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2 methods for making curved gradient in photoshop elements

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This tutorial is in Expert Mode, selected at top after program is opened.
Toolbar is on left side. Hover mouse over each tool to observe different options.
Click Tool Options shortcut at bottom to display options for each tool.
Click Layers shortcut at bottom to display Layers Panel.
Use shortcuts located top of Layers Panel to make duplicate layer, blank layer, add effects, Gradient layer, delete layers, delete hidden layers, merge layers etc.
Use Undo shortcut located bottom of program to reverse previous action. Use Undo multiple times to walk back multiple actions.
Go to Edit located at top on menu bar, Choose preferences, General tab, put checkmark in zoom with scroll wheel.
Go to Windows on menu bar to view different options.
Go to Filter on menu bar to apply effects.
Click on layer and it turns blue, indicating layer is active and can be edited.
Use eyeball on each layer to make invisible-visible.
curved gradient in photoshop elements Method 1: Filter > Render > Lighting Effects will add shadow-light effect on object.

Requires the object to be on a separate layer or outlined with Lasso tool. Put mouse on the picture in Layers Pane, not on blue part ... then hold down shift key and click picture to put marching ants around photo in workspace.

The render effect is somewhat limited and works better on some objects than others.
... but might work for you.

Apply lighting effect
Go to Filter on  menu bar at top of program > Render > Lighting Effect.
The Lighting Effect was applied using various slide bars as shown on Lighting Effects image to left.
If one attempt does not look right, use undo shortcut located at bottom of program, and try different settings.
Rotate your object and see how it appears from different angles.

I discovered methods shown on this page while trying to illustrate marbles to represent electrons for a webpage on electrical resistance.... except my marbles looked like planetoids instead of marbles ... but at least they're round.

curved gradient in photoshop elements
How to make the marbles or planetoids
Go to Window on nenu bar > select Layers to display the Layers Pane on right side of workspace. or use shotcut located bottom right of program.
Go to File on menu bar > new > blank file > select size and RGB color > OK > creates transparent layer > using brush tool,  make black circle on the transparent layer > hold down Ctrl key and click on the layer located in layers window (click on layer picture, not on blue part of layer) and this puts ants around the black circle > use brush tool, set to a smaller diameter, to make several layers of different colored lines across black circle > for example white, yellow, red etc from Color Picker located at bottom of toolbar on left side of program >  use blur tool to blur each layer of colored line > select all layers using mouse while holding down shift key, right click on a blue layer, select merge layers, and the black layer with layers of blurred color will become a single layer > go to menu at top of program and select filter, then use various effects from Filter gallery including Artistic, plastic wrap > Adjustments, Photos filter > with final Distort, glass.

This technique for making marbles or planetoids gave more 3-D result than using Filter > Distort > Liquefy

Fig-1 Rotate gradient, then simplify
Method 2 for making curved gradientrotate gradient

Go to Window on toolbar > select Layers to display the Layers Pane on right side of workspace.

The shadow will be created on a new transparent layer.
Go to File on toolbar > File > new > blank file > select size and RGB color > OK > creates transparent layer.
Or click shortcut located top left of Layers Pane.

Fig-1 Use Color Picker and select black as color for gradient.
(Artistically, a shadow is a blend between object color and background color, so you can use a different color than black)
Of course, in outter space, the background color is black, so planets can have black shadow, which we are going to make.

Click 'new fill and adjustment layer' icon located above Layers Pane > select gradient, OK and it will create gradient on the transparent layer > click the gradient layer and the gradient fill box comes up > rotate gradient to any angle, or for this tutorial, we are choosing -180°.

Right click on gradient layer, select simplify layer.

Fig-2 Use rectangle marquee tool to select half the gradient > go to Image on the toolbar > Go to menu, Image, Transform, then select Skew > box with corner and center points appears, use mouse on center point at top of gradient to pull top half of gradient to the left as shown Fig-2. Click Ctrl+D to deselect marquee, or go to menu, select, Deselect.
Fig-3 use marquee tool again and select a smaller part of gradient and use skew again > repeat until shape is similar to your object.   In my case I was working with a round shape and created a curved shape as shown Fig-3.

Fig-4 Go to Layer on toolbar > Drag gradient layer up to the shortcut located top of Layers Pane, or go to menu, Layers, duplicate layer. This will make a second layer of the gradient layer. Then go to menu, Image > select Rotate > flip layer vertical > and now you have two halves of same shaped gradient > Use move tool to move layers so both halves make a whole or hold down shift key and click arrow keys to fine tune movements > highlight both halves in the Layers Pane, right click on the selected layers, select merge layers to make a single gradient layer.
skew gradient
Fig-2 Skew top half of simplified layer
gradient
Fig-3 Continue skewing until gradient fit approximate shape of object
curved gradient in photoshop elements
Fig-4 Make duplicate layer, then flip one layer vertical
Move two gradient layers together to make 1 gradient

Fig-5 Position gradient layer over marble
Fig-5 Place black gradient layer over marble > resize gradient to best advantage using move tool > hold down Crtl key and click on marble layer (on the image in the layer, not on the blue part) to put marching ants around the marble > go to menu > Select > Inverse.

Click on gradient layer in Layers Pane so gradient layer is blue > press delete key on keyboard to remove excess gradient around marble > go to menu > Select > Deselect.

Always make duplicate layers to experiment without losing work. Or use Edit undo.

Fig-6 Use Eraser tool set at 3-10% opacity to slowly remove excess gradient from inside the marble.

Last step. Make a white spot as highlight for side of marble opposite the dark side.
Make new transparent layer.
Set color as white using Color Picker > click Adjustment icon located above Layers Pane > select gradient > choose Radial as the style > simplify the gradient layer > resize, reposition, and erase to size > use opacity slider located above Layers window to control transparency. Place white spot anywhere it's needed to add more effect.

Last step: Save
Go to menu, File, Save As to save .psd file for later editing.
Go to menu, File, Save For Web, to optimize and resize image.
Ebook and Facebook images can be 600 px wide.
Save in medium or high quality.

Fig-6 Cut pixels to remove extra gradient
Use eraser tool at 3-10% opacity to finish gradient
This example shows a planet with shading.
Black circle was made using Brush tool
Then, go to menu, Filter, Render, Difference Clouds

Note the black circle is on separate layer from white layer
.
Here, Black circle was made using Brush tool
Then, go to menu, Filter, Render, Lens Flare

Note the black circle is on separate layer from white layer
Black circle was made using Brush tool
The white background and black circle were merged.
Then, go to menu, Filter, Render, Lens Flare



Illustration explains how resistance is like a hill surrounding electrons .... without the hill, the electrons are free to roll away ... or if electrons get piled up higher than the hill they can roll away.
5000+ images on my website were made using photoshop elements.
Generally my illustrations are electric and plumbing how-to's.

I posted a few photoshop tutorials.

Resource:
How to make transparent water heater
How to make 'Taking a shower'
How to make curved font and other font effects
How to square up image in photoshop
Make this image in photoshop

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