Glossing an Image in Photoshop

Add gloss to your image using Photoshop tools.

Adobe Photoshop provides endless possibilities for changing your pictures. Adding a gloss effect to your pictures in Photoshop can make them look as though they are sitting under glass. Although there isn’t a preset tool for creating gloss, you can easily manipulate your photo using a combination of existing tools.

Instructions

1. Open your image by clicking the “File” option from the top toolbar and selecting “Open.” Use the browser to locate your image, highlight it and and click “Open.”

2. Select the rectangular marquee tool by clicking on it from the tools palette, or press the “M” key on your keyboard. Click on the top, left corner of the image and hold down the mouse button while dragging the marquee across your image to the middle right of the picture. Release the mouse button. You should now have an active marquee rectangle around the top half of your image.

3. Create a new layer by clicking “Layer” from the top toolbar and selecting “New” and then “Layer.” Leave the options at the default settings of 100 percent opacity and the background color as “None.” Select “OK” to close the options window.

4. Make the gradient tool active by selecting it from the toolbar palette or pressing the “G” key on your keyboard. From the gradient options box, select the option that sets the gradient to the foreground color and the background transparent. Change the foreground color to white by selecting the foreground color icon at the bottom of the toolbar palette and highlighting the white color.

5. Click on the middle of the picture near the bottom of the marquee box. Hold down the mouse button and move directly up the image. Release the mouse at the top of the image, directly above the first click, to create a straight line up the center of the marquee rectangle. This will create a gradient starting at the middle of the image and fading out at the top.

6. Deselect the marquee rectangle by selecting the marquee tool and clicking anywhere on the image. Reduce the opacity of the layer by clicking on the opacity selector arrow on the layers palette. Reduce opacity to 50 percent by sliding the arrow to 50.

7. Duplicate the gradient by clicking on “Layer,” “Duplicate Layer” and “OK.” Right-click anywhere on the image and select “Free Transform.” Right-click once more and select “Flip Vertical.”

8. Move the newly flipped layer to the bottom of the image by selecting the image using the move arrow from the tool palette. Move the layer so that the top of the gradient lines up with the bottom of the previous gradient. Save your image by selecting “File” and “Save.”

Tips & Warnings

• Play around with the gradient and opacity to see what effects you can create.