1WHAT ARE GRADIENT MAPS?
In a Gradient Map, each pixel has
a brightness value, from black
through to white. You can map one
colour to the blacks and another to
the whites, with a blend of colours
in-between. Here I made a blue-tur-
quoise-yellow custom gradient (see
tip 3): 1st stop, location 0, colour
#260a56; 2nd stop, location 54,
colour #99a3a2; 3rd stop, location
100, colour #fbea9a.
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USE LAYER FEATURES After add-
ing a Gradient Map Adjustment
Layer, you can take advantage of
all the features of using layers. For
example, you can tone down the
strength of the effect simply by low-
ering the layer Opacity. If you like
you can selectively hide the effect
over parts of the frame for a spot
colour effect – highlight the mask
thumbnail and paint with black on
the areas you want to hide.2
APPLY A PRESET After adding a
Gradient Map Adjustment Layer
(click the Create New Fill Or Ad-
justment Layer icon in the Layers
panel), click the dropdown here to
choose between lots of gradient
presets. Most aren’t all that useful
for toning photos, but some are
designed for the purpose. In the
Legacy Gradients folder is the Pho-
tographic Toning set, which mimic
darkroom processes like Sepia,
Selenium and Cyanotype.4CUSTOM GRADS Click the gradient
preview in the Properties Panel and the
Gradient Editor will open up. Here you
can customise your own gradients, add
in different colours or change the parts
of the tonal range that are affected.
Beneath the gradient are an array of lit-
tle colour boxes, called stops. Double-
click a stop to alter the colour, or drag
the stop to change its position on the
tonal range, from black on the left to
white on the right.
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CHOOSE COLOURS The colour picker
pops up when you choose colours for
a custom gradient map. It can be very
useful for tweaking existing gradients.
For example, you could use one of the
excellent presets in the Photographic
Toning set, like Sepia-Blue. If you find
the blue is a little intense, you can go
into the Gradient Editor and double-
click the blue stop then use the S box
in the colour picker to reduce the satu-
ration of the blue.5
COMBINE ADJUSTMENTS It’s usu-
ally best to add a Gradient Map as
an Adjustment Layer: this gives you
the option to combine the effect with
other Adjustments. For a split-
tone effect like ours here, you can
control things with a Black & White
Adjustment Layer. Placed below the
Gradient Map layer, the B&W layer lets
you change the brightness of different
colour ranges, which allows you to lift
the face and the backdrop here.1
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