Blending modes in Photoshop Part 2

Hello everyone. In last tutorial we discussed Normal and Darken color blending modes. In case you have missed the first part of the tutorial click here.

In this second part we will discuss the next two blending modes categories.

• Lighten
• Contrast

1)Lighten

• Lighten
• Screen
• Color Dodge
• Linear Dodge (Add)
• Lighter Color

 

2) Contrast

• Overlay
• Soft Light
• Hard Light
• Vivid Light
• Linear Light
• Pin Light
• Hard Mix

 

Lighten

Each of these blend modes gives the effect of lightening the image.

 

1) Lighten

It is exactly opposite of Darken mode. It compares the RGB value of Background  layer with RGB value of Active layer and then the higher values are preserved. Keyboard Shortcut for Lighten mode is Shift + Alt + G

2) Screen

It is exactly opposite on Multiply mode. It compares the RGB values of two layers and multiplies the inverse of the active and background colors.

Math: 1−(1−A)×(1−B}

Keyboard Shortcut for Screen is Shift + Alt + S

Color Dodge

It compares the RGB values of two layers and brightens the base color to reflect the blend color by decreasing the contrast. Blending with black produces no change.

Math: B÷(1−A)

Shortcut for Color Dodge is Shift + Alt + D

 

Linear Dodge

It compares the RGB value and then brightens the base color to reflect the blend color by increasing the contrast.

Math: A+B

Keyboard Shortcut for Linear Dodge is Shift + Alt + W.

 

Contrast mode

Each of these blend modes both darken and lighten aspects of the image, boosting the contrast.

 

Overlay

This blending mode multiplies or screens the color, depending on base color.  The base color is not replaced, but mixed with the blend color to reflect the lightness or darkness of the original color.

Keyboard Shortcut for Overlay is Shift + Alt + O.

 

Soft Light

Soft light darkens or lightens the color depending on blend color. If the blend color is lighter than 50% gray then the image is lightened. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray then image is darkened. Keyboard Shortcut for soft light is Shift + Alt + F

Hard Light

Hard light screens or multiplies the color depending on blend color. If the blend color is lighter than 50% gray then the image is lightened. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray then image is darkened.  Keyboard Shortcut for soft light is Shift + Alt + H

 

Vivid Light

Burns or dodges the color by increasing or decreasing the contrast, depending on the blend color. . If the blend color is lighter than 50% gray then the image is lightened. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray then image is darkened. Keyboard Shortcut for soft light is Shift + Alt + V

 

Linear Light

Burns or dodges the color by increasing or decreasing the brightness, depending on the blend color. . If the blend color is lighter than 50% gray then the image is lightened. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray then image is darkened. Keyboard Shortcut for soft light is Shift + Alt + J

 

 

Pin Light

Replaces the color ,depending on blend color. If the blend color is lighter than 50% gray, pixels darker than blend colors are replaced. Pixels lighter than blend color do not change. Keyboard Shortcut for soft light is Shift + Alt + Z

 

Here we end our second part of our blending mode tutorial. In next part we will cover Inversion , Cancellation and Component blending mode.

 

• Blending modes in Photoshop Part 3
• Blending modes in Photoshop Part 1