Blending Modes in Photoshop, Part 1: The Basics

A member of the Australian Digital Photography forum suggested I write a post about layer blending modes in Photoshop, so I decided to one-up him. This is the first part of a three part series on blending modes. By the end of this set of tutorials, you’ll be able to:

• Name the three most basic and useful blending modes, and know how they work behind the scenes (which aids you in figuring all the others out).
• Use the Screen and Multiply modes to control the exposure of parts of a photograph much the same way curves or levels are used.
• Effectively implement layer opacity, layer masks, and the gradient tool to selectively apply the strength and area of the effects to your pictures.
• Intelligently experiment with blending modes to create new effects.
• Blend textures & other images into a photograph to give it a different feel.
• Combine Photoshop’s powerful filters with blending modes to achieve a multitude of looks.
• Use keyboard shortcuts to access blending modes.
• And quite a bit more.

Multiply, Screen & Overlay Blend Modes in Photoshop

Partnering with Lynda.com, Michael Ninness, author of Photoshop CS4 Power Shortcuts (buy it now on Amazon.com), gives an outstanding presentation of blending modes by focusing on the three that are most common used: Screen, Multiply, and Overlay.

What is the Screen blending mode? Screen ignores the blacks and darkest parts of your layer, which makes the pixels brighter. It has roughly the same effect of using the levels tool to increase the value of the midtones slider.

What is the Multiply blending mode? Multiply ignores the whites and the lightest parts of your layer, which makes dark pixels darker. It has roughly the same effect of using the levels tool to decrease the value of the midtones slider.

What is the Overlay blending mode? Overlay is a combination of the two: it ignores middle gray (or “50% gray” as you may hear it), and makes things darker or lighter.

If these sound a bit confusing to you now, don’t worry. Ninness’ demonstrations of blending modes present the basics better than virtually any video I’ve seen. If you only watch one blending mode tutorial, this is the one.

Understanding Adobe Photoshop – Blending Modes

Richard Harrington, author of Understanding Adobe Photoshop CS4: The Essential Techniques for Imaging Professionals (buy it on Amazon.com), presents the basics of blending modes in this very clear, well-made video. He covers the basic three (screen, multiply, and overlay), but also presents the way others work by using them on photos he’s taken. Richard shows how to composite images on top of each other, blend textures into an image to give it a different feel, apply a color cast to a photo, and more.

There you have it, and introduction to blending modes in Photoshop. Parts two and three of this series will dig into more depth about the different blending modes, and demonstrate some creative, rockin’ effects that are a cinch to apply.

Purchase the books mentioned in this article from Amazon.com:

• Michael Ninness: Photoshop CS4 Power Shortcuts
• Richard Harrington: Understanding Adobe Photoshop CS4: The Essential Techniques for Imaging Professionals (2nd Edition)