It s All in the Blend

It's All in the Blend

You delve into the specifics of every one of these blend modes later in this chapter (as well as the other 18 not incorporated in this example). However, so as not to get ahead of yourselves, a few basics are in order.

This chapter covers two fundamental ways to mix pixels:

• The Layers palette: You can combine the active layer with underlying pixels using the Opacity and Fill values, along with the blend mode pop-up menu, all parts of the Layers palette, as seen in Figure 6-2. Opacity and Fill options are examined in detail in the next section. Blend modes are covered in the section after that.

  
  Figure 6-2: The blend mode menu, and Opacity and Fill sliders located on Photoshop's Layers palette

• Blending options: Right-click a non-background thumbnail in the Layers palette (Control-click on the Mac) and choose Blending Options to display the Blending Options panel of the extensive Layer Style dialog box. Along with the Blend Mode, Opacity, and Fill Opacity options, you get an assortment of advanced blending options, including the Knockout menu and Blend If sliders.

  The Knockout options let you use one layer to cut a floating hole into one or more layers below it (discussed in greater detail later in this chapter). Using the Blend If sliders, you can drop colors out of the active layer and force colors to show through from layers below. For more information about these and other options, read "Advanced Blending Options" later in this chapter.

Blend modes are not Photoshop's most straightforward feature. They demand that you have a willingness to experiment. Sometime when you don't have a deadline looming over your head, take some multilayered composition you have lying around and hit it with a few blend modes. Even if the result is a disaster that you wouldn't share with your mother, let alone a client, you can consider it time well spent.