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Home - Photo Tips - Techniques - Using The Blend Modes In Photoshop (Part 1)
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Using The Blend Modes In Photoshop (Part 1)
Blend Mode is one of the most creative tool in Photoshop. In this article we'll share with you some information that will help you remember what the Blend Modes (BM) in Photoshop are and how to use them.
There are 25 Blend Modes and they are divided into 6 groups.
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Basic (replaces the background layer)
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Darken (darkens the background layer)
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Lighten (lightens the background layer)
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Contrast (increases or decreases the whole contrast)
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Comparative (inverts the color of the background layer)
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HSL (defines the specific color component)
Blending Tips:
- To use the BM function you
should duplicate the Background Layer by dragging it to the New Layer
icon on your Layer Palette. After it you can change the BM
and it's opacity as you wish. The BM box is located at the top left of the Layers palette.
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Also you can use Eraser Tool (ctrl+E) to
remove the BM effect from any area of the image you wish.
- You can mix different images with the help of BM and Apply Image function. Open two images then perform Image -> Apply Image. In this box you can choose the source, blend mode and opacity that you need.
- You can also mix different images with the help of BM and Move Tool. Open two images and duplicate the background layer of that one you want to move. Than choose the Move Tool (ctrl+V) and drag your picture to another image. After that change BM, opacity or use Eraser Tool if needed.
Here
are two pictures to show you the changes of color and B&W images
and also the cell of three basic colors (red, green and blue). The
layers are arranged as they will be placed in Photoshop: horizontal
lines - background layer, vertical lines - top layer.
Then we'll change the blend mode only and the opacity will be 100%.
1. Basic.
Normal.
It's a usual state of a layer. There isn't any interaction between the
layers. The pixels of the top layer are opaque and block the view of
the background layer.
Dissolve.
This mode looks like the adding of transparent noise. The pixels are
deleted at random what makes the noise effect. There will be no changes
if the opacity is 100%. The example is set to 50%.
Tip: with the help of the Brush Tool in Dissolve mode you can imitate the half-transparent edges of the picture.
2. Darken.
Darken.
This mode mixes the pixels in those places where the top layer is
darker than the background layer. The darker pixels don't change but if
the pixels are lighter they make the bottom layer visible. If we take
into account the channels, so the result picture will be mixed with the
less luminant pixels for the each channel. The neutral color for this
mode is white.
Multiply.
This mode multiplies the colors of the top layer with the bottom layer.
The result is always darker than any original image. There will be no
changes if the top layer is white.
Tips:
Multiply mode can be used both to recover very light photos by
duplicating the background layer + Multiply Mode and to create
different kinds of shadows (with Opacity changing and Eraser Tool).
Color Burn. It's
based on the Burn tool that imitates overexposure all over the layer.
It darkens the image, using the information of the top layer. That
makes the image much more saturated. The neutral color for the Color
Burn mode is white. You may use it to make rich and colorful details in
a collage, to imitate the effects, which burn out the image.
Linear Burn. Here the
same method is used as in the Color Burn mode. It darkens the bottom
layer to show the color of the top layer by means of brightness
decrease. There are no changes when the top layer is white.
Darker Color. It's similar to Darken but it works on the all layers at once. When mixing the layers only the dark pixels remain visible.
In the next part you can read about Lighten and Contrast groups and Comparative and HSL groups.
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