It’s been a while since I’ve written a tutorial. And I’ve got a new favorite photo I’ve been playing with. AND Tess is loving the results of my photoshop playtime. Because. Who doesn’t love ombre? Ombre has been all the rage for the last years, and it’s time to bring it to our photo’s!

First, the new favorite photo:

Second, the ombre choices:

And Tess’ favorite:

Now for the nitty-gritty. How to ombre. I’ve created a quick Ombre action, download below, and you can run that & pick your poison or follow along here.

First pick your photo. I picked the new favorite above & then I ran my (free) Black & White Action, you can still choose to run the action on color photo’s! In fact I loved the “sepia” tones layered over the original color photo.

Next add a new layer above your photo:

  1. Click new layer on the Layers palette in photoshop
  2. Click on the new layer so that it is your active layer

Now it’s time to add a Gradient to your new layer:

  1. Go to the Tools menu (if it’s not open click Window–>Tools)
  2. Scroll down to the Paint Bucket & right click to switch to the Gradient Tool

Now move your mouse to the top of the menu bar to edit the gradient:

As soon as you click edit gradient the Gradient Editor pops up.  This is where you pick your colors! Remember you can pick anything you want. I’m picking purples because Tess loves purple.

  1. Click on the tiny left bottom square to change your darkest color. This activates the Color box at the bottom.
  2. Click on the Color box at the bottom to choose your new color.

Once you click on the Color box the Color Picker tool pops up. Once you pick your color, it’s immediately visible in the Color box and the Gradient Bar in the Gradient Editor:

  1. Color Picker (pop up)
  2. Gradient Editor (see the new color immediately in the Color box and the Gradient Bar)

Repeat the process to pick your lightest gradient color:

  1. Click on the tiny right bottom square to change your lightest color. This activates the Color box at the bottom.
  2. Click on the Color box at the bottom to choose your new color.
    Note: I like to pick a lighter color in the same Color Library as my darkest color.

Once you are happy with your gradient colors, add it to your presets:

  1. Simply click on New in the Gradient Editor to add it to your presets.

Now it’s time to add the Gradient to your new layer:

Click & hold your mouse & draw a straight line up & down (I always start from the bottom so the darkest color is at the bottom):

Let go of the mouse button & your New Layer is now a Gradient Layer!

Change your New Layer property to Soft Light in your layers palette:

And that’s it! You have a gorgeous new ombre photo! Play with your settings. Try different colors, opacities, light sources, layer your gradients. The possiblities are endless!

Those of you with Photoshop, and familiar with Actions, can download my FREE Photoshop Ombre Action:
Note: File has updated January 1, 2024

CLICK for FREE DOWNLOAD