the colour stop you originally clicked on.

 

You can easily remove a colour stop from the gradient by simply dragging it away from the colour band. You can add a colour by clicking on the colour band itself (you will see your mouse pointer turn into the eyedropper tool) to sample a colour. Next, click on a spot between the colour stops where you would like to place the colour you just sampled. You can also drag the colour stops horizontally along the gradient colour band to reorder them as you see fit.

 

If you click the New button in the gradient editor, the gradient that you are currently modifying will be added to the preset preview thumbnails. If you click the save button, you will be able to name and save the current set of gradients in the Photoshop gradient folder. If you click the reset button, the current preset list will revert to the Photoshop defaults.

 

Now that you know how to choose a style and colour pattern for your gradient, it is time to apply it to your image or selection.

 

To apply a gradient, place your mouse pointer in the area of the image or selection that you want the gradient to cover. Next, drag your mouse pointer over the image to another point in the direction that you want the gradient to follow. A line will automatically be drawn between the two points. When you release your left mouse button, the gradient will fill the image or selection with reference to the line you drew.

 

If the style of your gradient is linear, the line you draw is the line that the gradient blend will follow. If the gradient style is radial, this line will indicate the direction of the radius from the center point of the circle. With an angle gradient, the colour will be blended in a 360 degree rotation, with the center point of the rotation set at the point you first click on. Experiment on a blank canvas with each gradient style to get familiar with how they are rendered.

 

To apply a gradient to a selection, use one of the selection tools to outline a region on your image canvas. Next, select your gradient style and colour pattern, and then draw the line for your gradient inside (or outside) your selection, when you release your mouse button, the gradient effect will be confined to the selected region.

 

If you use the gradient tool to drag a line across an image that does not have an active selection (no animated dashed border) the gradient effect will apply to the entire image.

 

Remember, you can apply a gradient to a layer if you wish, and you can specify the gradient’s opacity in the options bar (before you apply the gradient to the image).

 

There is a gradient at 37% opacity applied to this image.

 

 

As a final note on gradients, consider using your blend modes to control how the gradient is applied to your image.

 

 

Here is a simple black to white linear gradient. The gradient has been applied diagonally on a blank white canvas with a normal blend mode.

 

 

 

If you apply a second gradient with the blend mode set to normal (say a linear gradient straight down from the top) it will simply replace the first gradient.

 

 

 

However, if you set the blend mode to multiply, you can combine two or more gradients.

 

 

Don’t be afraid to experiment with the other blend modes to see what effect they have on the gradients.