Get creative with blendi modes

James Paterson utilizes one of Photoshop’s simplest features and opens the door to all kinds of effects

- James Paterson

One of the easiest ways to get creative with your photos in Photoshop is by combining images using blend modes. After copying one image – or part of it – onto another, the elements will appear on separate layers in Photoshop. Then all you have to do is experiment with blend modes to combine the two layers in a host of different ways.

There are 27 blend modes to choose from, and each works by employing a different algorithm to the pixels in your image. For instance, the Multiply blend mode works by multiplying the RGB values of each pixel on the blend layer (the currently selected layer) with those of the adjacent pixels on the layers below.