Photoshop Elements: Satin Gradient Background

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Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 6

April 16, 2008

Make a smooth satiny gradient background for your photos using three filters and the Gradient tool.

Satin Gradient Background
Satin gradient background

To create a satin background:

  1. Create a new file of the desired size and fill the background with white.

  2. Paint some gray shaded swirls on the the white background:

    1. Select a light gray as your foreground color.
    2. Select the Brush tool and paint a few broad swirls on the white background.
    3. Repeat with darker shades of gray. In the following examples, two shades of gray were used to draw the swirls. Example:
      4. Gray brush strokes

  3. Apply the Wave filter:

    1. From the Filter menu, select Distort, then Wave. The Wave window is displayed:

      Wave filter dialogue
    2. In the Wave window, adjust the settings until you get an interesting wave effect. Tip: Select Repeat Edge Pixels fof the Undefined Areas, and make the Minimum and Maximum settings for Wavelength and Amplitude of equal size.

    3. Click OK. Example:

      Wave filter applied

  4. Apply the Bas Relief filter:

    1. Make sure that your foreground color is gray and your background color is white.

    2. From the Filter menu, select Sketch, then Bas Relief. The Bas Relief window is displayed:

    3. In the Bas Relief window, adjust the settings. Set Detail= 3, Smoothness = 15 (maximum smoothness) and Light = Top.
    4. Click OK.

  5. Apply a small Gaussian Blur:

    1. From the Filter menu, select Blur, then Gaussian Blur.
    2. In the Gaussian Blur window, enter a radius of 3-5 pixels.

    3. Click OK. Example:

      Bas Relief applied

  6. Add a gradient:

    1. In the Layers palette, click the New Layer icon to create a new layer above the current layer. Add the gradient in this new layer.
    2. Select a foreground and background color for your gradient. In this example, we used a blue foreground and green background.
    3. Select the Gradient tool and in the options bar, select the Foreground to Background gradient.
    4. Click-and-drag diagonally from the top left corner to draw the gradient.

  7. In the Layers palette, set the blending mode of the gradient layer to Color.

    Blend mode: Color

  8. To deepen the color, duplicate the gradient layer and set the second gradient layer to a blending mode of Multiply.

    Blend mode: multiply

Tips

When you have completed your background, your Layers palette should look like the following:

Layers palette

Instead of using the Gradient tool to add color to the background, try adding a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer above the background layer. Check Colorize and play with the sliders until you get a color you like. Example:

Hue/Saturation layer

Updated on April 1, 2009