Photoshop Blending Modes

Blending modes in digital image editing and computer graphics are used to determine how two layers are blended into
each other. The default blend mode (called Normal in Photoshop) in most applications is simply to hide the lower layer
by covering it with whatever is present in the top layer.

The top layer is not necessarily a "layer", in the application - it may be applied with a painting or editing tool. The top
layer can also be referred to as the "blend layer" or "active layer".

When discussing blending modes:

 (B) The base color / layer is the original color / layer (the inferior / lower layer) in the image,
 (A) The blend color / layer is the color / layer (the superior / upper layer) being applied with the painting or
editing tool,
 (C) The result color / layer is the color / layer resulting from the blend.

Blending Mode Groups

The Blending Modes are grouped into logical groups, as follows:

 Normal
 Normal
 Dissolve
 Darken
 Darken
 Multiply
 Color Burn
 Linear Burn
 Darker Color
 Lighten
 Lighten
 Screen
 Color Dodge
 Linear Dodge (Add)
 Lighter Color
 Contrast
 Overlay
 Soft Light
 Hard Light
 Vivid Light
 Linear Light
 Pin Light
 Hard Mix
 Inversion
 Difference
 Exclusion
 Cancelation
 Subtract
 Divide
 Component
 Hue
  Saturation
 Color
 Luminosity

Blending Mode Opposites

Each of the blending modes in the Darken group have an opposite (complementary) mode in the Lighten group. These
"opposites" use slightly different math to arrive at their results, but the logic they use is similar but reversed:

 Darken ↔ Lighten
 Multiply ↔ Screen
 Color Burn ↔ Color Dodge
 Linear Burn ↔ Linear Dodge (Add)
 Darker Color ↔ Lighter Color

Commuted Blending Modes

There are two pairs of blending modes that are commuted versions of each other:

 Overlay ↔ Hard Light

 Luminosity ↔ Color

When two blending modes are commuted versions of each other, if you apply one blending mode to the active layer,
you will get the same results if you add the other (commuted) blending mode to the underlying layer, and then reverse
the order of the layers.

The 8 "Special" Blending Modes

19 out of 27 blending modes behave the same way when Fill is adjusted, compared to when Opacity is adjusted.
However, the remaining 8 blending modes give a different result when Fill is changed compared to opacity. The blend
tends to be more aesthetically pleasing when using Fill rather than Opacity with these 8 blending modes.

The 8 "special" blending modes are:

 Color Burn
 Linear Burn
 Color Dodge
 Linear Dodge (Add)
 Vivid Light
 Linear Light
 Hard Mix
 Difference

The "Transparency Shapes Layer" Checkbox

The "Transparency Shapes Layer" checkbox is used to restrict layer effects and knockouts to opaque areas of the layer.
Deselecting this option, which is always selected by default, applies these effects throughout the layer.

The Blending Modes

Normal Blending Modes
The blending modes in this category do not have algorithms that blend. Instead, the Opacity (which has the same effect
as Fill) slider controls the blend between layers.

Blending modes use the color information in each channel. For example, for the Darken mode, let there be two layers
with the following colors:
(Blend Layer) (Base Layer)
As can be seen in the above images, the color information of the two layers is:

 For the blend layer: (R, G, B) = (150, 90, 0)

 For the base layer: (R, G, B) = (120, 70, 90)

The result layer will contain the color: (R, G, B) = (120, 70, 0), which is the following:

(Base Layer)

Normal
This is the default blending mode. Opaque pixels will cover the pixels directly below them without applying any math to
them. The opacity of the layer can be changed using the Opacity or Fill slider to reveal the pixels below.

Dissolve
This blending mode also does not blend pixels. Dissolve only reveals the pixels below when the Opacity (or Fill) of the
layer is reduced. The pixels below are revealed through a dither pattern (noise) whose intensity is based on the opacity.

Darken Blending Modes

The blending modes in the Darken category will turn the result colors darker. Anything that is white in the blend layer
will become invisible, and anything that is darker than white is going to have some darkening effect on the pixels below
it.

Darken
The Darken blending mode looks at the color information in each channel and selects the base or blend color -
whichever is darker - as the result color. Pixels lighter than the blend color are replaced, and pixels darker than the blend
color do not change:

 if B ≤ A then C = B
 if B > A then C = A

Multiply
Looks at the color information in each channel and multiplies the base color by the blend color:

C=A*B

The result color is always a darker color. Multiplying any color with white (1.0) leaves the color unchanged. Multiplying
with black (0.0) results in black.

When painting with a color other than black or white, successive strokes with a painting tool produce progressively
darker colors. The effect is similar to drawing on the image with multiple marking pens.
Color Burn