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
this is great Anne!!!! Love blending and my program has most of these blending modes, and look at you blondie!!!!
Anne, I love your voice (different than I expected, and I love those piercing blue eyes and your blond hair, and Mr ofalamo of course... ) Above all, what great ideas. From what I see could work in PSE or CC. Great Job. thanks.
Thanks for encouraging us to play more! Between blending modes and opacity changes, I could definitely play for hours on a layout. Now, can I justify that to Mr. K? lol You really do have some good tips - thanks for sharing them.
Great job my dear!!! I also use the fonts don't float style and then use blend modes and you get additional play toys @AnneofAlamo !!! Thanks!
You are really something else, Ms. Alamo. Such a bonus to hear your lovely voice for 15 wonderful minutes. I loved this tutorial!
your voice is very sweet Anne! thank you for all the hard work you did putting this together ... so many good ideas and ways to use the different products our fabulous designers create for us. you rock Anne!