Photoshop Tips Create Vibrant Background Patterns with Photoshop’s Gradient Editor By Shan Canfield Dateline: January 11, 2006 Version: Photoshop CS More Photoshop tips Discuss this in the Photoshop forum

	I’ve done a little of the prep work for you, so download the gradient1.zip archive and open gradient1.psd. Choose Select > Load Selection, and select the Alpha 1 Channel. With the selection active, click the Create a New Set icon at the bottom of the Layers palette, and name it Noise Gradients. Click the Add a Layer Mask icon and you should see a silhouette of the subject on the mask thumbnail attached to the set layer.
	With the set open, click the Create an Adjustment Layer icon, and choose Gradient. In the Gradient Fill dialog box, choose Radial as the Style, then click the Gradient Swatch. In the Gradient Editor dialog box, change Gradient Type to Noise, and click Randomize to produce unpredictable arrays of colorful, concentric circles. If you find one you like, click Save. Shift the Roughness Amount for softer or harsher transitions between the circles. The Color Model sliders shift the colors within the designated range.
	Click OK to exit the Gradient Editor dialog box, but there’s still more work to do in the Gradient Fill dialog box. With this dialog box open, you can move your mouse into the canvas area and manipulate the position of your concentric circles. You can also change the size of the circles by changing Scale and Angle.
	Create another Noise Gradient adjustment layer within the set. Since you already have the first one set with the Radial and Noise parameters, duplicating this layer will save some time. Press Command/Ctrl-J on the first Noise Gradient Fill adjustment layer. Double-click the Gradient Fill thumbnail of the duplicate layer to choose another variation of the Radial Noise Gradient, clicking Randomize, then change its size and position.
	Repeat the procedure above to create several more variations of the Radial Noise Gradient within the Noise Gradients set. Then experiment by changing the blending modes of these layers for even more variations. Toggle the visibility icons on and off for some (shown at left), and change the Gradient Fill layers’ Opacities. To add a drop shadow to the subject, Command/Ctrl-click the set layer’s mask thumbnail. Collapse the set by clicking the disclosure arrow, and click the Create New Layer icon so the blank layer appears above the set. Select the new blank layer, and Inverse the selection (Shift-Command/Ctrl-I). Set Black as the Foreground Color (shown at right), and press Option/Alt-Delete/Backspace. Deselect (Command/Ctrl-D), and change the layer blending mode to Multiply.
	Position the shadow to one side with the Move tool (V). Apply a Gaussian Blur of 8–10 pixels and set the layer’s Opacity to 40–70%. Command/Ctrl-click the set layer mask thumbnail to load the selection again. With the shadow layer active, click the Create layer mask icon. This will mask out the shadow from the top of the subject. If you want to reposition the Shadow, be sure to unlink the mask thumbnail. You can also add a Layer Style, choosing Color Overlay to change the shadow color.
	A few variations are shown at left and right.

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Shan Canfield is an Adobe Certified Expert, instructor, designer, photographer, digital artist, and retoucher.