1.

To begin, start Photoshop CS, and use the file browser to open the Ranch House image from the Photoshop samples folder.

2.

Click Image in the menu bar to display the image menu, and then click the Duplicate option to make a copy of the image.

Name the copy Practice12.

When you have created your copy, close the original image.

3.

Click Image, click Mode, and then RGB Colour.

(We change the colour mode to RGB because the image we are working with is a greyscale image. If we leave the mode as greyscale, our gradient will not have any colour.)

4.

The next step is to create a new layer. You can do this by clicking the new layer icon in the Layers palette.

5.

Make sure that the new layer is selected, (highlighted in blue), and make the background image layer invisible by clicking its eye icon. If you do this correctly you should see a checker pattern where your image was.

6.

Next, choose the Gradient tool from the toolbox.

In the options bar, click the linear gradient style button.

Next, expose the gradient preset list to choose a colour pattern by clicking the small arrow by the colour preview field.

From the preset list, select the blue and yellow gradient pattern as shown.

Check the options bar to make sure that the blend mode is set to normal, and that the opacity is 100%.

7.

The next step is to apply your gradient to the new layer you created. To do this, place you mouse pointer in the upper left of the checker pattern of your new layer. Hold your left mouse button and drag out a line with your mouse that is a couple of inches long. The direction of the line should be diagonal, from the upper left of the layer down to the lower right (something like what is shown below).

When you release your mouse button, the gradient will fill the layer as shown.

8.

Next, click the empty square in the layers palette to make the background layer visible.

You will notice that you still cannot see the underlying image through the gradient. This is because the gradient layer is set to 100% opacity.

9.

Use the opacity slider to adjust the opacity of the gradient layer until you are pleased with the results.

In the following image, the opacity of the gradient layer is set to 32%.

You are trying to create the effect of a beam of sunlight across the image.

10.

When you are finished adjusting the opacity, click the small arrow at the upper right of the layers palette, to display the layers menu. When you see the menu, click the Flatten Image option to merge the layers.

Save your new image as Practice12 in your practice folder. Save the image as a PSD format file.

Close (X) Photoshop CS.