The base layer is made up of hue, saturation, and luminosity.

However, when you switch the blending mode of the Solid Fill layer from Normal to Color, the two layers rearrange their "DNA."

The blending layer contributes the hue and saturation only.

The base layer contributes luminosity only—B&W.

The three parts needed for a photograph are all there, but they're coming from more than one layer.

Blending Layer	Hue + Saturation
Base Layer	Luminosity

Summary

As long as you've got hue, saturation, and luminosity, you've got a color photograph.

The three parts can come from one layer, or from several layers.

Color Blending Mode Tutorial

Here's how to do the above.

A Solid Fill layer was used, filled with green (80,115,75).

The blending mode of the layer is changed from Normal to Color.

In the resulting photograph, the color and saturation are being contributed by the Solid Fill layer, and the luminosity, by the base layer.

Here's the Layers panel (Layers palette).

Again, the Color Fill layer's blending mode is Color.

The blending mode of the Background copy layer and Background layer is Normal.

Original

With a Solid Fill Layer

Filled with Green (80,115,75)

Set to the Color Blending Mode

Opacity

You can change the opacity of the blending layer, the Solid Fill layer, to adjust the effect.

Make sure the Solid Fill layer is active (highlighted).

The Opacity box is at the top of the layers stack, to the right of the Blending Mode box.

It probably has 100% inside.

With a Green (80,115,75)Solid Fill Layer

Set to the Color Blending Mode

Same As the Above Photograph

But the Opacity is 50%

Selection

You can select part of the photograph, and then can remove the green tint from the selection with a brush, creating a mask.

Here's the masked photograph.

Let's look at the other H-S-L blending modes.

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