Blending Mode Introduction

In the screen shot here, you can see my layers palette with the base layer and the blend layer exactly as I have set it up for these examples. The Blending Mode is set from the menu at the top left of the layers palette.

When discussing blending modes, there is some basic terminology you should understand. I will be using these terms in my descriptions of each blending mode.

• The base color is the starting color of the original image.

• The blend color is the color being applied to the base image. In the examples I will show, you the blend source is a layer consisting of eight color blocks in varying levels of opacity. The blend color could also be applied with a painting tool.

• The result color is what you get after combining a blend color with the base color using a blending mode.

In the screen shot here, you can see my layers palette with the base layer and the blend layer exactly as I have set it up for these examples. The Blending Mode is set from the menu at the top left of the layers palette. When a blending mode is applied to the layer above, it will change the appearance of the colors in the layer below.

I have created my blending example image using multiple colors, tones, and opacities in my blend layer, so you can see how these differences change the results of each blending mode in different ways. If you'd like to follow along with my examples in a larger format, you may download my layered example file in PSD format (7.33 MB ZIP) and adjust blending modes on your own screen. I would also encourage you to experiment with blending modes using your own images.

There are two blending modes which are not available for layers--Clear and Behind. For these blending modes, I have used different images for my examples.