Customize A Gradient

We will give our Bottles Project a neutral type of background. We don't want to use bright or rainbow type of colors so we will limit the colors so the focus is not taken away from your bottle picture.

1. First we will fill the background with a solid faded color. Do this by setting the foreground color at the bottom of the tool bar. Choose something from any color family but go toward the center of the color range.

2. Use Option + Delete to fill the layer with your chosen color.

3. Add a layer above your background. This is where we will apply the gradient.

4. Go to the gradient tool (g) in the tool bar. Go up to the options bar and single click the gradient editor. This is the thin rectangle showing the default black to white gradient. In the gradient editor dialogue, notice the preset gradients. Below is the area where we will customize our own.

5. Look at the long gradient bar with the color stops at opposite ends. Click the right black color stop. You will then have the option to choose a color as your beginning point. Choose another neutral color. Go to the opposite end of the bar and notice the square at the top. This is an opacity stop. Click once (When the triangle turns black you'll know that it has been selected.) to change the opacity to zero percent.

6. Keep the other stop as white.

7. Click OK to accept and to get out of Gradient Editor.

8. Now let's apply the gradient.

9. The default gradient is linear but there are other types. Other gradient shapes include diamond, reflected, etc. These can be found in the Options Bar. Click, hold and drag a line segment and release to apply the gradient. You can do this once or several times in any direction. Try different lengths with your click/drags.

10. Reduce the opacity in the layer's palette. Try using other blending modes. This is also found in the layer's palette.

11. You may delete this layer and start over it doesn't work for you. Keep trying.

12. Remember, we don't want the background color to dominate for this project. Your bottles image will be the focus.