Photoshop Gradient Blending

I have had many people ask me how I blend my images so I thought I would make a simple tutorial on the method I use most often. This may not be the correct way but it is the technique I use in the majority of my wallpapers. This tutorial assumes you are already somewhat familiar with Photoshop. The version I use in this tutorial is V.7 but I think it will work pretty much the same for versions 5 and up. You may have to adjust some of the steps because one or more of the tools may not work as they do in Version 7.

For this tutorial we are going to use 3 simple images from Lord of the Rings that are the same size and are for demonstration purposes only. When the images are not the same size then more work is required to blend them properly. You can download the zip here.

1) Unzip the images and open two of them in Photoshop. The ones you want to open are the single Frodo image and the one with Frodo and Sam. Open a new canvas, 800 X 600 with a white background. Drag the two images onto the blank white canvas with Frodo the first layer above the background and Sam and Frodo the next layer. Make sure your layer palette is on your desktop as you will be using it. Select layer 1 which will be the Frodo image and drag it to the right til it just meets the right side of your canvas. Then select layer 2 and drag it to the left til it just meets the edge. Your image should look something like this:

2) Now go up to your layer palette and turn off layer 2 by clicking on the eye and select layer 1. Next click on the "Add layer mask" at the bottom of your layer palette. See diagram below:

3) Select your gradient tool and make sure your background color is black and your foreground color is white. Make sure that the "Linear" gradient is selected.

4) Now place the little crosshair on the very right edge of your image and drag it to the left til you are about 1/4 inch from the left edge, then let go. The point is to make the edge fade out gradually with no line showing. Your image should look like below

5) Now go back to your layer palette and select layer 2. This should turn the layer back on. Once again, with layer 2 selected, click on the "Add layer mask" icon at the bottom. You don't need to turn off layer 1.

6) You are going to repeat the steps you did in step 4 only you will start on the left side and drag it to the right. It should look like the image on the right below when you are done.

7) Now at this point you could leave it as it is and still have a nice blend but lets say you want to do something about the white faded area down the middle. There are several ways to get rid of this. The easiest way would be to select your white background layer and flood fill it with a color of your choosing. You would get something like this: (I chose a blue color in this example) Or you could even choose another image, maybe some kind of scenery shot and place that below the two blended layers. There are many possibilities. Another option is to add a third layer on top and blend that one also, which is what I've done below. However, this time we are going to center the image and fade the outer edges. With layer 2 selected open up that third image that was in the zip which is the image of Pip and Merry. Drag it to your layered image, making sure it is the top most layer. Center the image.

8) As you did with the first two layers you are going to click on the "Add layer mask" icon at the bottom.

9) Now with your gradient tool active, you are going to select the Reflected Gradient.

10) When you click and drag the crosshair start in the middle of your image and drag to either the right or left edge.

11) With that blended in, we see that it kinda covers up the images below it so we are going to play with the opacity a bit.

12) And there you have it! Your finished image should look like below. However, this can just be a start. You can add as many layers as you wish, just remember to start on the side you want the darkest and end on the side you want faded out. If you want more of it faded then don't drag it as far. Just play around with it until you get the look you want. If you don't like the way it looks then undo it and try again. From there you can add whatever effects you want like brushes or erasing the edges of your canvas. It is only limited by your imagination. If you have any questions about this tutorial then please feel free to e-mail me.

Photoshop Tutorial - Match color, lighting effect

1

Open the image that you want to work with and also open any image of a sunset.

2

Choose Image>Adjustments>Match Color

The Match Color dialog box will open.  We will only need to use 2 settings for the task at hand.

Under Source, click the drop down menu and select the image of the sunset. There will be a thumbnail for you to check that you have selected the correct image.

Turn on the preview option if it isn’t already. The working image will now take on the color attributes of the sunset image. Most probably the effect will be a bit too much.

Adjust the Fade slider until you are happy with the result. Move it to the left for more of the inherited color and to the right for the original color.

3

When you are satisfied, click the OK button to apply the changes. There are many things that can be done with this new Filter in Photoshop CS including using the match color to remove a color cast in a single click.

 

For more cool techniques like this on an easy to follow video format check out Photoshop Secrets For Digital Photographers photoshopCD.com

Discuss this and other tutorials at our forum

Photoshop Tutorial - Painting Effect

1

Begin with a Photo.

If you like, you can right click on this image and use it. Bear in mind that the effect will appear different on images of different sizes. A larger image will produce finer lines.

The shadows are plugged up in this image so we will fix that right away.

2

If you have Photoshop CS or Photoshop Elements 3 Choose image>Adjustments>Shadow Highlight 
Move the amount slider as high as it will go. The image may look a little too bright in places but that doesn't matter.

If you are using Photoshop 7 or less, choose the curves or levels setting to brighten the image. 

3

Choose Filter>Stylize>Find Edges

All the edges will now become outlined. The color has gone a bit funky though. We'll fix that and finish the effect in the nex step.

4

Choose Edit>Fade Find Edges (This option will only be avaliable at this point, if you do anything else between Find Edges andd Fade, you won't be able to do this)

Change the blending mode to Luminosity. This will restore the colors (Don't close the dialog yet)

5

Here we have the image so far, with the original colors restored.

We will now blend this image with the original to get the result.

6

Reduce the Opacity slider until you are happy with the result. I used 33 for this image.

Click ok to apply

There you have it, in 3 easy steps we have created a classic.

Have fun with this and don't forget to check out all the cool tricks on myPhotoshop Secrets For Digital PhotographersVideo!

Photoshop Tutorial - Blending images with Gradients

1

First thing you will need is 2 images. Make sure they are both in the same resolution (72 dpi for the web) and color-space (RGB in this case). Open both these documents in Photoshop.

2

We will want to combine both images into 1 document.

Now select the move tool "V" key.

Drag one image into the other window and a new layer will be created automatically with the new layer on top.

Tip: To center the new image in the window hold down the Shift key while dragging.

3

The Layer Mask

Click on the add layer mask button

This will create a new layer mask. A layer mask is transparent. When you paint black into the mask it allows the image underneath to show through. Where it is white, the underlying layer will be hidden.

4

Press the "G" key to select the gradient tool. Make sure the fore and backgrounds are set to black and white. "D" key.

Select linear gradient and foreground to background.

Now drag the gradient diagonally across the image.

5

You can see the gradient in the layer thumbnail and the result on the image. Where it is white, the top image shows and where it is darker the back shows through. Experiment with differant angles.

Tip: You may also use any of the brush tools on the mask. Black will "paint away" the image and white will "paint it back". Use a soft brush for best results.

6

For an interesting variation change the layer blending mode to multiply. This makes the top image appear as if it is a reflection in the glass on the clock.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and let me know if you want more on collaging techniques. This is one of my specialties.

Discuss techniques in our forum

Photoshop Tutorial - Creating Reflections

1

Start with a gradient. Tip: To constrain the gradient to 90 degrees hold down the shift key.

2

Add your text or image 

3

Make a copy of the text by dragging to the new layer icon 

4

On the copy go into free transform by pressing Ctr/Cmd+T. Mac: Option+Click>Flip Vertical. PC: Left click >Flip Vertical.

Drag the reflected copy below the original

5

Free Transform again and stretch image by dragging down on the bottom middle handle. 

6

Add a layer mask to the reflected copy and fill with a black to white gradient 

7

Should look like this 

8

Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Angle -90 

9

Make a selection around the bottom part of the background layer. Image>Adjust>Levels or Ctrl/Cmd+L Adjust the sliders to lighten the surface

10

Free Transform again - Perspective

11

Select the background. Open Hue Saturation box. Colorize to add some color to the background.

12

Merge the reflection layer with the background by clicking on the box between the eye and the thumbnail, a link should now appear in the box. Click on layers>merged linked.

13

Make a selection around the bottom part of the image by using the rectangular selection tool

14

Filter>Distort>Ocean Ripple. Adjust settings to suit

Why is my computer so slow?

Why is your computer running slow? It could be due to a number of issues, but in the end it's either a software or hardware related issue. The big culprits are file fragmentation, spyware, and not enough RAM in your computer.

Hardware issues

• Computers running with less than 1GB of RAM are generally going to be slow
  Using a computer with less than 1GB RAM on Windows XP, and especially Vista can slow your programs to a crawl. Upgrading your RAM is the best and most cost-effective way to improve the speed of your computer. RAM memory upgrades are also cheap--typically less than $200, and should be closer to $100 for a decent upgrade.
  
  Mac users should not run OS X with less than 1GB of RAM, especially if they're planning on doing anything with music, movies, or photos.
  
• Your computer does not have a dual-core processor
  Dual-core processors are not a necessity, however, you'll notice a significant speed improvement with a dual-core processor.
  
• Your hard drive is overfilled
  If your hard drive has less than 20% of it's free space remaining, you could be noticing slowdowns because the computer has to look longer for files before opening them. With the size of today's hard drives, typically 320-500GB for a desktop computer, users should not have a problem with this. However, if you're running an older desktop, or an older laptop with less than an 60GB hard drive, you may have less free space than you think.

Software (operating system issues)

• Windows XP has a half life 
  As a computer is used frequently, the Windows operating system degrades over time. File fragmentation across the hard drive slows down an otherwise OK machine. Every computer user should know this and be defragmenting on a regular basis, especially if the machine is used regularly. Another solution, which will make your computer seem brand new is to reinstall a fresh copy of Windows. Reinstalling Windows will be like starting with a new computer--no fragmentation, no spyware, no viruses, no trial software.
  
• Malware (Spyware, Viruses, Trojans)
  Most Windows users, unless savvy with their browsing habits, are likely to have spyware crawling on their machine slowing it down. Most computer users that complain that their machine is slow

I'd love to hear your comments and questions. . . .

Any Folder as a Photo Folder

This tricks shows you how to setup any folder to display its contents as a photo folder. In many cases, you save your images/photos in a folder different than "My Pictures" (under "My Documents"). Since this folder you choose is just like any other normal folders, its contents displayed as a listing of files. You can temporary change it by just right-click and select "View" >> "Thumbnails". But if you want to change the folder so that everytime you come back, the folder itself, as well as all its subfolders, display the contents as photo thumbnails.

Here's How

Right-click on the folder you choose and select "Properties"

Select "Customize" Tab. Then under "Use this folder type as a template", select "Pictures (best for many files)"

Check on "Also apply this template to all subfolders" to apply the setting to subfoders as well

Click OK to exit