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Dan Rodney/3 min read

Understanding Blending Modes

Common Blending Modes

Multiply

Darkens — anything white disappears, anything darker gets darker. Useful for shadows and overlays.

Screen

Lightens — opposite of Multiply. White stays, darks fade. Useful for highlights, lens flares.

Overlay

Combines Multiply on dark areas, Screen on light areas. Adds contrast and saturation.

Color

Tints the image with the layer's hue and saturation while preserving luminosity.

Master Photoshop at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop's Photoshop Bootcamp covers retouching, compositing, color correction, and pro editing.

Learn the power and flexibility of blending modes in Photoshop, including Multiply, Screen, Overlay, and Color, and how to apply them for better photo editing.

Topics Covered in This Photoshop Tutorial:

Using Blending Modes (Multiply, Screen, Overlay, & Color)

Exercise Preview

blue woman done

Exercise Overview

Blending Modes are another powerful tool that Photoshop has to offer. Unfortunately they can sometimes be a bit tough to understand. In this exercise, we will explore a few common blending modes and see how they work.

  1. From the Photoshop Adv Class folder, open BlueWoman.psd.

  2. If the Histogram panel is not already visible, choose Window > Histogram.

  3. Examine the image using your eyes and the Histogram panel to see the tonal range.

    This photo happens to be true to the way the photographer shot the image, intending to capture a high-key, bluish look. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with the look of the picture as it is.

  4. In the Histogram panel, notice that there are no true blacks or whites in the entire image. It is also somewhat overexposed.

    blue woman histogram

Experimenting with Different Blending Modes

  1. Duplicate the Background layer (Cmd–J (Mac) or CTRL–J (Windows)).

  2. In the Layers panel, change the blending mode of the copied layer to Multiply:

    multiply blue woman

  3. Double–click on the new layer’s name and rename it Multiply. Note that the entire image has darkened, including the highlights.

  4. Let’s try another blending mode to see how it differs. First, hide the Multiply layer.

  5. Select the Background layer and duplicate it (Cmd–J (Mac) or CTRL–J (Windows)).

  6. In the Layers panel, change the blending mode of the copied layer to Screen. The entire image has lightened and has almost the opposite effect of Multiply.

  7. This isn’t really the effect we want now, so change the new layer’s blending mode to Overlay. Pixels on an overlay layer that are darker than 50% gray darken the pixels below them, while pixels brighter than 50% gray lighten, effectively adding contrast.

  8. Name the layer Overlay.

Using the Color Blending Mode to Tint an Image

Sometimes it is a nice effect to add a colored tint to an image. An easy way to do this is to use the Color blend mode.

  1. Click on the Multiply layer to select it.

  2. Go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color.

  3. Name it color tint and change the Mode to Color.

  4. Click OK.

  5. In the color picker, choose any color you want. The image is tinted with that color!

  6. Click OK when you are satisfied. For further detail on what each blending mode does, read the Blending Modes reference at the back of the book.

  7. When finished, close the file and don’t bother saving changes.