Layer Blend Modes Exercise
What Are Layer Blend Modes?
Quite simply, layer blend modes give us different ways for a layer to interact with, or "blend" with, the layer or layers below it. Without layer blend modes, the only real way we have of blending layers together is by reducing the opacity (or fill) of a layer, which usually doesn't give us very interesting results. But with blend modes, not only do they unlock a world of creative possibilities, especially when we combine them with layer masks, they can also be extremely helpful when it comes to editing, retouching and restoring photos, and they can save us a whole lot of time!
When it comes to day-to-day photo editing work, there's really only five blend modes you need to know. What are they? Multiply, Screen, Overlay, Color, and Luminosity. Understand how and when to use these five blend modes and your life of photo editing with Photoshop becomes a whole lot easier.
Quite simply, layer blend modes give us different ways for a layer to interact with, or "blend" with, the layer or layers below it. Without layer blend modes, the only real way we have of blending layers together is by reducing the opacity (or fill) of a layer, which usually doesn't give us very interesting results. But with blend modes, not only do they unlock a world of creative possibilities, especially when we combine them with layer masks, they can also be extremely helpful when it comes to editing, retouching and restoring photos, and they can save us a whole lot of time!
When it comes to day-to-day photo editing work, there's really only five blend modes you need to know. What are they? Multiply, Screen, Overlay, Color, and Luminosity. Understand how and when to use these five blend modes and your life of photo editing with Photoshop becomes a whole lot easier.
Step 1
Watch this video about using Layer Blend Modes with Photoshop.
Step 2
Open Photoshop (remember you will use a different procedure if you're using Chromebook or personal computer at home) here at school in lab 21 at East Campus.
File Menu > Open > Layer Blend Modes.psd
This Photoshop document is available on the Google Classroom page to download and use for this exercise.
Open Photoshop (remember you will use a different procedure if you're using Chromebook or personal computer at home) here at school in lab 21 at East Campus.
File Menu > Open > Layer Blend Modes.psd
This Photoshop document is available on the Google Classroom page to download and use for this exercise.
The Layer Blend Modes.psd (Photoshop file) contains 4 different layers
Step 3
Use these different Layers in the image and EXPERIMENT with changing various Layer Blend Modes to match what you see in this example below. Each layer can also have Opacity changes so different layers become less visible.
Use these different Layers in the image and EXPERIMENT with changing various Layer Blend Modes to match what you see in this example below. Each layer can also have Opacity changes so different layers become less visible.
Step 4
Save this to Your Google Drive folder
File Menu > Save As Layer Blend Modes.PSD
Turn into Google Classroom when finished with this exercise
Save this to Your Google Drive folder
File Menu > Save As Layer Blend Modes.PSD
Turn into Google Classroom when finished with this exercise