Working With Photoshop Blending Modes
In this lesson, we will take a brief look at opacity and blending options in Photoshop and how you can generate unusual image effects by utilizing them. There isn’t enough time to look at each of the blending modes as there are 23 of them in all, however this will be more an overview of how they work.
When you blend layers you are adjusting the way pixels on the different layers combine with each other and this will give us some cool, and remarkable, results. Blending modes are a fabulous way to create multiple-image artwork.
I start out a Photoshop file that has two layers. One layer is an image of an old building with a yellow wall and the other layer has a staircase on the outside of an apartment block. When you’re trying this out yourself, just use any Photoshop image with two different layers, with something on each layer.
Please note that it’s easier to work with layers if you give each layer a descriptive name. Don’t just leave each layer with its default of Layer 1, Layer 2, Layer 3, etc. When you’re dealing with an image with 20 layers this will become very tiresome when you’re trying to figure out what’s on each layer.
Step 1 To change a layers name double-click the layer name in the Layers palette. A bounding box will appear around the words Layer 1. Type a new name and Press Return or Enter.
Note: Make sure you click directly on the layer name, otherwise you will open the Layer Style dialog box and you won’t be able to rename the layer.
Step 2 To select your layer click on the eye icon on the newly-named Field layers and the image of the field appears in the image and the Farm House is hidden.
Step 3 With the Field layer selected in the Layers palette, click on the arrow beside the opacity field and drag the slider to 40%. Notice that everything on this layer - the field becomes less opaque (more see-through).
Step 4 Lowering the opacity of a layer makes the artwork on that layer more translucent, so that the layers beneath it show through.
Step 5 Drag the opacity slider back to 100% so that you can see the Stairs normally.
Step 6 On the layers palette, click on the down arrow beside the field that says “Normal”. By default, layer appear with a blending mode of Normal.
Step 7 From the drop down menu that appears, choose Hard Mix.
You should see a dramatic change in the image.
Play for a few minutes and try out different blending modes to see how the image is affected with each one.
The Multiply mode is probably one of the most often used blending modes. It blends layers to produce a darker colour, except where there are white pixels. The white pixels will disappear.
When you have found a blending mode that produces an effect you like, click on the Stairs palette to select it. Click on the “Create a New Layer” button at the bottom of the Layers palette.
A new empty layer appears in the Layers palette just above the Stairs layer, but nothing has changed on your image in the document window. When you add a new layer, by default the layer is empty and transparent. You’re now going to use this new layer to draw a border around the image you’ve been working on. The benefit to drawing on this layer, as opposed to drawing on any of the other layers, is that it can be isolated on its own - turned on or off, transparency adjusted and other adjustments applied to the layer.
Make sure that the new empty layer is selected. Select the Brush tool from the Toolbox (or hit B on the keyboard). On the tool options bar, click on the Brush Preset Picker and select a rough looking brush. (I picked a Dry Brush Light Flow) and set the master diameter to about 100 pixels. On the toolbox, set the foreground colour to black by hitting “D” on the keyboard - this sets the foreground and background colours to their default - black and white. Start drawing around the edge of the image to create a rough border.
Rename the layer as “B order”. (Yes, I know I’m nagging about the naming of layers but it’s good practice!)
The benefit of drawing on this new blank layer is that if you don’t like your work you can turn it off without affecting your entire image. You could also lessen the opacity to see how that looks.
Take some time to try adding another layer to your image and draw some more. Pick different brushes and colours and choose some blending modes.
So that’s it for our tutorial on blending modes and opacity. Obviously the best way to find out how they work is to experiment and check out all the different effects you can achieve.
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