From time to time Adobe add a feature or two that seem to slip under the radar and this great feature seems to be one of them. Have you ever wanted to add a gradient filter to an image in Adobe Camera Raw and then been disappointed because it’s straight edge gave you day tree tops or roofs?

Worry no more, Adobe have introduced the ability to erase parts of a gradient, and if you wish, add them back in, but be warned, there’s a couple of ‘gotcha’s’ in there;

Grab the gradient tool from the menu bar

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Configure it with the settings in the settings panel on the right, and draw out your gradient. You’ll notice that above the settings is a couple of new options, to add a New Gradient, Edit the Current Gradient and the Brush.

New Ways to Use the Tools You Already Know

Selecting Brush allows you to use familiar brush techniques and shortcuts to Add in (+) or remove (-) the gradient.

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In this example you can see that I’m erasing a coloured gradient, but I’ve made some slight halos. This is easily done and requires a lot of zooming in and careful editing.

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Not All Is As You May Expect

Adding back has it’s pitfalls too, here I’ve added back some gradient and extended it down the image. Unfortunately this doesn’t fill in the gradient, but as the name suggests, adds to it. Leaving me with this;

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Nothing a Ctrl+Z (PC) or a Cmd+Z (Mac) won’t fix, but the gradient has all but gone.

This is a great feature, but one that has to be used delicately, for tree lines and roofs it works a treat, but more complicated shapes and you may find jumping into Photoshop saves you time.