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Working with Gradients (Continued)

A gradient spanning the length of the selection areas above results in the following:

You can edit any of the gradient presets shown in the Options bar, and you can create your own, which can be saved and loaded, just like swatches. To edit a preset:

1. Select it from the menu on the Options bar.

2. Click the preview of the preset on the Options bar to open the Gradient Editor:

3. To preserve an existing preset, type a new name into the Name field and then click New. You can also create a new gradient using the same method, by first selecting a preset similar to the gradient you want to create.

4. Photoshop provides two types of gradients: Solid and Noise. Solid uses the colors you define for the gradient, while Noise adds random colors to the ones you include in the gradient, creating “noise.” For a simple gradient, keep Solid selected.
5. The fade bar displays the transition of colors from the beginning of the gradient to the end. The icons above and below the bar are called stops. You adjust the gradient by adjusting the stops, as well as adding and deleting stops as necessary.

The stops along the bottom of the bar are color stops. The stop to the far left represents the color at the beginning of the gradient, and the stop to the far right represents the color at the end of the gradient.

The stops along the top of the bar are opacity stops, representing the opacity of the colors in the gradient.

6. To adjust the transition between the existing colors, drag one of the color stops to a new position. For example, if you drag the beginning color stop toward the right, you can see the increasing amount of darkness in the gradient:

7. Notice that when you select a color stop, the Color fields at the bottom of the dialog are enabled. To change one of the colors in the gradient to the current foreground or background color, select (click) one of the existing color stops and then, from the Color pop-up menu, select Foreground or Background:

To restore the original color, select User Color.

To change the current color stop to a new color, click the color box itself; this opens the Color Picker, where you can define a new color:

Note:

When a stop is selected, the triangular portion of it is filled with black, as shown in the color stop on the left side of the fade bar above.

Tip:

You can also select a color by clicking an area of the open image.

8. To add a color stop, click near the bottom of the fade bar, in the position where you want the stop:

To delete a stop, just drag it away from the bar.

9. When a color stop is selected, small midpoint diamonds appear between the stop and the color stop on either side of it. The midpoints represent the position where the two colors mix. You can drag the midpoints to adjust the location of this mix in the gradient:

10. The opacity stops along the top of the bar represent the opacity of the colors in the gradient. When you select one of the opacity stops, the Opacity fields are enabled at the bottom of the dialog:

11. As with color stops, you can add new stops at any position on the fade bar. To make certain areas of the gradient transparent, select the opacity stop positioned over that area and change the value in the Opacity field.