How do I add a color not shades of gray, but a colored gradient?

[danielb94023111]

I've been working on this one problem for about three hours now there is literally nothing online that is helpful Orioles on YouTube nothing all I need to do is change the color of a gradient but it's only shades of gray no matter what color I pick I only get gray. In the photo, you can clearly see that I have the color red selected but it turns gray.

I am for real considering quitting my job because I hate Photoshop so much.

[Jeff Arola]

Instead of adding a Gradient to a Layer Mask, which can only be grayscale, double click on the Gradient Overlay layer effect to change the colors of the existing Gradient or add an additional Gradient Overlay.

[danielb94023111]

Thanks, but that has even less effect doesn't even change the shade of gray as you can see in the picture here I tried what you suggested, and I clearly have a yellow color selected and this time there was no change whatsoever. Do you have any other ideas?

[Jeff Arola]

 You may also need to change the Color Overlay.

Both Effects should be accessible after double clicking on one or the other.

[Kevin Stohlmeyer · Accepted solution]

A couple of things working against you -

1. You have a color overlay ontop of your gradient hiding the result. Remove it.

2. Your mask on that layer is very light/transparent and would not show the results clearly.

[danielb94023111]

OMG THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I cant believe how bad this software is but you were right i was even on the phone with tech support and we couldn't figure this out. i cant believe its so expensive for something so hard to use. but any thank you so much. If I could, I would hug you.

Do you have any suggestions for different software that might either work better or cost less?

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Hi @danielb94023111 to be clear the software works fine, but it is professional grade and there is a learning curve.

A simpler solution would be Adobe Photoshop Elements which is not subscription.

https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements/buy-elements.html