- Getting Started with Layers
- Blending Two or More Images (Intro to Layer Masks)
- Getting Started with Layer Blend Modes
- Five Layers Things to Know Before We Move On
- Adding Drop Shadows and Other Layer Effects
- Resizing Something on a Layer
- Organizing Your Layers
- Adjustment Layers
- Smart Filter Layers
- Making a Simple Composite
- Four MORE Important Layers Techniques
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Getting Started with Layer Blend Modes
Layer blend modes are awesome because they let you choose how the layer you’re working on blends with the layer(s) below it. When your layer blend mode is set to Normal, it doesn’t blend—whatever’s on this layer covers up whatever’s on the layer(s) below it. But, when you choose a blend mode, now it blends, and it looks different based on which blend mode you choose. Besides Normal mode, there are 26 different blend modes, but to be honest, in your day-to-day work, you’re really only going to use four of them: Multiply, Screen, Overlay, and Soft Light. There will be a time here and there that you’ll wind up using one of the others, maybe for a special effect or a retouching task, but for the most part, it’s just those four. Here’s what they do and how they work:
Step One:
You need to have a layer to get layer blend modes to work, so open an image, and then press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to make a duplicate of the Background layer (you can see this new layer, named “Layer 1” by default, in the Layers panel). Now, near the top left of the Layers panel, you’ll see a pop-up menu set to Normal, by default (as seen here in the red rectangle).
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Step Two:
To see the different layer blend modes, click-and-hold on the word “Normal,” and the pop-up menu of blends modes appears (as seen here). To see how this top layer would look with a layer blend mode applied, scroll over any of the blend modes in this menu, and you’ll see the results of each one appear onscreen. You can also use the Up/Down Arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll through the menu to sample each one. Here, I chose Multiply, which is a mode that multiplies the color in the image, making it look much darker. I use this mode quite a bit when I’m editing an image to see how it would look darker and more dramatic.
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Step Three:
Here’s another one of the four most-used blend modes: Screen. It makes your image appear much brighter (as seen here). This is a great way to quickly see how your image would look with a bright high-key look. If you apply a blend mode and think it’s too intense (in this case, it’s too bright), you can simply lower the Opacity amount for this layer (up near the top-right corner of the Layers panel) to dial back the amount of the effect (so, if you want this to look less bright, lower the Opacity).
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Step Four:
Next, let’s switch to Overlay mode, which adds a lot of contrast to your image (as seen here). Now, didn’t I say there were four most-used blend modes? Yes, but the last one is pretty much like this one. It’s Soft Light, which is pretty much a less powerful version of Overlay. If there were a fifth most-popular layer blend mode, it would probably be Color, which lets you add a color to your image without covering the layer with color—the color blends in with the image below it.
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