Explaining Blend Modes in PSP (Tutorial Contest)

fiona2412

Blend Modes

This tutorial was written by Fiona Pomfrett on October 18th 2006.
Any resemblance to any other tutorial is coincidental.
Do not copy and paste this tutorial anywhere on the net.
Scripting and translating of this tutorial is strictly forbidden.
If you have any problems please contact me HERE

Thanks to Martina, a lady from my tutorial testers group for inspiring me to write up this tutorial.

For this tutorial you will need
:PSP - Any Version
:Tube of your choice

Blend modes can make all the difference when creating an image in PSP. Each one of the 20 different layer effects can turn a beautiful creation into a stunning one.

This is not a tutorial as such more of an example of what can be acheived by changing the blend modes. I have included screen shots from PSP version XI (11) and version 7. If you are using a different version to the screenshots, it may appear slightly different

Open a new canvas 600 x 400, flood fill with a color of your choice, try to stay away from colors that are either very dark or very light, I used #F9C663

Copy and paste a tube of your choice as a new layer

Your layer palette will now be made up of 2 layers
PSP XI


PSP 7


The bottom layer is your color, the top layer is your tube

You will notice at the top of your layer palette, 3 options


In PSP 7, the 3 options are to the right on the layer palette


One = the opactiy of the layer, if you lower this your tube will get fainter
Two = this is your blend option, I will go into more detail about this in a minute
Three = This is a lock, if you add a drop shadow with shadow on new layer, (there is no option for shadow on a new layer in PSP 7) it will lock the drop shadow and tube together, if you want to unlock the 2 layers you simply click the lock option of both layers that are locked.

Examples

Tube with opacity lowered to 50 PSP XI


Tube with opacity lowered to 50 PSP 7


Tube and Drop Shadow Locked


Tube and Drop Shadow Unlocked


Now onto Blend options

To get the different blend modes up, you need to click where it says Normal (no.2)
These are all the different blend modes
PSP XI


PSP 7


Each one does something different, although in this example (this tube and background) some of them do not make a big difference
There are other instances that a blend mode that makes no difference here makes a big difference with a textured background and a patterned upper layer for example, or if you are using mists.

Continue to the next thread

fiona2412

Continued from thread 1

Below is the same tube on the same background, but each image will be using a different blend mode.
There is only on screen shot as the blend modes work the same way no matter what version you use


Normal


Darken


Lighten


Hue


Hue (Legacy)


Saturation


Saturation (Legacy)


Color


Color (Legacy)


Luminance


Luminance (Legacy)

fiona2412

Continued from thread 2

Multiply


Screen


Dissolve


Overlay


Hard Light


Soft Light


Difference


Dodge


Burn


Exclusion

Rhino

cool