Faking a CD in Photoshop - Part 2
5) Now let's make the CD look shiny! Create a new gradient by choosing the gradient tool (under the fill bucket). In the top right you'll see a drop-down menu with gradients to choose from. Press the small round button with an arrow, then choose "New Gradient..."
Create a gradient that looks just like this, using white and grey (25% black).
6) Make sure you're editing the layer rather than the mask. In the Layers palette, click on the layer, which will be the box to the left of the layer mask.
To create the gradient, draw a line from one corner of your canvas to the other.
7) To make the gradient more realistic, we need to give it a little pinch! Go to Filter > Distort > Pinch and choose 100%.
You'll notice that while the gradient doesn't show in the masked out areas, the filter pulls information from them when it pinches.
8) It's starting to look pretty impressive and you're almost done. Now you'll make the transparent inner circle of the CD. Make a new layer and fill the hole with white. Lower the layer transparency to about 45% white, or whatever looks right to you.
9) Now make a smaller hole in the centre of the transparent area. Delete it. (We don't need a layer mask for this layer.)
10) Lookie! You've made yourself a CD! Now you can fancy it up by adding a background, text, a drop-shadow and whatever else you think it needs.
This tutorial was made with Adobe Photoshop CS2.