Photoshop Creative Issue

Gradient maps

The easy way to instantly apply

beautiful colour

Elements has many tools for adjusting the

colour of a inal piece. Gradient maps can

produce some truly beautiful results. Set

your Foreground swatch to a dark colour and

your Background swatch to a lighter colour.

Create a gradient map by going to Layer>

New Adjustment Layer>Gradient Map. This

will create a new layer with the colour efects

applied. The darker colours of your piece will

be enhanced by the irst colour you selected,

and the lighter colours by the second.

Now experiment with blend modes. Overlay,

Color Dodge and Sot Light are good options.

Lower the Opacity to 70% or lower, so the

gradient map doesn’t overpower your piece.

Elements

Press K for the

Bucket tool, G for

the Gradient

tool

Shortcut

Shade the scene

14

Go back to your rock layer, and use a darker shade of purple

and the Lasso tool to draw jagged shapes. Fill them in with the

Bucket tool. Do this again with a darker shade, to give the rocks

deinition. Apply the same technique to the lighthouse; use Opacity

Lock to keep the shading within the lighthouse shape.

A light in the darkness

15

Create a new layer beneath the lighthouse layer, and use the

Lasso to draw a straight line from the top of the lighthouse to

the horizon line. Select the Gradient tool, and adjust the settings to

Foreground to Transparent. Drag from the top of the lighthouse to the

horizon line to create a fading light.

Bright side of the moon

11

Just as you did with the waves, use

the Lasso tool to draw details on the

moon. First, press the Opacity Lock button

from the top of the Layers panel. This will

prevent you from colouring outside of the

moon. Select two shades of dark greys, draw

in your squiggly lines, and use the Bucket tool

to ill them in.

Moonlight

12

Create a new layer above the moon,

set it to Overlay. Using a near-white

colour, select Brush tool, set to the airbrush

you used earlier. Click around the moon; this

will create perfect soft circles around it, which

will make it look like it’s glowing.

Lighthouse

13

Create a new layer above the rock

layer, and use the Lasso tool to draw

in the lighthouse. Use a light white to ill in

the selection, then select a grey/purple to

draw in the details. Use the Lasso and

Square Marquee tools to draw straight and

angular lines for the windows.