Using The Blend Modes In Photoshop (Part 3)
Today we are finishing our article about using Blend Modes in Photoshop. There are 25 Blend Modes and they are divided into 6 groups. The last two groups are Comparative and HSL. You can also read Part 1 (Basic and Darken) and Part 2 (Lighten and Contrast) on our site.
5. Comparative
Difference.
It shows a tonal difference between the contents of the two layers,
eliminating light pixels from any of the layers. It reverses the tones
and colors, and the brightness depends on the difference of pixels. The
idea is that the brightness of the pixels is taken away from each
other. The neutral color is black.
Tips: If the top layers are not very dark of light and rather saturated, you can get interesting effects.
This
mode is handy for creating collages, panoramas or HDR images because it
helps to merge the images accurately. If the fragments are overlain
identically, so the image will be represented as totally black. If
there are still some mismatches you will see white edges and colorful
areas.
A and B are pictures with different exposition. Difference mode allows to see if there are any mismatches (C) or not (D)
Exclusion. It is a softer version of
the Difference mode. When the top and the bottom layer are matched,
this mode doesn't color the image in black and you can see the edges of
elements easily.
6. HSL
Hue. It
is opposite to the Color mode. The colors of the top layer are merged
with the color vibrancy and tones of the bottom layer (it combines Hue
of the bottom layer and Saturation and Luminance of the bottom layer).
Tip: It helps when toning reflections and glares on metal objects.
Saturation.
Color saturation of the top layer is merged with the bottom layer,
depending on layers' total brightness. It combines Saturation from the
top layer with Hue and Luminance of the bottom layer. The saturation
level of the bottom layer pixels is changed for the corresponding level
of the top layer pixels.
Tips: It is used to make an object obtain the color or texture of another object or for detailed representation of difficult glares.
Color.
Colors of the top layer are merged with the brightness of the bottom
layer. Luminance of the bottom layer is only used, while Hue and
Saturation are taken from the top layer.
Tip:
It helps a lot when you want to paint the bottom layer with the color
of the top layer. For example, you want to change model's eye color.
Just make a new layer, paint the eyes with the color you want and change
the blend mode to Color.
Luminosity. It is
opposite to the Color mode. It applies brightness of the top layer to
the color of the bottom layer (it combines Luminance of the top layer
with Hue and Saturation of the bottom layer).
Tip: If your images are of the different color and brightness quality, this mode is irreplaceable to fix it.
Blend modes are available not only on the layer palette, but also in the dialogue boxes of some tools. For example, if you've chosen Brush Tool (B) you can set the Color mode for painting, so your Brush won't change the tones of the image but only the color.
Tip: You can use this method for coloring B&W images.
You work with Clone Stamp, Patch, History Brush in different BM. Also, after applying any filters that influence brightness or contrast, you need to perform Edit -> Fade... (Shift+Ctrl+C) and change the BM to Luminosity. The fact is that these filters (such as Unsharp Mask)
change not only the parameters you needed, but sometimes color, too. If
you perform Fade tool, your won't get this side effect.
The main thing is to understand the idea of Blend Modes operating, and new possibilities will be opened up before you.
You are welcome to share your creativity on our forum !
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