Welcome To VertexTemplates.com Photoshop Tutorials Area - Fade color

Provides an excellent fade into grayscale.

I found this effect on a band picture of an indian band and was very much puzzled as to how they did that stuff. Anyway, I when I learnt about Layer masks, it "revealed all" to me...(a fellow photoshopper would know why those two words are in quotes).

Level: Intermediate

Step 1:
Open your image. An artistic picture would do just fine. Dunno about close range portraits.

I don't smoke, which is why some of them regular smokers might identify my fake smoking...

Step 2:
Duplicate the background layer by dragging it to the New layer Icon in the layers pallette itself, or Pressing Ctrl+J, or by going to Layers>New>Layer via copy

Step 3:
Select your background layer again. Desaturate it by pressing Ctrl+Shift+U or by going to Image>adjustments>Desaturate. This will make your background layer appear in shades of gray. nothing will change in the document window though.

Step 4:
Click the Top layer (should be called layer 1 or background copy). Then click the "add layer mask" button at the bottom of the layers pallete. You can also add a layer mask by going to Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal All. This should display a white layer next to your duplicated layer. Make sure it is selected by clicking on it.

Step 5:
Select your Gradient Tool (G) from the toolbox. Now, select the radial gradient in the options bar on the top. Also, make sure that Foreground to Background is selected in the Gradient picker. Now hit D to reset your colours. Keep the settings at mode: normal, Opacity: 100, and the last two checked.

Step 6:
Now, just drag from where you want the colour to where you want to fade into grayscale. Keep trying until you get what you desire. (use ctrl+z to get back to the previous state, or colours will tend to invert if you keep using gradients)

Step 7: (touchups)
Use the Brush tool to add colour or gray tones to your image. Select the brush tool. Reduce your Opacity and flow to about 40%. Paint with Black if you want to reveal graytones. Paint with white if you want to reveal colour.

Step 8:
Right-Click on the layer mask (the black-n-white layer like thing next to your duplicated layer), and select apply layer mask. That's it. You're done!

Tips:
- Don't stop with graytone image backgrounds. Your background layer could have a nice filter or maybe a sepia tone..
- Use the linear gradient if you want a more one sided effect. Maybe for a portrait.
- You could experiment with other blend modes for the gradient (step 4)
- If you have daylight image, or if it is too clean, then the grayscale might not look so cool. To remedy this, just add a little noise by going to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. I recommend adding noise to the bottom layer but these are just guidelines.


My final Image:

 

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Tutorial written by: Goobi Mama