essential skills: digital photography in available light
Step 5 - Gradients
The use of Gradients to control tonality and color is another helpful technique in post-production
image editing. Darkening the sky or the corners of the image will help draw the viewer’s attention
to the main focal point within the image. Hold down the Alt key and click on the Create New Layer
icon in the Layers palette. In the New Layer dialog box set the mode to Multiply and then select OK.
Use the Eyedropper tool to click on a deep blue color in the distant hills. This sampled color will
appear in the Foreground color swatch in the Tools palette. Select the Gradient Tool in the Tools
palette and choose the Foreground to Transparent gradient from the Options bar. Check that you
have the Linear and Transparency options selected and then lower the opacity to approximately
70%. Drag a gradient from the top of the image window to the distant snow capped mountains to
create the effect of a more dramatic polarized sky. Fine-tune the darkened sky by lowering the
opacity of this Gradient layer.
Note > It is common practice for many photographers to add a second gradient from the
base of the image towards the middle of the image to darken the immediate foreground.
Alternatively a subtle vignette can lower the luminance values towards the corners of the
image that many fi nd useful for restoring or creating depth to the image.
To prevent the gradient from causing a posterized
effect (when bands of tone rather than a continuous
tone is evident) it is important to add a small amount
of noise to the gradient layer (Filter > Noise > Add
Noise). Selecting the Monochromatic option with the
amount set to 1 or 2% is usually suffi cient to reduce
or eliminate any banding that may otherwise occur.