Photoshop Elements > Blending Modes >

1 - Introduction

Blending modes don't have to be like a trip to see Dr. Christian Zell, the dentist played by Sir Laurence Olivier in The Marathon Man.

Most articles about blending modes have brief descriptions of each blending mode.

That's not enough.

You'll understand blending modes after reading this article and doing one of the tutorials.

And, blending modes are worth the effort.

The blending mode menu is at the top of the Layers panel (Layers palette).

When you select a layer (highlighted), the blending mode menu is for that layer.

In the Layers panel (Layers palette) below, a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer is active (highlighted).

The layer's blending mode, Normal, is at the top of the palette.

When you create a layer, the layer's blending mode defaults to Normal.

Open a photograph, and click the blending mode menu box.

You can scroll through the blending modes with your mouse wheel or the arrow keys on your keyboard.

As you do so, your photograph will change.

There are two categories of blending modes:

• Hue-Saturation-Luminosity (H-S-L)

• Top Transforms Lower (T-T-L)

By putting the blending modes into these categories, they're a lot easier to understand.

If you're interested in a particular blending mode, use the menus below to jump to a particular blending mode or tutorial.