Blending Modes in Photoshop

Normal – The default mode where the blend layer sits on top without interacting with the base layer. Adjusting opacity reveals parts of the base layer.

Dissolve – Similar to Normal, but pixels become randomly dithered when opacity is lowered, creating a speckled effect.

Darken – Compares each pixel in the blend and base layers and keeps the darkest color for each pixel. No new colors are created.

Multiply – Multiplies the RGB values of the base and blend layers, creating a darker result. Multiplying with black results in black, while multiplying with white has no effect.

Color Burn – Darkens the base layer while increasing contrast, intensifying shadows. More extreme than Multiply.

Linear Burn – Similar to Color Burn but with even darker results, as it reduces brightness rather than increasing contrast.

Darker Color – Similar to Darken, but instead of comparing brightness per channel, it selects the darkest composite color for each pixel.

Lighten – Compares the pixels of both layers and keeps the brightest ones, similar to Darken but in reverse.

Screen – The opposite of Multiply. It inverts the pixel values, multiplies them, then inverts them back, resulting in a brighter image.

Color Dodge – Brightens the base layer by decreasing contrast between the pixels, making highlights more intense.

Linear Dodge (Add) – Similar to Color Dodge but increases brightness more aggressively by directly adding pixel values together.

Lighter Color – Similar to Lighten, but instead of comparing brightness per channel, it selects the lightest composite color.

Overlay – A combination of Multiply and Screen. Dark areas become darker, and light areas become lighter, enhancing contrast.

Soft Light – A softer version of Overlay. It applies either a darkening or lightening effect based on the blend layer but with a subtle, diffused result.

Hard Light – Works like Overlay but is based on the blend layer rather than the base. It multiplies dark colors and screens light colors, producing a stronger contrast.

Vivid Light – A more extreme version of Hard Light, using Color Burn on darker areas and Color Dodge on lighter areas.

Linear Light – Uses Linear Burn on dark areas and Linear Dodge on light areas, adjusting brightness in an even more aggressive way than Vivid Light.

Pin Light – A mix of Lighten and Darken that replaces pixels in the base layer depending on whether they are brighter or darker than the blend layer. It removes midtones.

Hard Mix – Converts colors to pure red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, black, or white, creating a highly posterized effect. It uses a threshold to determine color shifts.

Difference – Subtracts the blend layer’s color from the base layer’s color. If the colors are the same, the result is black.

Exclusion – Similar to Difference but creates a softer contrast. When two colors are the same, the result is a mid-gray instead of black.

Subtract – Directly subtracts the blend color from the base color, resulting in a very dark image where overlapping areas are reduced in brightness.

Divide - Lightens the base layer by dividing its color values by the blend layer’s color values. If the blend color is white, the base color remains unchanged; if the blend color is black, the result is white.

Hue – Replaces the base layer’s hue with the blend layer’s hue while keeping the base layer’s saturation and brightness.

Saturation – Uses the saturation of the blend layer while maintaining the base layer’s hue and brightness.

Color – Combines the hue and saturation of the blend layer with the brightness of the base layer. This is useful for recoloring an image without affecting shading.

Luminosity – Uses the brightness values of the blend layer while keeping the hue and saturation of the base layer. Opposite of Color mode.