If you use Photoshop, you may have noticed the little drop down menu above the layers that says NORMAL all of the time. That is the blend mode for each layer. Each blend mode effects the way the selected layer interacts with the layers below it. It is quite similar to the transparency slider next to it, but blend modes and the transparency slider are meant to work together to achieve a desired effect.
The blend modes are separated by the ways they work. NORMAL & DISSOLVE stacks layers on top of each other as if you stacked pieces of paper, nothing special.
DARKEN, MULTIPLY, COLOR BURN, LINEAR BURN, & DARKER COLOR all effect the pixels of the layer that are lighter than 50% grey. They take these pixels and make them transparent, based upon a mathematical function that states how transparent a pixel should be according to it's lightness or darkness. Since you cannot see lighter pixels with these, they let the darker pixels come through and blend with the layers below it; Black is completely opaque and 50% gray gives shadow to the layers below, as well as let colors come through.
LIGHTEN, SCREEN, COLOR DODGE, LINEAR DODGE (ADD), & LIGHTER COLOR all do the opposite of the previous group of blend modes, letting the lighter pixels be seen.
OVERLAY, SOFT LIGHT, HARD LIGHT, VIVID LIGHT, LINEAR LIGHT, PIN LIGHT, & HARD MIX all effect the mid range of brightness. Since they effect grey the most, they preserve lighting from the layer, and let the colors come through, making these blend modes perfect for compositing, photo manipulation, and making anything look like it's actually in a picture.
The rest of the blend modes effect color, luminosity, etc. These are almost never used. But feel free to play around with them.
The blend modes you'll probably find yourself playing around with the most are OVERLAY, SOFT LIGHT, SCREEN, MULTIPLY, & COLOR BURN. Remember that all of the blend modes are made for blending things together, hence "Blend Modes." Most of the time, you'll have to play around with different combinations of blend modes and different opacities to figure out what looks best.
Play around! Try taking a photo, duplicating it with CTRL+J (CMND+J on mac), desaturating one of the layers, then playing with the blend modes for cool effects. Also, try integrating text or a logo onto a shirt or something by making it grey and using OVERLAY or MULTIPLY!
ACTIONS!
In photoshop, you can create things called ACTIONS. Actions are steps that photoshop has recorded and combined into a single command or, action. The great thing about actions, is that it makes photo editing faster and more efficient. You can create custom actions for anything you usually do to a photo, or for anything you may want to do to a photo, but not take the time to do each step individually.
To create your own action, click on the actions tab, represented by a little play button. Then click the NEW ACTION button next to the trash can in the actions tab. Name your new action, and select which key you would like to assign the action to (F1-F12, also with SHIFT and CTRL options), then click RECORD. From this point on, photoshop is recording every change you make to the photo; every single action you take. Once it is recording the new action, perform the editing you wish to make into an ACTION. When this is done, click the STOP button in the ACTIONS TAB. You have now created a new action! Your action can be used any time from the ACTIONS TAB, or by pressing the key(s) you assigned to it.
Alternatively, you can install 3rd party actions from companies and other photoshop users. This is quite easy; just copy all of the action files you wish to put into photoshop, and paste them in the ACTIONS FOLDER in your file browser. This folder is located in C//:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop\Presets\ACTIONS on PC, and Macintosh HD\Applications\Photoshop\Presets\ACTIONS on MAC.
ACTIONS!
In photoshop, you can create things called ACTIONS. Actions are steps that photoshop has recorded and combined into a single command or, action. The great thing about actions, is that it makes photo editing faster and more efficient. You can create custom actions for anything you usually do to a photo, or for anything you may want to do to a photo, but not take the time to do each step individually.
To create your own action, click on the actions tab, represented by a little play button. Then click the NEW ACTION button next to the trash can in the actions tab. Name your new action, and select which key you would like to assign the action to (F1-F12, also with SHIFT and CTRL options), then click RECORD. From this point on, photoshop is recording every change you make to the photo; every single action you take. Once it is recording the new action, perform the editing you wish to make into an ACTION. When this is done, click the STOP button in the ACTIONS TAB. You have now created a new action! Your action can be used any time from the ACTIONS TAB, or by pressing the key(s) you assigned to it.
Alternatively, you can install 3rd party actions from companies and other photoshop users. This is quite easy; just copy all of the action files you wish to put into photoshop, and paste them in the ACTIONS FOLDER in your file browser. This folder is located in C//:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop\Presets\ACTIONS on PC, and Macintosh HD\Applications\Photoshop\Presets\ACTIONS on MAC.
