watch the video: "Add a Gradient" video tutorial

Click the link above to watch a quick, 6 minute long video on how to add a gradient to your image.

If you want to follow along with the contents of the video then you'll want to DOWNLOAD this custom gradient file.

 Download The File: Dashboard Gradient File

To download the gradient file (dashboardgradients.grd) you need to put your mouse over the link above and RIGHT CLICK on it, then from the little menu that pops up, choose SAVE TARGET AS.

Save the .grd file to the "My Web Site" folder on your hard drive.

Step One: Access the Gradient Tool

To add a gradient effect to the background of your header just follow these steps:

Step 1.1: Open Photoshop Elements, then go to FILE> OPEN and choose header.psd from the "My Web Site" folder.

Step 1.2: The file will open in Elements and you will see this:

Step 1.3: Unlock the background layer.

At this time you will have one layer called "Background" and it will be locked, so you need to put your mouse on the layer itself (shown below) and double click twice quickly to turn it into an editable layer.

When you've double clicked on it, an options box will appear and you need to change "Layer 0" to "background", like this:

When it's unlocked you will see the lock icon is now gone from next to the word "Background" in the layer menu:

If you want to add the gradient as the ONLY effect on the header then make sure you are on the layer marked BACKGROUND.

Step Two: Accessing the Gradient Tool

 

 

 

Now go to the TOOLBAR and select the GRADIENT tool:

That brings up the GRADIENT TOOLBAR. From here you are going to choose a PRESET GRADIENT, or CREATE YOUR OWN.

USING PRE-SET GRADIENTS:

Step 2.1: In Section 1 of the screen capture below you need to click the little down arrow to bring up the PRESET gradients.

Step 2.2: The PRESET GRADIENTS you will see the first time you open Photoshop Elements will look like this:

Step 2.3: Choose a gradient from the default list, OR click the arrow on the right hand side to bring up the OTHER gradient options.

 

Step 2.4: When you have the gradient selected you need to take the gradient tool and drag it from left to right (starting just outside the edge of your graphic image) or top to bottom, whatever you prefer.

TIP: Hold down the SHIFT key when you are dragging the gradient tool and you will make a nice straight gradient effect.

TIP: If you only drag partway down the image or partway across, the gradient effect will look different.

Gradient Effect from Left to Right:

Gradient Effect from Right to Left:

Gradient Effect from Top to Bottom:

Gradient Effect from Bottom to Top:

I suggest you play around with the tool a little bit to find the effect you like.

Or, if you want to experiment with using a specific gradient color scheme, go to the section below to discover how to create your own custom gradients.

 
USING GRADIENTS ON YOUR GRAPHIC IMAGES


ADDING GRADIENT EFFECTS:

Using a gradient on your graphic images can add a lot of extra pizzazz with a minimum of effort.

QUICKLY APPLY A GRADIENT:

To quickly apply a gradient to your graphic header (or other images) just open your header graphic (header.psd) then go to the FILE MENU and click on WINDOWS.

Choose LAYER PALETTE and then click the NEW layer icon to create a new blank layer.

With the NEW LAYER as the active layer, go to the TOOLBAR and click on the GRADIENT TOOL.

Now choose the gradient you want and when it's selected, click and drag the gradient tool from top to bottom, bottom to top, left to right or right to left across the header and that'll add the gradient effect.

PLEASE NOTE: If your image suddenly disappears after you've added the gradient, all you've got to do to fix it is to go to the LAYER PALETTE and change the BLENDING MODE of the gradient layer from NORMAL to MULTIPLY.

Here's how that's done:

HOW TO PREVENT PROBLEMS WHEN APPLYING GRADIENTS:

You want the NEW layer to be the topmost layer in the palette, so if it's not what you need to do is to click on the new blank layer and DRAG it to the top of the layer list, then let go once you see the horizontal line appear. That puts the image on the TOP of the layers, with the gradient below it.

What you do then is to change the BLEND MODE of the image layer from NORMAL to MULTIPLY, OVERLAY or some other option that looks good to you, like HUE or SATURATION.