Colour and tone
Curated gradient-map colour systems for cinematic grading, duotones, metallic looks, skies and experimental artwork.
Curated catalog
Gradient Maps
200 Blue, Cyan & Purple Gradients is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around 200 blue, cyan & purple gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
200 Bronze Gradients Pack is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around 200 bronze gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
200 Chrome Metallic Gradients Pack is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around 200 chrome metallic gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
200 Cinematic Gradients Pack is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around 200 cinematic gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
200 Copper Gradients Pack is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around 200 copper gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
200 Duotone Gradients Pack is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around 200 duotone gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
200 Red & Gold Gradients Pack is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around 200 red & gold gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
200 Sunset Gradients Pack is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around 200 sunset gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
Green & Yellow Gradient Set is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around green & yellow gradient set colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
Holographic Gradients Pack is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around holographic gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
Neon Gradients Pack is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around neon gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
Pink Gradients Pack is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around pink gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
Pink Green Gradients is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around pink green gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
Purple Gradients Pack is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around purple gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
Red Brown Gold Gradients is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around red brown gold gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient Maps
Red Gradients Pack is a Photoshop gradient-map collection built around red gradients colour relationships. Use it for non-destructive tonal grading, duotone experiments, poster colour systems and consistent artwork treatments.
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Gradient maps remap image brightness values to a chosen colour range, which makes them useful for cinematic colour grading, duotones, chrome-inspired palettes, poster treatments and consistent campaign systems. Unlike a simple gradient layer, a gradient map responds to the highlights, midtones and shadows already present in the image.
Current design work often combines restrained neutral layouts with one expressive colour treatment. Gradient maps fit that workflow well because a single editable adjustment can create warm editorial tones, cool night looks, metallic colour systems or high-contrast social artwork while keeping the original image underneath non-destructive.
Practical workflow
A Photoshop gradient map is different from placing a normal gradient across a document. It maps chosen colours to the brightness values already present in an image, which makes it useful for duotone artwork, cinematic colour grading, metallic colour treatments, poster graphics and controlled campaign palettes. Search phrases such as Photoshop gradient map, cinematic gradient, duotone gradient, chrome gradient, sunset gradient and gradient preset often describe a colour system rather than a background shape.
Start by deciding what should happen to shadows, midtones and highlights. Deep blue shadows with warm highlights can create a cinematic contrast, while a two-colour map can produce a clean duotone. Metallic looks usually need more colour stops because the visual impression comes from alternating dark, bright and mid-tone bands. The preview is a reference; the final stop positions should be adjusted for the photograph or artwork underneath.
Apply a Gradient Map as an adjustment layer when possible. That keeps the source image unchanged and lets you edit the map, mask it, lower opacity or change its blend mode later. For portrait work, skin often needs a gentler treatment than clothing or background elements. A mask can reduce the effect on skin while preserving the overall campaign palette in the rest of the image.
Avoid judging a preset from a single demo image. Test the same map on a bright image, a low-key image and one with strong skin or product colours. If a preset only works on one exposure, treat it as a starting point rather than a reusable brand system. Small adjustments to the midpoint and saturation often create a more consistent result than replacing the entire gradient.
Gradient maps can connect photography from different sources by giving the images a shared shadow and highlight language. That is useful for a set of social posts, an album campaign, an event series or a brand launch where photographs were shot under different conditions. A restrained colour map can also sit behind clean typography without introducing the busy surface detail of a texture overlay.
For poster and cover work, check title contrast after the colour grade. A dramatic map can make previously dark and light areas converge, which may reduce the legibility of type placed on top. Instead of adding another outline to the headline, first adjust the gradient stops, mask the map behind the title or introduce a controlled local contrast area. The colour treatment should support the composition rather than force later repairs.
Keep downloaded GRD presets organised by project or visual direction rather than loading hundreds into one unsorted menu. Save customised variants with descriptive names such as warm editorial, blue shadow portrait or copper title grade. That makes a successful direction easier to reproduce across several assets and avoids accidentally changing the original preset.
NexFonts original gradient resources are licensed for use in finished personal and commercial creative work under the NexFonts Resource License. You can customise colours and use the result in client projects, but the underlying preset or source file should not be repackaged or redistributed as a standalone gradient collection. Keep third-party fonts and images used in the final design under their own licences.
Use these practical guides before downloading, editing or using a resource in client and commercial work.
FAQ
A gradient map assigns colours to tonal values in an image. Dark pixels receive colours from one end of the gradient, highlights receive colours from the other end, and midtones are mapped between them.
No. A standard gradient overlay places a gradient across the canvas, while a gradient map recolours the existing luminosity of the image. That makes gradient maps especially useful for grading photographs and artwork.
Yes. A two-colour map can create a fast duotone look, while three or more stops can produce richer cinematic, metallic or experimental palettes.
The midpoint or saturation may be too aggressive. Move colour stops, lower the adjustment opacity, mask the effect from skin, or combine it with a gentler colour correction layer.
When used as an adjustment layer they are non-destructive. You can edit, mask, reduce or remove the effect without changing the original photo layer.
Yes. Gradient maps are useful for creating a repeatable colour direction across cover art, posters and campaign graphics. Test important skin tones and brand colours before applying the same map to every image.
Use a restrained shadow and highlight palette, keep midtones controlled, and reduce opacity when needed. A small amount of contrast and colour separation often feels more cinematic than a highly saturated map.
Check the individual file details and licence before starting client or commercial work.