Gradient Tool – useful with layer masks where you want to blend two exposures of the same image together – for example one exposed for the sky, the other for land.
There are far too many menu options to go through, so I just want to show you a technique that you can achieve with Pixlr which is great for landscape photographs. What we are going to do is create two versions of the same image on separate layers – one exposed for the sky and the other for land. We will then use a layer mask to combine the two image with a bit of help from the gradient tool. This is something I quite often do in Photoshop.
First step – upload your image. Here’s mine:
We are now going to make a duplicate layer
Click Layer | Duplicate Layer
Notice how in the layers panel you now have two layers
With the background copy layer still selected, click Adjustments | Levels. Slide the middle input control towards the right – you may need to experiment with how far to the right you slide this. Essentially this will make your image darker – which is great for bringing out features in the sky which are slightly over-exposed in our picture. Click OK when you are done.
Now click Layer | Add Layer Mask - this will mask the top layer, so the image will end up looking like it did originally.
Click on the Gradient tool in the tool panel and then click the Gradient setting as shown below. You want to select the third gradient setting – black to transparent.
Once you have selected this gradient you need to draw the gradient on to your image. Start about half way down your photograph and draw down to the base of it. You should end up with image that is correctly exposed for sky and land – see my attempt below.
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