Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers Tutorials
Layers & Masks / Blending Modes
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Subtitles of the Movie (Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers / Layers & Masks / Blending Modes)
So far when we've used Layers we've kept the Blending Mode for the layer set to Normal, but there are a lot of other possible Blending Modes that yield very different effects. I'm going to begin with this image of a flower and I'm going to create a new Layer by dragging it to the New Layer Icon so that I have a copy of it, and now I'm going to go up to Edit, Transform, Flip Horizontal, to make my second Layer just a little bit different than the first. In the Normal Blending Mode all we see is that top layer. If I turn off the Visibility of the top layer then you see the layer underneath. In Normal Blending Mode you see the top layer unless there's some transparency. When I click on the Blending Modes you can see that there are a lot of different options for the Blending Modes. These choices are divided into groups, Modes that make the second layer make the image darker in some way, Modes that make them lighter in some way, and other Modes that have them interact in still other ways. The idea is that by specifying the Blending Mode you're choosing the algorithms for how the two layers will be combined and therefore what you'll see. For example, an algorithm might say: Only use Layer 2 where in tones lighter than middle gray it's lighter than layer 1, and in tones darker than middle gray that it's darker than layer 1, and in that way layer 2 would be used to add contrast. I'm not going to go into the specific algorithms, instead we're going to take a look at the different effects, and by the way, you don't have to memorize what does what. It's all very visual. There are a few Blending Modes that will come in handy for you. For example, the Multiply and Screen Modes are useful when creating safe Dodge and Burn Layers that I'll demonstrate in another movie. Watch what happens as I try each of the different Blending Modes. Dissolve will look the same as Normal unless there are areas of transparency in the image. Darken makes it darker, but you can see different parts of the images now. Multiply darkens in a different way. Color Burn darkens yet a different way. Linear Burn, darker color. Each of these is combining the two images and making it darker in some way. Using the Lighten Blending Modes the images are going to combine differently. Here's Screen, Color Dodge, Linear Dodge, lighter color. Now we'll try Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, Hard Mix, Difference, Exclusion, Hue, Saturation, Color, and Luminosity. Some of these gave very weird effects, some of them were pretty; they're all very different. Depending on your image and the purpose of the Layer some Blending Modes are going to be more useful and others will not. And undoubtedly you'll use some Blending Modes more than others. The specific ones that are useful are definitely going to vary by image and your vision for that image. Exploring the Blending Modes will open all sorts of new possibilities for your images.
Tutorial Information
| Course: | Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers |
| Author: | Ellen Anon |
| SKU: | 34036 |
| ISBN: | 1-935320-74-2 |
| Release Date: | 2009-09-23 |
| Duration: | 8.5 hrs / 112 lessons |
| Work Files: |
Yes |
| Captions: | No |
| Compatibility: |
Vista/XP/2000, OS X, Linux QuickTime 7, Flash 8 |
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