Okay, I just had my mind blown by discovering that using blending modes with
adjustment layers can give all sorts of bizarre effects. And another
explosion occurred when I started to paint with black on a Levels layer set
to Lighten mode and discovered that it could be made to darken areas painted
over.

Aside from long and protracted experimentation, is there anywhere to learn
about such complex topics? A book? A web site?

TIA
Norm

"Norm Dresner" <ndrez@att.net> wrote in message
news:iXFzj.282666$MJ6.78922@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> Okay, I just had my mind blown by discovering that using blending modes
> with
> adjustment layers can give all sorts of bizarre effects. And another
> explosion occurred when I started to paint with black on a Levels layer
> set
> to Lighten mode and discovered that it could be made to darken areas
> painted
> over.
>
> Aside from long and protracted experimentation, is there anywhere to learn
> about such complex topics? A book? A web site?

Blending modes are dynamite, and particularly powerful in Lab mode, where
you can select a color range independent of brightness.

Dan Margulis has detailed discussions of how to use them in his books
Professional Photoshop, and Photoshop Lab Color. This month's Photoshop
User magazine had a tutorial on using them.
--
Mike Russell - www.curvemeister.com

"Mike Russell" <RE-MOVEmike@Curvemeister.comRE-MOVE> wrote in message
news:MHKzj.12752$5K1.10871@newssvr12.news.prodigy. net...
> "Norm Dresner" <ndrez@att.net> wrote in message
> news:iXFzj.282666$MJ6.78922@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>> Okay, I just had my mind blown by discovering that using blending modes
>> with
>> adjustment layers can give all sorts of bizarre effects. And another
>> explosion occurred when I started to paint with black on a Levels layer
>> set
>> to Lighten mode and discovered that it could be made to darken areas
>> painted
>> over.
>>
>> Aside from long and protracted experimentation, is there anywhere to
>> learn
>> about such complex topics? A book? A web site?
>
> Blending modes are dynamite, and particularly powerful in Lab mode, where
> you can select a color range independent of brightness.
>
> Dan Margulis has detailed discussions of how to use them in his books
> Professional Photoshop, and Photoshop Lab Color. This month's Photoshop
> User magazine had a tutorial on using them.
> --
> Mike Russell - www.curvemeister.com


I have no idea HOW they work but I sure have fun seeing what they do and
have used them a lot since discovering them
After using them awhile you can get a good idea of WHAT they do by looking

part of the fun of creativity can be discovering "happy accidents", that is
maybe you see something great you did not anticipate by your mind in advance

One really simple technique to make models look nicer
take a portrait type shot
dupe the layer
change that layer mode to screen
watch the skin clean up!!!
then use some curves to get back the proper tones in the dark areas

cool no??

Norm Dresner wrote:
> Okay, I just had my mind blown by discovering that using blending modes with
> adjustment layers can give all sorts of bizarre effects. And another
> explosion occurred when I started to paint with black on a Levels layer set
> to Lighten mode and discovered that it could be made to darken areas painted
> over.
>
> Aside from long and protracted experimentation, is there anywhere to learn
> about such complex topics? A book? A web site?
>
> TIA
> Norm
>

There's a lot of free tutorials on YouTube. Some of them may be ful.

On Mar 5, 5:22 pm, "Norm Dresner" <nd...@att.net> wrote:
> Okay, I just had my mind blown by discovering that using blending modes with
> adjustment layers can give all sorts of bizarre effects. And another
> explosion occurred when I started to paint with black on a Levels layer set
> to Lighten mode and discovered that it could be made to darken areas painted
> over.
>
> Aside from long and protracted experimentation, is there anywhere to learn
> about such complex topics? A book? A web site?
>
> TIA
> Norm

Hi Norm,
One of the interesting things about blend modes is how they are
grouped. Darken, multiply, color burn, linear burn are together.
Lighten, screen, color dodge, linear dodge are together, etc. Adobe
had their choice of how to group them and they chose these groupings.
Can you guess what delineates one group from the other?

Brgds,
Ron