Hi everyone, Steve Patterson here from Photoshop
Essentials. In this video, I show you how to color grade
images using gradient maps in Photoshop. Color grading is where we take the photo’s
original colors and replace them with colors that are more creative, whether it’s to
set the mood of the image, or add your own personal style, or to give the image a more
cinematic look. And gradient maps are perfect for color grading
because they make it easy to replace colors based on their brightness. I’ll show how gradient maps work, how to
choose different colors for your image, and how to combine gradient maps with layer blend
modes for different results. I’ll also show you how to save your colors
as presets that can be quickly applied to other images, and even how to drag and drop
gradient maps from one image to another. To follow along, you’ll want to be using
Photoshop 2020 or later. And that’s because Adobe made changes to
the gradients in 2020 and earlier versions will look different. I’m using Photoshop 2021. We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get
started! Start by opening your image. I’ll use this image from Adobe Stock. In the Layers panel, the image opens on the
Background layer. We’re going to color grade the image using
a gradient map, which is one of Photoshop’s image adjustments. And the best way to use any adjustment is
to apply it as an adjustment layer. That way, the adjustment remains separate
from the image. But before we add one, go over to the toolbar
and make sure that your Foreground and Background colors are set to the defaults, with black
for the Foreground and white for the Background. If they’re set to something else, click
the small Reset icon above them. Or on your keyboard, press the letter D for
Default. Then back in the Layers panel, click the New
Fill or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom and choose Gradient Map from the list. A Gradient Map adjustment layer appears above
the image. And the gradient map converts the image to
black and white. The options for the gradient map are found
in the Properties panel. And here we see that the reason the image
is in black and white is because by default, gradient maps use a gradient based on our
current Foreground and Background colors, which we reset to black and white in the previous
step. A gradient map works by mapping, or linking,
the original colors in the image to the colors in the gradient based on their brightness
values. So every color in the image, from the darkest
shadow to the brightest highlight, is mapped to the same brightness value in the gradient. And whichever color in the gradient shares
the same brightness as the original color becomes the new color. Since we’re currently using a black to white
gradient, the original colors in the shadows are being replaced with black or dark gray
in the gradient. The highlights are now white or light gray,
and the colors in the midtones have all turned to the various shades of the gray in the middle
of the gradient. To add color to the image, click the gradient
preview bar. And this opens the Gradient Editor. Notice that the name of our current gradient
is Foreground to Background, not Black to White. If your Foreground and Background colors were
set to something other than black and white, or to reset the gradient to black and white
at any time, go up to the Presets area, twirl open the Basics folder which is new as of
Photoshop 2020, and choose the actual Black to White gradient by clicking its thumbnail. The bottom half of the Gradient Editor is
where we choose different colors. The preview bar shows the current colors from
left to right. And below each end of the gradient is a color
stop. The stop on the left is set to black and the
stop on the right is set to white. There is also a stop on either end above the
gradient, but those are for setting the opacity of the colors, and they have no effect with
gradient maps so you can ignore them. Now the way a gradient map looks at this gradient
is that the left side is the color for the shadows in the image and the right side is
for the highlights. That may seem obvious with black on the left
and white on the right. But keep in mind that no matter which colors
you choose, the left side is always the shadows and the right side is always the highlights. If we swap the colors by dragging black to
the right and white to the left, the left side is still the shadows and the right side
is still the highlights. So now we’re setting the shadows to white
and the highlights to black, creating this inverted look. I’ll reset the gradient by selecting it
from the Presets area. So let’s add some color. I’ll start by showing you how to create
a monochromatic look by adding a single color to the midtones. And then we’ll learn how to add colors to
the shadows, the highlights, and anywhere in between. So one way to color the image that’s both
easy and effective is to leave the shadows black and the highlights white and add a single
color to the midtones. Add a new color stop for the midtones by clicking
in the empty space below the middle of the gradient. We want this color stop to appear exactly
halfway between black on the left and white on the right. So set its Location to 50 percent. Then to change its color, click the color
swatch and choose a new color from the Color Picker. I’ll choose a brown-orange by setting the
Hue to 30 degrees and the Saturation to 20 percent. And because we set the Location of this color
to 50 percent in the gradient, I’ll set the Brightness to the same 50 percent. Click OK to close the Color Picker. And just by adding that single color to the
midtones, I’ve added a nice sepia tone to the image. To try a different color, click the color
swatch again, and then choose a new color from the Color Picker. I’ll leave the Saturation at 20 percent
and the Brightness at 50 percent, but I’ll change the color from orange to blue by changing
the Hue value to 210 degrees. Then I’ll click OK. And now I’ve gone from a sepia tone to a
colder bluish tone. Close the Color Picker for now by clicking
OK. Now color grading an image does not have to
mean replacing the original colors completely. You’ll usually want to dial back the new
colors and blend them with the originals. And the simplest way to do that is by lowering
the opacity of the Gradient Map adjustment layer. The more you lower the opacity below 100 percent,
the more you’ll fade the gradient map and allow the photo’s original colors to show
through. At 50 percent opacity, I’m blending 50 percent
of the color from the gradient map with 50 percent of the photo’s original colors. And now instead of replacing the color, I’m
adding a bluish tint to the image. You can toggle the gradient map on and off
to compare it with the original by clicking its visibility icon. So now that we know how to add a single color
to the midtones, let’s look at how to add colors to the shadows and highlights. In the Properties panel, reopen the Gradient
Editor by clicking the gradient preview bar. I’ll start once again with a black to white
gradient, which means I don’t need that color stop in the middle. To delete a color stop, click on it to select
it and then click Delete. Or you can just click and drag the stop away
from the gradient. And now we’re back to the gradient and the
image in black and white. To add a color to the shadows, click the color
stop on the left to select it. And then click the color swatch. Or you can just double-click on the color
stop itself. Then choose a shadow color from the Color
Picker. I’ll choose something that’s easy to see,
like red, by setting the Hue value to 0 degrees. Since this color is being used for the shadows,
you’ll want to choose a fairly dark shade. I’ll set the Brightness to 20 percent. Notice that if I choose a value that’s too
bright, like 50 percent, then the image looks washed out. That’s because I’ve brightened the shadows
too much. So I’ll lower it back to 20 percent. And since darker colors need more saturation
to avoid looking gray, I’ll set the Saturation value to 80 percent. Click OK to close the Color Picker, and now
the shadows in the image have gone from black to dark red. We’re still losing a bit of contrast with
the brighter than black shadows, but I’ll show you how to fix that when we get to layer
blend modes. To add color to the highlights, click on the
color stop on the right to select it and then click the color swatch, or double-click on
the color stop itself. And then choose a highlight color. I’ll go with an orange-yellow by setting
the Hue to 45 degrees. Since lighter colors don’t need as much
saturation as darker colors, I’ll set the Saturation to 30 percent. And since we usually want a bright color for
the highlights, I’ll set the Brightness to 95 percent. Notice the small diamond shape between the
two color stops. If you can’t see it, click on either color
stop to make it visible. This is the midpoint marker, and it marks
the spot where the colors on either side are mixing together equally. If you drag the marker to the left, you’ll
brighten the midtones by pulling down more of the bright color from the highlights. And if you drag it to the right, you’ll
darken the midtones by pulling up more of the shadow color. You won’t always need to use this marker,
and you can reset it back to the middle by setting its Location to 50 percent. A better way to control the midtones is to
add a color stop below them, just like we did earlier. Click in the empty space to add a new stop,
and make sure its Location is at 50 percent. Then double-click on the stop to open the
Color Picker. I’ll choose a reddish orange for the midtones
by setting the Hue to 15 degrees and the Saturation to 60 percent. And since this color stop’s location is
at 50 percent, I’ll set the Brightness value to 50 percent as well. You don’t always need to match the brightness
and location values, but it helps to keep them in mind so you don’t end up choosing
colors that are too dark or too bright for that part of the image. Click OK when you’re done to close the Color
Picker, and we now have three colors in the gradient. One for the shadows, one for the highlights
and one for the midtones. If I delete the middle color stop, we see
the effect without it. And if I bring it back by pressing Ctrl+Z,
or Command+Z on a Mac, to undo my last step, we see the difference that it makes. And just like we did with the midpoint marker,
you can drag the middle color stop left or right to brighten or darken the midtones. I think mine are looking too dark, so I’ll
drag the stop to the left to brighten them. You can add more color stops for even greater
control over your image, but I’ll go with three. At this point, we’re done editing the gradient. But if you want to use this same gradient
again with other images, then before closing the Gradient Editor, save your gradient as
a preset. First, if you haven’t done this already,
create a new group to hold your custom gradients. In the Presets area, scroll down to the last
folder in the list. Then right-click, or Control-click on a Mac,
on the folder and choose New Gradient Group. Name the folder. I’ll name mine “My Gradients”. And then click OK. The new group appears below the others. Give your new gradient a name. I’ll name it “Red_orange_yellow”. Then make sure your custom group is selected
and click the New button. And the preset appears as a thumbnail in the
group. So the next time you want to use it, you can
just click its thumbnail to select it. We’ve created our gradient and saved it
as a preset, which means we’re done with the Gradient Editor. So click OK to close it. Earlier, we saw that we can fade the gradient
map by lowering its opacity value. If I lower it to 50 percent, I’m mixing
50 percent of the gradient colors with 50 percent of the original colors. And you can turn the gradient map on and off
to compare the results. But a more powerful way to blend the gradient
with the image is by using Photoshop’s blend modes. I’ll reset the opacity back to 100 percent. The blend mode option is directly across from
the opacity option, and there are three blend modes that tend to work best with color grading. The first is Normal, and it’s the one we’ve
been using so far. “Normal” really just means “off”. There is no interaction at all between the
active layer (the Gradient Map adjustment layer) and the image below it. And the advantage with using Normal with a
gradient map is also its disadvantage; the colorized version of the image has less contrast
than the original. If I toggle the gradient map on and off, we
see that the original version has more contrast than the colorized version, with darker shadows
and brighter highlights. The reason is that any color we choose for
the shadows will naturally be brighter than black. And any color we choose for the highlights
will be darker than white. So lighter shadows and darker highlights produce
an image with less overall contrast. Even if I lower the opacity, there is still
less contrast with the gradient map than without it. Now whether you view the lower contrast as
an advantage or a disadvantage really depends on the look you want to achieve. It can be great for adding a more cinematic
look to your photo. And of course you always have that opacity
value to play with. But what if you want to keep the original
contrast and change only the colors? In that case, you’ll want to change the
blend mode from Normal to Color. The Color blend mode keeps the brightness
values of the image and blends only the color from the gradient map. And if I toggle the gradient map on and off,
we see that the overall contrast in both versions is the same. For comparison, here’s the Normal blend
mode again. And here’s Color. I’m switching between them from my keyboard
by pressing Shift+Alt+N, or Shift+Option+N on a Mac, for Normal, and Shift+Alt+C or Shift+Option+C
for Color. Just make sure when using the keyboard shortcuts
that you have a tool selected in the toolbar that does not have it’s own blend mode option
in the Options Bar, otherwise you’ll be changing the tool’s blend mode, not the
gradient map. And of course, you can still lower the opacity
value with the Color blend mode to bring back some of the original color. I’ll reset the opacity back to 100 percent
by pressing 0 on my keyboard. So the Normal blend mode gives us less contrast,
and the Color blend mode keeps the contrast the same. What if you want even more contrast than the
original? For that, you’ll want the Soft Light blend
mode. Soft Light is one of a group of blend modes
that increase contrast. The most popular of this group is Overlay,
but it tends to be too strong for color grading. Soft Light gives you a similar but more subtle
effect. It uses the dark colors in the gradient to
further darken the shadows, and the light colors to push the highlights even brighter. If I toggle the gradient map on and off, we
see that the colorized version now has higher contrast than the original. And for comparison, I’ll press Shift+Alt+N
or Shift+Option+N on a Mac for the Normal blend mode. Then Shift+Alt+C or Shift+Option+C for Color. And Shift+Alt+F or Shift+Option+F for Soft
Light. If you’re on a Windows PC and nothing is
happening when you press those keyboard shortcuts, look for a blue highlight box around the blend
mode option. And that means Windows is stuck on that option. If that happens, just press the Esc key on
your keyboard to unstick it, and then the keyboard shortcuts will work. Now depending on the blend mode you choose,
you may need to go back and adjust the colors in your gradient. So click on the gradient preview bar in the
Properties panel to reopen the Gradient Editor, and then double-click on a color stop to edit
the color. I’ll double-click on my highlight color
and I’ll increase the Saturation to 50 percent. Then I’ll double-click on the shadow color. And since the Soft Light blend mode is making
my shadows too dark, I’ll increase the Brightness to 50 percent and I’ll lower the Saturation
to 40 percent. I’m also going to drag my midtone slider
back to the middle. Finally, I’ll lower the opacity of the gradient
map down to 60 percent. Here’s the original image, and here it is
with the gradient map. So we’ve added one gradient map, but we
can always add more to try out different colors, and switch between them to choose the one
we like best. In the Layers panel, turn off the original
gradient map. And then make a copy of it by dragging it
down onto the New Layer icon. Turn the copy on, and notice that it’s set
to the same blend mode as the previous one. So if you know the blend mode you’ll be
using, whether it’s Normal, Color or Soft Light, you can change it here before changing
the colors. I’ll change mine from Soft Light to Color,
and I’ll set the opacity back to 100 percent. In the Properties panel, click the preview
bar to open the Gradient Editor. And if you find it easier to start with the
black to white gradient, then in the Presets area, select the Black, White gradient from
the Basics folder. Then choose your colors. For the shadows, I’ll go with teal by setting
the Hue to 180, the Saturation to 85 and the Brightness to 35. And for the highlights, I’ll use a muted
green by setting the Hue to 105, the Saturation to 15 and the Brightness to 75. If I want to save it as a preset, I can select
my custom gradient folder, then name the gradient, and then click the New button. When you’re done, click OK to close the
Gradient Editor. And finally, I’ll lower the opacity to 40
percent. So here’s my original image. And here’s my first gradient map. And here’s the second. Just make sure you only have one gradient
map turned on at a time otherwise they’ll blend together. Let’s finish up by looking at how to copy
a gradient map from one image to another. We’ve already learned how to save gradients
as presets, but the preset only saves the color itself. It does not save your blend mode or your opacity
value. If you want to copy the entire effect including
the blend mode and the opacity, here’s how to do it. Open a second image by going up to the File
menu and choosing Open. Then navigate to the folder that holds your
image, click on it to select it, and click Open. And notice that the second image opens in
its own separate document. Switch back to the first image by clicking
its tab. Then click on the gradient map adjustment
layer you want to copy and drag it up and onto the tab for the second image. Hold it there until Photoshop switches to
the second image, and then drag the adjustment layer down onto it. Release your mouse button and the entire effect,
including the gradient map, the blend mode and the opacity value, is instantly applied
to the second image. And there we have it! That’s everything you need to know to start
color grading your images using a gradient map in Photoshop! If you found this video helpful, don’t forget
to click the Like button and subscribe to my channel for more videos. Visit my website, PhotoshopEssentials.com,
where you’ll find hundreds of Photoshop tutorials. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next
time. I’m Steve Patterson from Photoshop Essentials.
