A Quick Way to Fake a Gradient Filter in Photoshop

By on in Post Production[ 3 Comments ]

So you have rushed out to shoot a landscape on a sunny day, and while you tried to remember the sunny f/16 rule, you forgot to take your gradient filter with you and you have some washed out skies in your shots. Fear not! All is not lost. Here is a quick and dirty way to fake a gradient filter in Photoshop.

shed shed2

Step 1)

Open your image in Photoshop.

gradient1

Step 2)

Create a new layer.

gradient2

Step 3)

Hit “G” to bring up the gradient bar.

gradient3

Step 4)

In the gradient editor, select “white/black”

gradient4

Step 5)

Draw the gradient.

gradient5

Step 6)

In the layer properties window, select “Overlay”

gradient6

Step 7)

In the Layer properties window, adjust the opacity to suit your tastes.

grandient7

Well, that’s about it. It’s quick. It’s nasty. And it can save your washed out skies when you’re in a bind.

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3 Comments

  • Vote +1John Garghan:

    first of all here in the UK we only get one day of sunny weather (well not that bad but …) I use a slightly longer method loosely select the sky feather the selection at 200 then darken with the Image>Adjustments>Brightness. this works great when you a busy sky with clouds

    Thanks for your tip

    November 27, 2009 at 6:15 pmReply

  • Vote +1John Garghan:

    first of all here in the UK we only get one day of sunny weather (well not that bad but …) I use a slightly longer method loosely select the sky feather the selection at 200 then darken with the Image>Adjustments>Brightness. this works great when you a busy sky with clouds

    Thanks for your tip

    January 5, 2010 at 3:18 pmReply

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