In Photoshop 2020, panels were introduced for a number of items, one of which was gradients. So now there’s a better way to apply gradients, with a hidden benefit: Simply drag a gradient from the Gradients panel (Window>Gradients) into your document. (Sure, you can mask it, too, if you want.) I’ve watched someone out in the wild do this, and then they decided they wanted a different gradient. Do you know what they did? They deleted the gradient and dragged out a different one from the panel. The audacity! Oh, what? You do that too? One of the nice things about the new Gradients panel is all you need to do is click on a different gradient in the panel to instantly replace the current one on the layer, and it will retain all the settings such as blend mode and Opacity.
This tip originally published in Colin Smith’s “Photoshop Tips” column in the September, 2020 issue of Photoshop User magazine.
