104 PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY
B
LENDINGMODESIN
Photoshoparerightat
the heartof creative
imagemaking,andif youlearn
tocontroltheireffectsyou’llsee
sweepingimprovementsto your
images.MuchlikelayerOpacity,
Bl endingModesgovernhowtwo
ormorelayersinteractwithone
anotherto producea finishedimage,
but theireffectis farmorevaried
and exciting.
WhileOpacitysimplyletsyou
controlhowvisiblea layeris on a
scalefrom0%(invisible)to 100%
(c ompletelyvisible),Blending
Modescombinelayersthrough
calculation,so changescanbe based
ontone,contrastandcolour.There
are morethan25 BlendingModesin
Photoshop,andsomeof theirnames
don’tmeanmuchatfirstglance,so
the rangecanbe dauntingatfirst,but it doesn’ttakelongto work out
whattheydo,andmoreimportantly
whichonesaremostuseful.FindtheBlendingModes
LayerBlendingModesaremost
commonlycontrolledwithin the
Layerspanel,butyoucanalso find
themby viaLayer>LayerStyles>
BlendingOptions. The latter route
hasmoreadvancedoptions which
we’lltakea lookatlater.
Tokickoffthisguide,we’ve
ta kena simpleportraitand, using
BlendingModes,we’llcombineit
withotherimagesandlayers to
makea creativephotomontage.
We’l lmakeuseof different
BlendingModes,Opacityandother
la yer-basedtoolsto makeit work
well as a whole,andproduce an
imagea bit likea multiple-exposure
photobutwitha lotmorecontrol.BlendingModesworkhand in handwithlayersto giveyou creativeeffects in
Photoshop.KingsleySingletonexplains all...To o l Up!THEEDIT
BLENDINGMODES
TheLayerspanelis
instrumentalin using
Blending Modesas they’re
only usable on layers.Click
the drop-down list hereto
find them.DIFFERENT
LAYERS & MODES
In this image Layers1 and 2
use the ScreenBlending
Mode,whiletheColorFill
la yerusesSoftLight.OPACITY& FILLSETTING
Opacitychangescanbe madeto
th e blendedlayersto lessentheir
ef fect.On a fewBlendingModes,
li keLinearLight,Fill hasa
differenteffectto Opacity.BACKGROUNDLAYER
Thelayerat thebottom
ofthestackis lockedand
socan’thavea Blending
Modeapplied.It’svisible
whenBlendingModesare
us edon layersabove.The Layers panel
1
Adda layerto theoriginalimage
Firstopentheimageyouwantto useintoPhotoshopor
El ements.Forthisexamplewe’restartingwitha portrait
ona darkbackground.Next,opentheLayerspanelwithWindow>
Layers. You’llseetheoriginalphotoin thereas theBackground
la yer,whichis locked.Nextwe needanotherimageto copyin, so
openup a texture,liketheblurredexample,andpressCtrl+A,then
Ctrl+Cto copyit. Backon theportrait,pasteit in withCtrl+V.In the
Layerspanelyou’llseethetexture(Layer1) is abovetheoriginal.TIP!
BlendingModescan
beusedforall sorts of
tasks,fromaddingsimple
texturesandtoning to
grandphoto
montages.