Blending Tutorial - Summer School Week 1

Here is a video that hopefully will help you. I have included some helps for each mode, and linked the product at the bottom of this long post. lol Video does have a quick shot of me as a blonde and Mr. OfAlamo! lol


Now, I am on CS5, and know that some of these were in my Elements, and can't speak for other programs.
I have a kinda know what some of the modes will do, but I want to really stress, the best thing to do, is PUSH buttons, slide levels, play and play some more. This is our hobby, it is fun and try something new, it really is fun!

these are ones I use alot....but playing is the only way to find the right one!

Multiply in the Darken Group
Screen in Lightening Group
and then in the Contrast Groupp
Overlay
and Soft light


the Darken and Lighten groups are OPPOSITES of each other. If you use the first one in DARKEN and the first in the LIGHTEN group, it will be NORMAL.

There is MATH involved in the blends...don't run away.

It is all on a 0 to 255 LUMINANCE level it gets a bit crazy...but stay with me okay!?
Naaaaaaaah, I don't wanna do math, lets just create okay?
Real quick synopsis

Normal-Is anything really normal...just the beginning.

Dissolve - kinda pixelated pattern and transparent. Think Cartoon pages

----Darken Group
Darken-If used on DARKer than layer below it, they are kept, this adds some yep...darkness to photo

Multiply- THE best mode for Darkening. It creates some cool shadows and removes whites and other light colors, but keeps the dark. If it isn't dark enough, then apply Linear Burn or Color Burn.

*Color Burn-Darker than Multiply, and more saturated mid tones and reduced highlights.

*LInear Burn-also darker than Multiply, but not as much saturated

Darker Color-hang on, it too is DARK, but on a composite channel, not separate RGB channels...

----LIghten Group
LIghten-the light parts are kept (remember this is the opposite of Darken)

Screen-is a brighter result and takes away some of the darkness, and is smoother. This helps on making black colors disappear and keeping the white/light.

*Color Dodge-is even brighter than Screen, and make it more intense, but blows out the highlights

*LInear Dodge-this is brighter than the rest, and adds more LUMINance

Lighter Color-lightens on the composite, and again not on the colors. it takes two pixels, then always chooses the lighter of the two, and it may seem a bit harsh

Contrast Group
** this group all works by taking the lightest part and making it even lighter, and the darkest and yep, you guessed it make it darker. Then just drop out the gray tones. They are actually blends of the other modes (at a half power), to compliment each other.

Overlay-is a combination of Multiply and Screen, but at a half power.

Soft LIght-like the overlay, but it is more transparent

Hard Light-it takes on a bit of the LInear Dodge and LInear Burn at half strength. what you get in intensity, you also get harsher light.

*Vivid Light-Color Dodge and Color Burn, it is hard light in Overdrive and more extreme

*LInear Light-taking Linear Dodge and Burn (again at half strength) and mixing, for even more extreme

PIn LIght-taking Lighten and Darken for a nice 1/2 power mix. It is gonna drop out the darker parts and lighter parts. Your mid-tones will be almost completely gone.

*Hard MIx-your color is converted to all black or all white.

----Inversion Group

*Difference-this is hard to explain, but it inverts all the colors but not black, and white goes bye-bye similar colors cancel out each other to make black

Exclusion-same as Difference, except similar colors cancel out and go to gray, not black

----Cancellation Group

Subtract-blacks don't change, and whites will drop to black and similar colors go to black

Divide-this is extreme in highlights. Whites do NOT change, and similar colors go to white, but black stays black

----Component Group

HUE-the colors or shade of the layer, and blends in some luminance. YOu get the image from the lower level with the colors from the top layer.

Saturation-more on this as I figure out how to explain, lol

Color-blend the HUE and Saturation, this is a good way to change the color of an image.

Luminosity-keeps the luminosity, and then blends the hue and saturation(the color), blends them all together

*these special modes are gonna react differently when using the FILL or Opacity
products used in video...but there are so many on sale...you can get more! Images are linked.






The sale can be found HERE for the Overlays and Borders
and HERE for the Brushes

 

Oh dear, I just rewatched it, and my babble is a bit crazed...but I so hope you all have fun...

 

you all are so darn sweet, my ego may inflate and I will blow away!!