(gentle upbeat music)
- [Gareth] Hello, and welcome to this video tutorial.
Gareth here, from TastyTuts.com.
In Photoshop, we have the ability to blend layers together.
This opens up a new scope of creative possibilities.
In this tutorial, I'm going to discuss blending modes
and demonstrate what they are and how we can use them.
By the end of this tutorial,
you will have a good understanding
of how to use blending modes.
So to follow along with this video,
you will need to open this document
I have prepared especially for this tutorial.
This document can be found in the Essential Practice folder
in the Project folder.
Now, you can download this project folder for free.
The download link is in the description.
So with the project folder open,
click Essential Practice, open the Blending Modes folder,
and open the Blending Modes .psd,
and you should have something that looks like this.
So what are blending modes?
Blending modes are the ability to blend layers together
in the Layers panel.
We can use blending modes to create various visual effects
in the canvas area.
When we think about using blending modes,
we can locate them over in the Layers panel.
If we look closely at the top left-hand side,
just left of the Opacity option,
we can see a drop-down menu.
If we click this, we can see a list.
This is a list of all the possible blending modes
we can use.
So looking at this, we can see the list is divided
into five sections.
Each of these sections
applies a particular type of blending mode.
The top section applies darkness modes.
The second section applies lightening modes.
The third section applies contrast modes.
The fourth section applies comparative modes.
And the last section applies composite modes.
Now, at this stage, this might mean nothing to you,
but after a little experimentation,
you will soon learn what these mean
and the effects each blending mode has,
and which one will be right to use.
So there seems to be a lot of modes here,
but there are only a few that are commonly used.
So let's take a look at how blending modes work.
So with the document open,
if we look over in the Layers panel,
we can see that currently we have
the Birds smart object layer
at the bottom of the layers panel and three layers above,
but currently, the visibility is turned off.
We have a Paper layer, a Gradient layer,
and another Bird layer,
but this example has been flipped horizontal.
So by now, we are pretty much familiar
with the way layers work in the Layers panel.
The Layers panel works on a hierarchy from top to bottom.
The layers at the top will have the most visibility
than any layer below.
So to begin, I'm going to toggle the visibility
of the Paper layer.
So currently, we can see
that because the Paper layer is above the bird layer,
we can no longer see the layer below.
We learned in a previous tutorial
that if we toggle the opacity of a layer
on top of another layer,
we can begin to see the image through it.
So I'll toggle the visibility of this Paper layer to 50%.
Well, this is interesting,
but the effect is not that convincing.
If we want to create the illusion
that the bird image belongs to the crumpled paper,
this is not going to be all that convincing.
So I'll put the layer back to 100%.
So what I'm going to do now
is use a blending mode to blend the paper
with the bird image
to get a more convincing visual effect.
So with the Paper layer selected,
I'll come up to the blending modes
on the top left of the Layers panel, click the tab,
and from the list, I'm going to choose Multiply.
Upon click, the Paper layer above
has blended with the Bird layer below,
and that's looking a lot more convincing.
So why did we use the Multiply blending mode there?
Well, let's change the blending mode
currently applied to the Paper layer.
So let's come back up to the blending mode,
and this time come down and click on Overlay.
So, upon click, this has a completely different effect.
This is making our image look way too bright.
If we come back to the blending modes categories,
we can see that the Overlay blending mode
is part of the Contrast category,
thus, creating a contrasting bright effect.
So if we come back and apply the Multiply,
we can see this is the right effect to use
to make the paper look like it's part
of the Bird layer below.
This is because the Multiply layer
is part of the Darken modes.
All the white in the paper layer will become transparent,
and the black in the image will blend in the layer below,
thus darkening the image, giving us this effect.
So if this effect seems too intense,
I can now simply come over to the opacity
of the Paper layer and just tweak this until I'm happy.
Nice.
So the next layer I have above the Paper layer
is a Gradient layer.
So I'll toggle the visibility of this.
So what I want to do here is blend this gradient
on top of the layers below.
So with the layer selected, I'll come up to blending modes
and this time apply a blending mode of Overlay.
Now, we can see the gradient blend
with the Paper and the Bird layer below,
and that's looking quite interesting.
Now let's come back to the blending mode
and click on Saturation.
We can now see an entirely new effect taking hold.
So I'll come up and change the blending mode
to one of the Lighten modes.
I'll choose Screen,
and we can see the effect that is having.
Screen being a Lightening mode,
it's having an overall lightening effect.
So various blending modes apply various effects.
So I'll change this one back to Overlay,
one of the Contrast modes,
and I'll tweak the opacity just to decrease the intensity.
So next, in the layers panel, I have a Bird raster layer.
I'll toggle the visibility of this.
So this is the same image as below,
but has been flipped horizontal.
So let's take a look at how an image can look
set as a blending mode.
So with the layer selected, I'll come up to blending modes
and give this a Lightening blending mode of Screen.
Now we can see that this layer is blending
with every layer below,
and has applied an overall lightening effect.
I'll change the opacity of this layer to 80%,
and that's looking pretty interesting.
Now let's come back to the blending modes option,
and this time, I'll apply a Composite blending mode
of Luminosity and check that out.
That's pretty cool, right?
So now we have three layers on top of the original layer,
all with their own unique blending mode applied,
creating this interesting visual effect.
Now, we must keep in mind that blending modes work
to the usual layer panel hierarchy system,
from top to bottom.
So now we have this particular layer structure
in the Layers panel.
If, for example, I now come in and select the Paper layer
and move this to the top of the layer structure,
we will see that layer and its blending mode
will become more prominent, because it's now on the top.
So when using blending modes,
you must pay close attention to the layer structure
and the hierarchy.
As you use various layers and blending modes,
it's all about the combination and the structure
that can determine the overall effect.
You will come to realize
that there are endless possibilities
of the combinations of layers and blending modes
you can explore to create various visual effects.
So be sure to take some time to experiment
and explore the blending modes on offer.
Keep in mind the various categories of blending modes
that are on offer so you can apply the right blending mode
to capture the right effect you're looking for.
So that's how to use blending modes in Photoshop.
Well, this brings us towards the end
of the essential practice section on this course.
Over the last 14 episodes,
we have learned some of the key features
a beginner should be familiar with
as they begin using Photoshop.
In Photoshop, once a project is complete,
there are a wide range of formats
you can save out your image to.
It all comes down to what the image will be used for.
In the next video, we are going to learn
the various formats that can be saved in Photoshop.
See you in the next video.
(gentle upbeat music)