Intro to Blend Effects

Blend effect, what’s that? This blog post breaks down Layover’s 15 blend effects to help you understand what each effect does and why. First, here’s a little background information on what happens behind the scenes when you use a blend effect.

Digital photos store the information about each pixel’s color as a numeric value. Blend effects perform math on those numbers to produce a final image that typically looks like a combination of the original images. The final outcome depends on the type of images used and, for some modes, in what order the images are placed.

Still there? Good! Moving on to specific blend effects! Let’s take these two images and show how they look when different blend effects are applied:

Multiply

• What it does: Color information from the base layer is multiplied by color information in the top layer.

• Result: In the final image, each pixel is darker than the base image. If the two images have different brightness levels, the resulting image more closely resembles the darker image.

• Suggested Uses: Combine two bright images into a darker one, or color-correct a washed-out image by putting the same image in two layers and multiplying. Here’s an example of the Multiply blend effect:

Screen

• What it does: Color information from each layer is inverted and multiplied.

• Result: A final image with each pixel lighter than the base image. If the images have different brightness levels, the result looks more like the brighter image. This is similar to a true photographic double exposure.

• Suggested Uses: Create a classic double exposure effect or brighten an underexposed image by applying Screen to two identical layers. Here’s an example of the original images with the Screen blend effect applied:

Layover

• What it does
: Multiplies the dark parts and screens the light parts of the base layer.

• Result: A final image that intensifies the contrast pattern of the base layer.

• Suggested Uses: Increase contrast in an image by applying Layover to two identical layers. Here’s an example of the Layover blend effect used on the original images:

Soft Light

• What it does
: Creates a similar effect as Layover (description above) but with a softer contrast.

• Result: A final image similar to those created with Layover effect but with less contrast.

• Suggested Uses: Compare with the Layover effect to choose which blend effect looks better with your images. Here’s an example of the Soft Light blend effect applied to the original images. Notice how it’s similar to the Layover effect, but it’s notably softer and less intense.

Hard Light:

• What it does
: Multiplies the dark parts and screens the light parts of the top layer.

• Result: A final image with an intensified contrast pattern of the top layer. It has the same effect as applying Layover, but the order of the two layers is switched.

• Suggested Uses: Create a high-contrast combined image that looks more like the top layer. Compare with the Layover blend effect to choose which blend effect looks better with your images. Here’s an example of Hard Light blend effect:

Color Dodge

• What it does
: Inverts color information in the top layer and divides the base layer color information by the inverted top layer.

• Result: The base layer is lighter and the color is changed in areas where the top layer is bright. Black areas in the base layer are unchanged.

• Suggested Uses: Use a dark image with a few bright areas to apply selective color effects. Compare the two brightly colored and detailed photos with the blend created with a top image that’s mostly black. Here are some examples:

Color Burn

• What it does
: Inverts the color information of the base layer, divides by the top layer, and inverts the result.

• Result: The opposite of color dodge, the base image is darkened and the color is changed in areas where the top image is dark. White areas in the base layer are unchanged.

• Suggested Uses: Use a white image with just a few dark areas to apply selective color effects. Compare the two brightly-colored and detailed photos with the blend created with a top image that’s mostly white. Examples:

Addition

• What it does
: Adds the color information of the two layers together.

• Result: A bright combined image. If the two images have different brightness levels, the result looks more like the brighter image.

• Suggested Uses: Create very bright combined images when the effects of Screen are too dark.

Difference

• What it does
: For each pixel, it compares color information and subtracts the smaller value from the larger value.

• Result: The more similar the two images, the darker the result. The more contrast between the images, the more detailed the image result. White areas in one image have a photo negative effect on the other image.

• Suggested Uses: Compare the alignment of two layers by moving them until Difference mode produces a completely black image. Combine a colorful image with a mostly white layer for unusual color effects. Here’s an example of Difference blend effect:

Darken

• What it does
: Compares each pixel in the two layers and chooses the darker one to display in the result.

• Result: Dark areas of the base image show through bright areas of the top image.

• Suggested Uses: Use a high contrast top image to mask bright areas of the base image (where the top image is darker, the base image won’t show). Here’s an example of the Darken blend effect:

Lighten

• What it does
: Compares each pixel in the two layers and chooses the lighter one to display in the result.

• Result: The opposite of darken, light areas of the base layer show through dark areas of the top layer.

• Suggested Uses: Use a high contrast top image to mask dark areas of the base image (where the top image is brighter, the base image won’t show). Here’s an example:

Hue

• What it does
: Keeps the saturation and brightness of the base layer, but changes the hue to match the top layer.

• Result: The combined image looks similar to the base layer, with colors changed to be closer to the top layer.

• Suggested Uses: Try using a simple, brightly colored top image to apply color effects to the base image. The final effect largely depends on the particular images you use, so try out different combinations to find one you like. Here’s an example of the Hue blend effect:

Saturation

• What it does: Keeps the hue and brightness of the base layer, but changes the saturation to match the top layer.

• Result: The combined image looks very similar to the base image, but with changes in color saturation based on the top image.

• Suggested Uses: Selectively adjust the saturation of the base image by using a simple image with a wide range of saturation in the top layer. Here’s an example:

Color

• What it does
: Keeps the brightness of the base layer, but changes hue and saturation to match the top layer.

• Result: Similar to Hue (description above), but the top image has a stronger effect on the final blend.

• Suggested Uses: Compare with the Hue blend effect to see which one looks better with the images you picked. Example:

Luminosity

• What it does
: Keeps the hue and saturation of the bottom layer and changes the brightness to match the top layer.

• Result: Opposite of the Color mode, the combined image looks similar to the top layer, with colors and saturation changed to match the bottom layer.

• Suggested Use: Compare with Hue and Color when you want to emphasize the top layer instead of the base layer. Example of Luminosity blend effect:

Now that you know what’s going on behind the scenes, we suggest playing around with the different modes to see what blend effects work with different types of pictures. You’ll be a blend master in no time!