"In the arena of human life the honours and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities."
- Aristotle

Gradient Effect

Step 1 Create a new 350x350 pixel, 72 resolution, RGB document, with a white background.
Step 2 Press "D" to make sure you have your Background (white) and your Foreground (black) colors right.
Step 3 Select your Gradient Tool (may be hidden under the Paint Bucket Tool): , choose Reflected Gradient (in the Tool menu at the top usually left side of the screen): , and keep these settings:


and just go nuts, drag your cursor over the canvas again and again until you get something like the following (my colors for the gradient were different, so yours won't be the same, but it won't matter in the long run):


Step 4 Now hit Ctrl+U for the Hue/Saturation settings, or go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation, whichever fits your fancy, and use these settings and make sure to check the Colorize box:
Hue: 0
Saturation: 50
Lightness: 0
Step 5 It's coming along nicely. Now duplicate your Background layer by either:
a) dragging it down to the new layer button,
b) right-clicking on it and selecting duplicate layer, or
c) going Layer>Duplicate Layer. I chose the following:


Step 6 Now, with you Background Copy layer selected, go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur and use these settings:
Amount: 50
Blur Method: Zoom
Quality: Good
Step 7 Now change your Background Copy layer's Blending Mode to Multiply in the layers pallette like so:


Step 8 Now, with your Background Copy layer selected, press Ctrl+U again and use these settings:
Hue: 173
Saturation: 100
Lightness: 0
You should now have something like the following:


Step 9 Now with your Background layer selected go to Filter>Render>Lens Flare and use these settings:
Brightness: 100
Flare Center: Put the flare in the middle as best you can
Lens Type: 50-300mm Zoom
Step 10 Now, with your Background layer still selected, press Ctrl+F twice, this will make your Lens Flare bigger, create a nice little flare look in the middle, and cast a little more light on your gradient effects, here is what I got:


Remember: Some of the filters look different every time you use them, so you will not get the exact same result with this tutorial that I did. Feel free to change the settings for this tutorial, and send me your work!

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1