Photoshop Gradient Tool

We explain the Photoshop gradient tool and its configuration options to adapt it to our needs.

The gradient tool does not need much explanation, because it is quite intuitive, and we can even know it from having used it in other programs that have similar utilities. In any case, it is one of the most used and useful tools of the program, so it is worth stopping to tell a few things about it.

This tool allows you to create color gradients, to go from one color to another in a smooth and gradual way. Of course, the colors of the gradient can be configured to obtain different results and you can even select multiple colors to obtain more complex gradients. In principle, the colors of the gradient can be chosen from the front color and background color selection panels, which we have already mentioned are found in the program’s tools panel, at the bottom.

The button to select the gradient tool is grouped with the paint bucket, so if the paint bucket initially appears, you have to make a long click on that button to bring up a menu where you can select the gradient icon, as we can see in the next image.

In its initial configuration, it allows you to make color gradients, from the one we have configured as the foreground color, to the one we have selected as the background color. In the following image you can see the portion of the Photoshop tools panel where you select the foreground and background colors and the foreground color is indicated with an arrow.

To make a gradient we will have to click on a point of the image and drag to any other point. We will see that a line is created that goes from the first point to the second and it is where the gradient will be made when we release the mouse button.

Note: When we make a gradient, you can press the shift key so that the gradient line is always straight or diagonal with an angle of 45 degrees, which can be useful in certain cases.

The best thing is to experiment ourselves and make several gradients to check how it works.

The gradient is always done in the area that is selected and if there is no selection, it will expand throughout the image. In addition, the gradient will be painted on the layer that is active in the layers window.

Gradient Tool Settings

There are several ways to configure the gradient to be made, some quite creative. This is achieved from the tool options panel, which will initially appear at the top of the Photoshop window and looks like this:

Where we can first experiment is by changing the type of gradient to one of those proposed by default in Photoshop. In the options panel we will find a place where the gradient that we would be currently doing is shown in color, given our selected foreground and background color. Next to it there is a little arrow that we can press to access a list of gradients initially proposed by the program, and others that we have been able to configure.

In the following image we have marked with 1) the place where the proposed gradients can be selected:

Among the possible gradients that Photoshop offers us, we will find the option to configure the tool to make a color variation between the foreground and transparent color, which will always be useful, and other typical gradients that we may want, such as from white to black, with the colors of the rainbow, etc.

However, Photoshop allows us to configure this gradient with much more versatility through the gradient editor, which can be accessed by clicking on the point marked 2) in the previous image.

The gradient editor has a series of menus to achieve almost any gradient you can imagine and it won’t take a lot of work to get it done. The gradient editing window looks like this:

At first it allows us to choose between the proposed gradients, which are called “presets”, and then through the menus below, they can be configured as desired. At first we will see the currently selected gradient and we will be able to create new intermediate colors, to which we can assign any tone, opacity, etc. Practicing in this window is not complicated and we will see that the possibilities are endless.

Among the gradient options, returning to the tool options panel that we mentioned before, we will see that it allows us to select the geometric behavior of the gradient, some of the possible modes being linear, circular or reflected gradient.

There are other options such as the opacity of the gradient, which will allow you to create a transparency in it, so that you can see the contents that are in the layers below the gradient that we are going to do.