Photoshop Gradient Map Tutorials for Beginners

One of the most useful Photoshop adjustment layer is the Gradient Map that you can use to enhance your photos. You can use a gradient map as a non invasive method in which you can change the color map of your image, adding multiple color effects. Using Photoshop gradients(GRD files) you can create virtually unlimited number of color effects.
I will start this tutorial by saying that I am not a Photoshop master so I get a little confused sometimes; for example in this tutorial I will explain for all the Photoshop beginners a quick way to enhance a photo by using a Gradient Map. As you will see if you open the fill or adjustment layer tab we have to gradient options: the Gradient (Fill) and the Gradient Map; so the question is which one to choose and use? And of course what is the difference between the two of them. For the first question I will choose the first option, the Gradient (Fill) instead of the Gradient Map. For the second question I have no answer.

Gradient Map and Gradient Fill Adjustment Layers

A Gradient Map is in fact an adjustment layer that can be applied to a layer/multiple layers and to enhance the image result. Learn more about adjustment layers from this tutorial.

So let's start with a beautiful premade background. Add a Gradient adjustment like shown in the image.

Click on the gradient to open the Gradient Editor; there you can change the existing gradient, create one yourself or you can load and use one of the many Photoshop gradients available for free on the internet.

Now set the Blend Mode of the gradient map to Overlay and the opacity 45%

You can play with different gradients and you can obtain beautiful results in just a few minutes using Photoshop gradient map adjustments. In the same way you can use the Gradient Map instead of the Gradient (Fill) and see which of the results suits you best.

Sin City Style Photoshop Tutorial

Beautifull Sin City Art photoshop effect video tutorial .
Sin City Style Photoshop Tutorial - The best free videos are right here

How to Smooth Skin Without Losing Texture in Photoshop

There are several ways to smooth skin in Photoshop. All to often, however, skin can appear too smooth, fake, and synthetic. Today I will demonstrate a straightforward technique to help you smooth skin fairly quickly while preserving the texture of the pores. Let’s get started!

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the final image that we will be creating.

Original Image

Before we begin, let’s take a look at the original image.

Step 1

First, open your image and duplicate your background layer. Simply drag the layer onto the new layer icon in the bottom right of the layer palette. Now set the blending mode of this newly created layer to "Vivid Light."

Step 2

Now, let’s invert this layer. Do this by pressing Cmd + I or Image > Adjustments > Invert. Then, apply a Gaussian Blur by selecting Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Applying a blur filter to an inverted picture will make it look shaper. Use the slider until you can see the pores on her face.

Step 3

Now let smooth the skin! Go to Filter > Other >High Pass. Move the slider until you are happy with the smoothing. You may notice some ghosting and other weird stuff around the eyes – just ignore it for now. Concentrate on the cheeks, forehead and nose.

Step 4

Almost done! Create a new mask for the layer and fill it with black to hide the image. Switch your color to white, select the mask and start drawing on the skin with a soft brush. Start at the cheeks, move over to the forehead, the nose and stop on the chin. If the effect is too strong for your liking, just lover the opacity of the brush and you’re good to go!

Final Image

We’re finished! I hope that you learned a few new techniques here. If you have a different approach, let me know in the comments!

How to Make a Timeless WEDDING Photo from a snapshot

Photoshop CS6 tutorial showing how to quickly transform any ordinary snapshot into a golden-hued, timeless image that will last forever. These techniques work especially well for wedding photos.

Three Ways to Select Your Image in Photoshop

This tutorial will introduce you to three very different and very simple ways to help select your image. Selection is the basis to running it all in Photoshop.

Method No.1. "Edit in Quick Mask Mode"

1. Open an image in Photoshop.

2. Select brush tool and set its size according to what you select on your image. For example, set the brush size to 8 pixels when you select something really tiny.

3. Foreground color must be black.

4. Before applying the brush to your image for selection, click on Edit in Quick Mask Mode. Now your brush is ready for selection. Notice that the areas you apply your brush to turn pink. If your selection goes out, you can fix it by first setting the foreground to white, and then using your brush tool to ‘erase off’ the unwanted selection. To continue your work, ensure that you reset the foreground color to black. To make it easier on your nerves, you might want to try zooming in and out on your image. It really helps.

5. To zoom in press CTRL +

6. To zoom out press CTRL -

  
7. When you’re satisfied with the selection you’ve made, click on Edit in Quick Mask Mode again.

8. Press CTRL+SHIFT+ I

  
9. Now press CTRL + J. A new layer consisting of only what you’d selected will be created.

That’s method 1.

Method No. 2. "Quick Selection Tool"

1. Open an image in Photoshop.

2. Select Quick Selection Tool.

3. You can change the size of the selection tool according to what you select on your image. Also, you must take note of two more important features. These are the angle and the roundness of the selection tool. You can change these depending on your selection needs.


4. To fix a selection, or to deselect a selection, use the Subtract from selection tool.

5. Press CTRL + J

That’s method 2.

Method No. 3. "Color Range"


1. Open an image in Photoshop.
Now I am going to select all flowers. For this image the best way of selection is Color Range.

2. Go to Select > Color Range.

3.  Pick the Eyedropper tool and click on the red color on your image. To select the different shades of red on your image, make use of the Add to Sample tool.

When you’re done, just click OK.

4. Press CTRL + J.

That’s method 3.

Now, to change the background of your layer with another image, you can simply load a new image and drag and drop it onto the selection layer.