# PhotoshopElements

# About blending modes

Blending modes control how pixels in an image are affected by a painting or editing tool. It’s helpful to think in terms of the following colors when visualizing a blending mode’s effect:

- The base color is the original color in the image.

- The blend color is the color applied by the painting or editing tool.

- The result color is the color resulting from the blend.

The Multiply blending mode (top), Screen blending mode (center), and Luminosity blending mode (bottom) applied to the starfish layer.

You can choose any of the following blending modes from the Mode menu in the options bar:

Normal
  Edits or paints each pixel to make it the result color. This is the default mode. (Normal mode is called Threshold when you’re working with an image in bitmap or indexed-color mode.)

Dissolve
  Edits or paints each pixel to make it the result color. However, the result color is a random replacement of the pixels with the base color or the blend color, depending on the opacity at any pixel location. This mode works best with the brush tool and a large brush.

Darken
  Looks at the color information in each channel and selects the base or blend color—whichever is darker—as the result color. Pixels lighter than the blend color are replaced, and pixels darker than the blend color do not change.

Multiply
  Looks at the color information in each channel and multiplies the base color by the blend color. The result color is always a darker color. Multiplying any color by black produces black. Multiplying any color by white leaves the color unchanged. When you’re painting with a color other than black or white, successive strokes with a painting tool produce progressively darker colors. The effect is similar to drawing on the image with multiple felt-tipped pens.

Color Burn
  Looks at the color information in each channel and darkens the base color to reflect the blend color. Blending with white produces no change.

Linear Burn
  Looks at the color information in each channel and darkens the base color to reflect the blend color by decreasing the brightness. Blending with white produces no change.

Lighten
  Looks at the color information in each channel and selects the base or blend color—whichever is lighter—as the result color. Pixels darker than the blend color are replaced, and pixels lighter than the blend color do not change.

Screen
  Looks at each channel’s color information and multiplies the inverse of the blend and base colors. The result color is always a lighter color. Screening with black leaves the color unchanged. Screening with white produces white. The effect is similar to projecting multiple photographic slides on top of each other.

Color Dodge
  Looks at the color information in each channel and brightens the base color to reflect the blend color. Blending with black produces no change.

Linear Dodge (Add)
  Looks at the color information in each channel and brightens the base color to reflect the blend color by increasing the brightness. Blending with black produces no change.

Lighter Color
  Compares the total of all channel values for the blend and base color and displays the higher value color. Does not produce a third color, which can result from the Lighten blend, because it chooses the highest channel values from both the base and blend color to create the result color.

Overlay
  Multiplies or screens the colors, depending on the base color. Patterns or colors overlay the existing pixels while preserving the highlights and shadows of the base color. The base color is mixed with the blend color to reflect the lightness or darkness of the original color.

Soft Light
  Darkens or lightens the colors, depending on the blend color. The effect is similar to shining a diffused spotlight on the image. If the blend color is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened. Painting with pure black or white produces a distinctly darker or lighter area but does not result in pure black or white.

Hard Light
  Multiplies or screens the colors, depending on the blend color. The effect is similar to shining a harsh spotlight on the image. If the blend color is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened. This is useful for adding highlights to an image. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened. This is useful for adding shadows to an image. Painting with pure black or white results in pure black or white.

Vivid Light
  Burns or dodges the colors by increasing or decreasing the contrast, depending on the blend color. If the blend color (light source) is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened by decreasing the contrast. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened by increasing the contrast.

Linear Light
  Burns or dodges the colors by decreasing or increasing the brightness, depending on the blend color. If the blend color (light source) is lighter than 50% gray, the image is lightened by increasing the brightness. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, the image is darkened by decreasing the brightness.

Pin Light
  Replaces the colors, depending on the underblend color. If the blend color (light source) is lighter than 50% gray, pixels darker than the blend color are replaced, and pixels lighter than the blend color do not change. If the blend color is darker than 50% gray, pixels lighter than the blend color are replaced, and pixels darker than the blend color do not change. This mode is useful for adding special effects to an image.

Hard Mix
  Reduces colors to white, black, red, green, blue, yellow, cyan, and magenta—depending on the base color and the blend color.

Difference
  Looks at the color information in each channel and subtracts either the blend color from the base color or the base color from the blend color, depending on which has the greater brightness value. Blending with white inverts the base color values; blending with black produces no change.

Exclusion
  Creates an effect similar to, but lower in contrast, than the Difference mode. Blending with white inverts the base color values. Blending with black produces no change.

Hue
  Creates a result color with the luminance and saturation of the base color and the hue of the blend color.

Saturation
  Creates a result color with the luminance and hue of the base color and the saturation of the blend color. Painting with this mode in an area with zero saturation (a neutral gray area) causes no change.

Color
  Creates a result color with the luminance of the base color and the hue and saturation of the blend color. This preserves the gray levels in the image and is useful for coloring monochrome images and for tinting color images.
  Using the Color blending mode to change the color of a shirt

Luminosity
  Creates a result color with the hue and saturation of the base color and the luminance of the blend color. This mode creates an inverse effect from that of the Color mode.

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