No matter what editing software you use today, it will likely include layers, masking and blend modes (also known as blending modes). Everybody’s doing it now – Photoshop and Lightroom, of course, but also ON1, Luminar, Topaz, etc.
And the more software that includes blend modes, the more frustrated I get at their lack of ability to explain in plain English exactly what they are. I’ve read countless blogs, gone to workshops partly to understand them, watched countless YouTube videos looking to make sense of them, and more often than not, the recommendation of the instructor is simply to try them and see what happens. My brain needs more. I want to be able to explain them. This post will try to do that.
Before you run screaming from the room, I’m not going to give you the item by item breakdown of all of the blend modes available in any software. My intent is to help you understand what a blend mode does generally and how to make a choice among the ones you have available in your software. Continue reading “Blend Modes – Learning to Love Them”
What are filters and why are they separate from adjustments? And what the heck is rasterizing anyway? Or the difference between “rasters” and “vectors”? And what is “rendering”? And of course, the single most important concept – non-destructive vs. destructive editing.
I come from a generation born before televisions were common in middle class homes. We relied on a radio for news and our only “social network” was the people we knew in the neighbourhood, at school, through our parents or through our church. Getting your name out there was done by word of mouth and by advertising on the radio and in the “yellow pages” or other print publications.
Experienced photographers who share their knowledge with new photographers spend a lot of time talking about composition and the “rules”. Leading lines, rule of thirds, negative space, etc. help to teach the eye what to look for when evaluating a scene. But they don’t spend a lot of time talking about why these rules matter at all.
