My previous post was about the concept of Layers in photoshop which is a brief intoduction of layers. In this post I will be going in more detail and will be explaining Layer blending modes.
Understanding Layer blending modes is slightly difficult, you can only master them by practice and not just by reading various tutorials. But before you start, you should have a basic overview of different layer blending modes.
(The image on the left is provided by Sanctu.)
Layer Blending
Layer blending refers to the extent the overlapping layers interact with each other to yield the broader final picture. So say you have a layer containing th image of a lady, while on thesecond layer you have the image of a fish, you can easily create the effect of a mermaid by reducing the opacity of both layers and adjusting the layer blending mode. Effectively, the two layers merge down the centre.
Layer Blending Modes
Here are some popular blending modes :-
Normal
As the name suggests, in this mode, the layers blend normally and is set by default. When a pattern is set at 100% opacity, we would'nt see the base image at all. To get a glimpse of base layer, you have to reduce the opacity of the upper layer. After reducing the opacity of the upper layer to 50%, which effectively means half transperency, the base layer begins to show up.
Dissolve
In order to use Dissolve, the opacity of the top layer should be less than 100%. It gives a dissolve like effect as if upper layer is dissolving in lower layer.
Multiply
Multiply blending mode multiplies the base colour by the blend colour to yield the resultant colour. It always results in darker hues. But how could the colours get multiplied? It's precisely the multiplication of the values of the colours.
Screen
Now that you have seen how the multiply effect works, you will notice that the Screen effect is exactly opposite. Screen performs the xact same multiplication steps as Multiply, except that every numerical value is replaced with its inverse.
Overlay
The overlay effect is between the results of Multiply and Screen. However, it lets the base image stand out more - this is because it uses Multiply mode on shadows and Screen mode on highlights.
Soft Light
The soft light effect works by using the blend image as a light source (a soft light) for the base image. So, if the blend colour has a brightness of more than 50%, then the base colour gets lightened . Similarly, if the blend image's colour is darker than 50% then the base image's colour gets darkened.
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