Photoshop tutorial: 3 key layer blend modes

So today I wanna talk to you about Photoshop layer blend modes. 3 modes in particular: Screen, Overlay and Multiply blend modes.

A layer’s blend mode controls how pixels in the image are affected by that layer lying on top of them.

It’s helpful to think in terms of the following colors when visualizing a blending mode’s effect:

 

  • The base color is the original color in the image.
  • The blend color is the color of the blended layer.
  • The result color is the color resulting from the blend.

Multiply blend mode looks at the color information in each channel, and multiplies the base color by the blend color. The result color is always a darker color. Multiplying any color with black produces black. Multiplying any color with white leaves the color unchanged. When you’re painting with a color other than black or white, successive strokes with a painting tool produce progressively darker colors. The effect is similar to drawing on the image with multiple marking pens.

Screen blend mode looks at each channel’s color information and multiplies the inverse of the blend and base colors. The result color is always a lighter color. Screening with black leaves the color unchanged. Screening with white produces white. The effect is similar to projecting multiple photographic slides on top of each other.

Overlay blend mode multiplies or screens the colors, depending on the base color. Patterns or colors overlay the existing pixels while preserving the highlights and shadows of the base color. The base color is not replaced, but mixed with the blend color to reflect the lightness or darkness of the original color.

Well that’s a lot of jargon that doesn’t really get you anywhere, I Know… I know. But it had to be said. Now after you’ve read the above few lines, I’m gonna show you a brilliant video that explains all that stuff in simple terms and shows you how to apply what you’ve just learnt when editing your images to obtain the results you’re after. This video was uploaded by PeachpitVids on their YouTube channel. Towards the end, the guy also has an interesting theory concerning the opacity of the blended layer and how it relates to actual f-stops on a camera. I think it’s very interesting, so check it out…

3 Comments

  1. Williams Dean - January 30, 2011

    Very informative article and video. I’ve always kind of sensed how these blending modes worked through trial and error but I never really knew the concept behind that. Now I feel everything much more sense. And you’re right. That guy’s theory about f-stops and blending opacity is interesting indeed. Even if it wasn’t 100% “correct”, it is still a great asset for the photographer to be familiar with. Thanks a lot for this post :)

    Reply
  2. Gillian - January 30, 2011

    That video was awesome. It’s very useful and simple to comprehend and it explains the logic behind layer blend modes which I think every photography and designer should be aware of. Thanks for sharing

    Reply
  3. Bella Hunt - January 31, 2011

    Very helpful post.

    Reply

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