 
Hey guys, welcome back to Dreamframer
Photography. Today, we are continuing our
story about Photoshop layers, but this
time we are talking about blend modes.
What are blend modes, how they work, and
how can we use them to merge this image
with this image, and get something like
this. There is a lot of math going on
here, but I promise you, I'm not going to
bother you with any kind of formulas or
anything like that. I'm just gonna show
you how, and when to apply certain blend
mode to get the desired result. If you
have any questions after this tutorial
don't hesitate to ask me, and also press
that like button if you like this video,
and subscribe for more videos like this.
Ok guys, let's learn about blending modes.
I opened this image, and of course
Photoshop places the image
automatically in the background layer
and locks it, and then I added a new
layer by clicking on the new layer icon,
but this time I used a Type Tool. I just..
let me turn on the visibility for this
layer, so I just clicked on the Type Tool
and I clicked on the image, and i typed
HOME. Whenever you click on any tool in
the toolbox you will see the options for
that tool on the top of the main window.
One of the options for the Type tTool is
the color of the font. In this case, I
chose the color to be black. Ok, now if you
are new to Photoshop, and you have no
idea what layers are, this is a good
moment to tell you to go to my playlist
"Photoshop Tutorials" and find a video
"Working with Layers in Photoshop - Part 1",
or just click on the card that showed up
on the screen now. In that video I showed
you how to decrease the opacity of the
top layer to see the layer below it.
However, that's not real blending. Real
blending is when Photoshop applies
special algorithms to mix, or blend,
pixels of two layers, so, the colors and
the tones of two layers, in order to
achieve a desired
result. So, let me remind you. All
these icons and things on the top of
this layers panel are related to the
selected layer, okay? So, over here it says
"Normal". that means that our selected
layer is in normal blend mode. if I click
here, you're going to see a whole bunch
of other blend modes, and normal is the
first one, because it's default. The
second one is "Dissolve", and then we have
another five groups of blend modes. They
are grouped like this because blend
modes in one group have similar
properties. So, again, blending is not
about just looking to one layer to see
the layer below it, or layers below it.
Blending is about mixing colors and
tones from two or more layers to get a
desired effect. I've seen quite a few
people covering everything about blend
modes in one tutorial, but I don't think
that's the best approach, because there
is a lot of information, So, I decided to
split this into two tutorials, and talk
today just about the first three groups
of blend modes, and then make another
tutorial about the rest of them. Now,
whenever you open a new image, Photoshop
sets the blend mode for that image to
normal. Also, when you create a new layer,
Photoshop sets the blend mode for that
layer to normal. This simply means that
our layer looks just like a regular
image, and it doesn't mix with other
layers. if I go up here and change the
blend mode to Dissolve. let's see what
happens. Nothing happened, and why is that?
That's because Dissolve blend mode works
only with semi-transparent objects. In
our case the letters HOME are not
transparent at all, so to see the effect
of this blend mode we need to change the
opacity for this layer. For that to
happen, if you remember from our previous
tutorials, I'm going to go over here, and
pull this slider to the left to decrease
the opacity of our layer. As I'm pulling
the slider to the left you can see that
our letter
are becoming transparent, but not in a
smooth way. They are grainy, or noisy. As
I'm pulling the slider more to the left
there is less and less of these specks,
until we completely lose our letters
because they became completely
transparent. if I go back to the full
opacity, we have our letters back. So, the
only difference between Normal and
Dissolve, in our case, would be noticeable
here on these edges. And, let me switch
back to Normal to show you something.
When I click on Normal you can see these
smooth nice edges of our letters, but
if you pay close attention you will see
that those edges are actually made of
semi-transparent pixels. So, when I switch
back to Dissolve these pixels become
either completely opaque, or completely
transparent, and that's basically all
about this blend mode. I don't think I've
ever used it in photography but maybe
you will so it's good to know. Now let's
move to another two groups. we're going
to do them together because they are
kind of related. They just do the
opposite thing. So, the first group will
make your image darker, and the first
mode there is called Darken. The second
group will make your image lighter, and
the first mode over there is called
Lighten, so you can remember them by
those names. These modes are sorted like
this for a reason. For example, the mode
Darken is completely the opposite of the
mode Lighten. The mode Multiply is
completely the opposite of the mode
Screen. The mode Color Burn is completely
the opposite of the Color Dodge, and so
on. So, that's why we're going to do them
together. Let's see how they work. I'm
going to click on Darken. Nothing, right?
And that's because this blend mode
actually doesn't blend pixels from two
layers. Tt looks at pixels of both layers
and decides which pixels are darker so
shows only those pixels.
In our case we have letters home that
are completely black. there is nothing
that dark in the lower layer. That's why
we still see our letters the same way we've
seen them before. So, in order to see any
effect, we have to change the color of
these letters and see what will
Photoshop come up with if we choose the
same blend mode. So, let me change the
color of the text to do that. While my
type tool is active I'm going to go up
here and click on the text color, and my
cursor immediately changed into
eyedropper tool, right? So, I'm going to
click, let's say, here, to make the letters
the same color as this mountain, and look
what happens. So, you can see that
now our text has the same color as this
mountain over here, and because the
letters are now darker than the sky, we
see the letters over the sky. On the
other side, wherever the lower layer is
darker than our letters, we see the
pixels from that lower layer. So, these
mountains are darker than the letters,
and we see the mountains. Isn't that cool?
So, Photoshop looks at both layers, and
chooses pixels that are darkest in that
area, and shows those pixels. So let me
change the color now to something darker.
If I click here, we made our letters
darker, and now we see more of those. Now
there are some parts of the image where
you can see the actual blending of two
layers and that's what the lightness of
both layers is similar. To see that
better, you can change the color of the
text and have more or less of that, and
just play with it to get different
results.
Okay that was blend mode Darken. Now
let's see what the opposite blend mode
does, and the opposite blend mode is
called Lighten. In this case Photoshop
should choose the lightest pixels of
these two layers and display only those
pixels. What we see now basically should
be completely the opposite of what we
will see when we click on the blend mode
Lighten. We shouldn't see letters over
the sky, but we should see letters over
those mountains. And just as we expected,
we don't see the letters over the sky
because the sky and the clouds are
lighter than our letters. On the other
side, we see letters over the mountains,
because the mountains are darker than
our letters. So, let's go back to Darken
and see the opposite. Okay, now we have two
blend modes that are very similar to
Darken and Lighten, and those are Darker
Color and Lighter Color. They do almost
the same thing as Darken and Lighten, but
if you choose Darken or Lighten, you will
have sometimes that smooth transition
between the two layers. However if you
want to display the exact color that is
darker or lighter, you will have to
choose either Darker Color or Lighter
Color blend mode. Depending on the color
that you chose for your layers, the
effects can look exactly the same like
Darken or Lighten blend mode. So, let's
click on Darker Color and see. In our
case, we have exactly the same result.
Let's go back to Darken and compare. You
see? There is no any change. But if I
change the color for the text, let's say
I choose this color, in Darken mode you
can see the smooth transition between
the two layers where the luminosity is
similar.
It looks pretty smooth, right? If you
don't want these colors to blend like
this, you have to choose either Darker
Color, or Lighter Color mode. Now, when I
clicked on Darker Color we can see this
harsh transition between the two layers,
and we can see the actual color that is
darker from both layers. If I chose
Lighter Color blend mode I would see
only the lightest pixels and the actual
color from both layers. Let's go back to
Darken mode and see the difference again.
You see this blending between the two
layers, right? Now, let's go to our Lighten
mode and see what kind of result we can
get there. So, I'm going to click on
Lighten, and as we already know, we see
our letters over the mountains, because
the letters are lighter than the
mountains. We see some blending over here,
but if i switch to Lighter Color, then
there is no blending anymore. We just see
the exact color that is lighter than the
color from another layer. So, basically,
these four blend modes, Darken and Darker
Color, Lighten and Lighter Color, can give
you sometimes the same kind of result,
and sometimes very different. I don't use
them much anyway, but maybe you will, so
it's good to know. Now, let's see what
other blend modes do. Let me go back to
normal, and let me choose our old color.
This one, okay...
Now, let's go to another blend mode. This
one I use much more often. Let's click on
multiply. You can see that now both
layers are visible, but the places where
layers are overlapping are darker than
any of these layers separately. This is
because this blend mode works in a way
like putting two papers one over another,
and looking through them. So, now we see
both layers, but they are darker wherever
there is any paint on them. If I decrease
the opacity I can decrease the effect,
or increase it. So, never forget about
the opacity slider. You can always use it
with any blend mode, okay? You can use
multiply blend mode to add shadows for
example. The opposite of multiply is
Screen. So, what Screen does is exactly the opposite from
Multiply. Screen blend mode takes into
account pixels from both layers, and
blends them in a way to make them lighter.
So, it does completely the opposite of
the Multiply mode. Let me click on
Screen to show you. You see, we still have
both layers visible but wherever the
text is overlapping the lower layer
those colors are lighter than any of
these two layers. So, let me go back to
Normal. Look at the letters. So, letters are
kind of, I don't know, light blue-grey, but
if I switch to Screen, the letters
become even lighter than they were
before. And Multiply is the opposite. So,
so far we learned about these blend
modes: Darken, Darker Color, Lighten,
Lighter Color, Multiply, and Screen. We're
left with Color Burn, Linear Burn, and
also Color Dodge and Linear Dodge. Let's
switch to Color Burn blend mode.
So, what happened to our image? Again, the
image is darker wherever these two
layers are overlapping. So, this whole
group will make your image darker.
However, when you click on Color Burn, you
get more contrast than with Multiply
blend mode. Let's switch back to Multiply
to compare. So, this is Multiply, where
everything is darker. But, if I click to
Color Burn, then you will see that we
have much higher contrast. Darker areas
are really dark now, and the lighter
areas are not that dark. Also, the color
saturation is increased, especially in
these darker parts. The same thing would be
with Color Dodge, just the opposite, of
course. So, now we have lighter parts of
the image really light, almost white,
and these darker parts are more
saturated, much more saturated then if
you use only Screen blend mode. So, these
were Color Burn and Color Dodge. Now,
let's see what Linear Burn and Linear
Dodge do. Let's click on Linear Burn.
Linear Burn almost reminds me of
Multiply, but remember Multiply? I didn't
have these dark areas here. So, in Linear
Burn mode you get darker image with
higher contrast. Let me switch back to
Color Burn to compare.
So, this is Color Burn. You see how much
lighter are these light areas if I switch
back to Multiply? Look at the shadows. So,
everything looks darker, but the contrast
is not there. If i go back to Linear
Burn, then you can clearly see
increased contrast, especially in these
dark areas. Let's see what Linear Dodge
does. If i click on Linear Dodge, then we
have results similar to Color Dodge, but
colors are not that saturated. Let's go
back to Color Dodge and compare. You see
the difference? And this is Linear Dodge.
So, basically, this group will make your
image darker, and this group will make
your image lighter. Among each group we
have modes that will make the image 
more contrasty, or less contrasty, as
well as more saturated, and less
saturated. You have to practice a little
bit with these blend modes to know
exactly when to use which one during
your workflow. I prepared another image
to show you the practical application of
this. So, here I have two layers. There are
two different landscapes. I have this
landscape on top, and then below it I
have our old landscape with the house. So,
let's say I want to blend these two
landscapes and make one. I want these
trees to be somehow here above the house,
and I also want this sky to replace this
sky from this layer. So, how am I going to
do that? First of all, I'm gonna grab our
move tool and grab this top layer, and
move it up to position it properly...
maybe something like this, okay. Now,
this is kind of the position that I want,
but I see this sharp line between the
two layers and I can't just decrease the
opacity for the top layer because I'm
gonna see everything from both layers,
right? So, what should I do if I want to
show the
trees from this layer? The trees are
darker than the equivalent area of the
layer below. So, how am I going to show
the trees? Well, I'm gonna choose the
blend mode that shows darkest pixels of
the two layers. So, I'm going to
choose Darken, and you can see that we
already kind of have pretty much good
result, except few things that we have to
correct. For example, the tree trunks are
lighter than those mountains from the
lower layer, right? Let me switch out the
visibility for the top layer. So, this
forest here is darker than the tree
trunks in the top layer. So, how am I
going to hide that forest from the lower
layer? I'm gonna hide it with a layer
mask. We learned that in the previous
tutorial. So, I'm gonna make the lower
layer active and click down here to
create a layer mask for this layer. Now
when the layer mask is active I'm gonna
go and grab our brush tool and black
color, increase the size of the brush a
little bit and I'm just going to start
painting over the mask, and you can see
that we are hiding the parts of the
lower layer where that forest is. So,
whenever you paint with black color over
the mask, those parts of the equivalent
layer will be hidden. At the same time, we
are exposing those parts from the top
layer. So, I'm gonna do this through the
whole image, and I'm going to speed up
the process so we don't lose too much
time on it.
Okay, now, if you want to hide part of the
top layer, like for example these rocks
over here, you can do that by adding a
layer mask to the top layer this time. So,
these rocks belong to the top layer. Let
me switch back the visibility to Normal.
So, you can see that. So, those rocks, if we
want to hide them, we have to add a layer
mask to the top layer. So, let me switch
back to Darken Mode, and I'm going to
click down here and add a layer mask to
the top layer, and then I'm gonna
decrease the size of a brush so it's
more precise, and again use the black
color. Oops, I did it too much. So, this
checkerboard shows me that those pixels
are transparent, and to fix that I'm just
gonna switch my foreground color to
white, and I'm gonna paint back those
parts of the mask. Easy as that. I'm going
to click X on my keyboard, or click here,
it's the same thing, it's switching between
foreground and background color, and I'm
gonna keep removing these rocks with my
black color. Learning these shortcuts,
like pressing X in this case, can really
speed up your workflow. You will need to
change foreground and background color
many times when you work with masks, and
the fastest way to do that is just to
press X on your keyboard.
So, I'm going to keep doing this, removing
these rocks, and I'm going to keep
pressing X to change between white and
black over here to fix whatever I mess
up, until I'm done with the image. So this
is how easy this is. We just merged two
landscapes into one. I'm not going to
bother too much with the rocks on the
left because they are blending into
grass in a pretty unnatural way, because
I don't want this tutorial to last too
long. Let me show you something else. Let
me show you how you can use one of those
blend modes from the Lighten group. So,
we have our landscape again, and let's
say we want to add a Moon. So, I prepared
another image, the image of the Moon, and
I'm going to click ctrl, or command on
Mac, to select the whole image, and then
ctrl-c, or command-c on Mac to copy this
image. Then I'm going to go to our
landscape, and click ctrl-v, or command-v
to paste this image, and then I'm going
to move it up here. The Moon is, of course,
in normal blend mode, but I want to tell
Photoshop to change that and to show me
only the light pixels from this layer,
and hide these dark pixels. So, I'm just
going to click Screen, and look at that.
In one click we have the Moon in the sky,
and it looks completely natural except,
the full Moon can't be seen in the broad
daylight, because the Sun has to be on
the opposite side of the Earth, so pay
attention and those things. Don't put the
full moon and the Sun for example on the
same side of the landscape. I'm not going
to go and try to find another image or
the moon because this is just a tutorial.
You get the idea, right? if the Moon now
looks too bright you can always go and
decrease the opacity of this layer, and
make it look more natural, but it's your
decision.
So, now you know how to add the moon to
the sky using screen blend mode. This was
the first half of a story about blend
modes. The other half, in the next tutorial.
Photoshop is really powerful, and it can
do a lot of things that other image
editing software can't do. Adobe has this
great package for photographers that
includes Photoshop, Bridge, Lightroom a
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mobile apps, and a website that can serve
at your personal portfolio. All these
cost only nine $9,99 per
month. If you decide to pay for this
subscription, I will be grateful if you
use my affiliate link from the
description of this video. That way
you're also helping me make more videos
like this. See you soon!
Bye!
