{"id":53076,"date":"2024-05-14T15:53:57","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T22:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/?p=53076"},"modified":"2024-05-16T21:13:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T04:13:00","slug":"tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-230","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/2024\/05\/tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-230\/","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recolouring Word Art with Gradient Maps<\/strong><\/p>\n

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PDF Version : https:\/\/bit.ly\/3wGloE0<\/a><\/p>\n

We’ve talked about recolouring embellishments, word art and brushes before and I’ve shown you a variety of ways to accomplish that goal. One that we haven’t ever looked at is using Gradient Maps<\/strong>. Today we’re only going to talk about recolouring word art, but they’re pretty powerful tools for photo effects too.<\/p>\n

But first… what the heck is a Gradient Map<\/strong>? Here’s a direct quote from Essential Photoshop<\/strong> (it also applies to Elements<\/strong>): “Gradient Map<\/strong> is a\u00a0tool in Adobe Photoshop that allows you to apply a gradient effect over an image<\/strong>. It works by mapping different shades of gray tones in your image to colors defined by a gradient bar. This creates an effect where the highlights and shadows are transformed into specific colors without affecting other details in the image.” <\/em>Let’s see how it works.\u00a0<\/em>I’m going to use this title word art from Word Art World<\/strong>. I’ve made several copies of the word art and isolated the big words, afternoon and park, onto their own layers by Erasing<\/strong> everything else on that layer. I have one untouched original layer just in case I mess it up; it’s not visible. This will let me selectively recolour the words.<\/p>\n

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This is only a sample so my colour choices are arbitrary; if I was going to use this word art title on a layout, I could choose colours from my photos or from the kit I’d be using to create a cohesive look. When I think about “park”, I see grass, trees, water and light in my mind’s eye. So I think I should colour the word park green. As you can see, I’ve used the Paint Bucket Color Picker<\/strong> to set the foreground colour to a spring green.<\/p>\n

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Next, I toggled the Color Picker<\/strong> (click the X<\/strong> key to toggle between foreground and background) and chose a more yellow-y green. These two colours will form my Gradient<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Next I clicked on the icon that looks like a circle half blue and half gray, at the top of the Layers Panel<\/strong>, which is the Add<\/strong> Fill\/Adjustment Layer<\/strong> button. From the drop down menu I chose Gradient Map…<\/strong><\/p>\n

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See the new addition to the work space? That’s the Gradient Map<\/strong> adjustment panel<\/strong>. The colour bar shows the two shades of green I chose, gradually shifting from one value to the other. At this point the Gradient Map layer<\/strong> is affecting all the layers, but that’s easily fixed, so we can ignore it for now.<\/p>\n

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One easy way to adjust the Gradient Map<\/strong> is to simply Reverse<\/strong> it. Now the colour bar has the light and darker colours swapped. It’s easy to see the difference between the two screenshots. Remember that Elements<\/strong> has created a grayscale copy of the word and has applied the colour based on a mathematical algorithm. If you don’t love it Reversed<\/strong>, untick the box.<\/p>\n

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Another option is to change the Blend Mode<\/strong>. This will take a little experimentation to find the look I want, so I ran the list. I like the grungy look I get with Vivid Light<\/strong>, so that’s where I stopped.<\/p>\n

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I also tested adjusting the Opacity<\/strong> and decided I liked 100%<\/strong> best. Now I can Clip<\/strong> my Gradient Map<\/strong> to the PARK layer. Right-click<\/strong> on the Gradient layer<\/strong> then choose Create Clipping Mask<\/strong>. Or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL\/CMD>G<\/strong> for PSE14 and earlier<\/strong> versions, CTRL\/CMD>ALT\/OPT>G<\/strong> for PSE15 and more\u00a0 recent<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Now I’ll do the AFTERNOON layer. Notice that the Adjustment<\/strong> panel is empty. It’ll populate again once I click on the Add Adjustment Layer <\/strong>button.<\/p>\n

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This tool is so much fun to play with! What do you think the Gradient Map<\/strong> will look like for this colour combo?<\/p>\n

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Well, it’s pretty orange. Clicking<\/strong> on the colour bar<\/strong> itself opens up this adjustment panel<\/strong>. The sliders start out at the ends of the adjustment bar, and as you move them, you can watch the effect they have on the image. I’ve got the Reverse<\/strong> box ticked, but I’d still like a bit more magenta to show.<\/p>\n

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It’s very hard to see the bits of magenta that show in this screenshot, but if you’re viewing in PDF<\/strong>, you can Zoom<\/strong> in and check it out.<\/p>\n

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Now I’ve got all the layers recoloured and the Gradient Maps<\/strong> are all Clipped<\/strong> to the appropriate layers. All that’s left is to Merge<\/strong> the layers and add the title to a layout!<\/p>\n

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As I mentioned above, this tool is FABULOUS for adding colour to Brushes<\/strong>. I have some grungy alpha brushes that I played with first and other than having to put each letter on a separate layer, I loved the effect. I can’t wait to try it with alphas and other embellishments. What do you think? Would you like to see how Gradient Maps<\/strong> work with photos, or is that not something you’d ever do?<\/p>\n

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Recolouring Word Art with Gradient Maps PDF Version : https:\/\/bit.ly\/3wGloE0 We’ve talked about recolouring embellishments, word art and brushes before and I’ve shown you a variety of ways to accomplish that goal. One that we haven’t ever looked at is using Gradient Maps. Today we’re only going to talk about recolouring word art, but they’re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[229,102,284,92,62],"tags":[373],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-20 10:31:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"private","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53076"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53123,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53076\/revisions\/53123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}