Tool 4: Using Blending Modes
Lesson 6 from: Creative Application of Color Through Post ProcessingPratik Naik
Tool 4: Using Blending Modes
Lesson 6 from: Creative Application of Color Through Post ProcessingPratik Naik
Lesson Info
6. Tool 4: Using Blending Modes
Lessons
Lesson Info
Tool 4: Using Blending Modes
now, when it comes to blending modes, I specifically like using blending modes to change colors of specific areas. Let's say, for instance, that I wanted to add a touch of gold in the background. Maybe there was a dominance of green over here that didn't like. I want to shift a little bit more to gold. Yes, we have adjustment layers like this where we can say, Let's go into color balance or hue saturation and shift them with sliders. But for those more artistically inclined and one want to paint a little bit more with photo shop, we can add blank layers and use blending modes with those layers. If you haven't used blending moves before, it's just ways to blend whatever you paint with the layer below it, just like blended options. Except first, we're gonna paint something, and then we're gonna blend together. Okay, so the way that I'm going to do this is we have our image open with nothing there, and now I'm going to select the new blank layer. So over here you have a new blank, their i...
con, and you ever blankly. Let's call this, um, golden backdrop, and this layer I'm gonna specifically paint gold into the back, drop a little bit war. So there's a bit more bounce. First step in order is I'm going to select my brush tool and I'm going to select the color that I want. So with the brush will selected, I get hold option or Ault, I get a color picker so I can sample maybe some of these muted tones and back I can also sample maybe the skin tones. I am in a sample Some of these tones up here, except I'm gonna make it will be more saturated. The way that I'll do that again, as I mentioned before, is I'll select that color here. I'll move it over. So a little bit more saturated hit. Okay, First step first is I'm gonna physically paint on this blank layer. I'm not going to change anything, so it's gonna look really bad in the beginning, so don't judge me, okay? You'll notice my capacity and flow are my main settings that I use. I'm not going to keep it 100 and 100 because what that basically does is it just paints really quickly and it's too fast for me. I'm gonna undo that if I bring my flow lower. What it does is it's gonna bring it in really gently. Okay, So if you're not familiar with the difference being flown opacity, that's kind of what ISS with flow. I don't have to pick up my pen again and it will build up all the way to 100%. If I use a passively instead of flow. What happens is it does it by strokes. So if I had my Florida 100% and my capacity, let's say at 10% every time I brush, it won't build on itself. So I pick up my pen again and come down and build, Okay, in case anybody doesn't know. That's the main reason why you slow over rapacity because I don't want to limit myself and how much is building. And I want to go really slow. It's like airbrushing effectively. I will keep my opacity to 100 and my flow down to about 1%. Maybe two. Not really extravagant here. Okay, so we have our color selected, and I'm going to start brushing in the ends over here. Maybe just in little pockets. Maybe not everywhere. Just So we get this, like gold flare coming in a little bit. Okay, So a brush with the color itself here and now I'm going to change the properties of that color to give you a special effect. What I mean by that well, as I mentioned, a blank layer by itself is quite flat, right? It just it just smooths the image out. It doesn't really do anything magical now. Instead, what I could do is I can use when he's blend modes to change the color of it. Very simply, if you're only changing the color of the area only to do is go down to color blend mode. What that does is it actually changes the physical color of that area. It keeps the properties of luminosity. You can see the backgrounds dark. It's still dark, but it changed it, so it's like a golden tench, right, so you can see if I go back to normal. It's flat because a color itself adjusts how bright or dark background is, too. We don't want that, so I go down in color. Even cooler is the fact that we can use is with any other blend mode as well, so I can say soft light, which is not that intense. It's like a less intense version. I can say screen because what it does is Screen also brightens a lot of Dr colors and also as a bit of contrast to it, too. With screen, it feels like gives like a metallic effect when you had a bunch of color tones the backdrop. You can also add complementary colors, contrasting colors, and you get a different array off flares coming into the image, which makes it really, really cool. And, of course, it has a bunch of other overlays as well. You can also target specific colors and stuck layers and adjustment layers. So, for example, let's I do that again. I select a blank clear. I like my color that I want and let's say, out of flare coming in here. If I go over and say, let's say screen so you can see that contrast change from normal. It took account of the background. It added more saturation. At some contrast, screen is really a good mode that I like to use as a as a way to pop colors out, and then I decided you know what, Actually don't want to use that specific color. I want to change it up, but I already did my brush stroke. How can I do that? I'll go over to this adjustment layer, I'll say hue, saturation. And then over here, if I had just the slider. What happens is it. Adjust the color of the whole image. But if I want to adjust only the color that I painted, I can use a clipping adjustment layer. What happens is if I hit Option Ault and hover right in between the two layers and click on them. It ends up connecting the top one to the bottom. So what that does is it only affects the layer below it. So now if I just Mayhew, it will change the color of the flare that I added, which gives you a really awesome effect and the saturation to increase intensity the color while painting. So it gives you the best of both worlds, which is really, really fun. And then, of course, I don't know why it's moving by itself. I think with our heads guys okay, I get in stack other ones with other colors. Let's say maybe like a more science that's amplify some areas. OK, it's amplify science on that side of the site. I'll say overly, and then I'll also go in and do the same thing. Here we go. So you gonna just specific amounts? This also comes into play whenever you're shooting on scene and you have, um, really metallic objects. I recently got asked by makeup campaign to, um, ad unicorn Makeup affects, Let me explain. Sounds crazy. Basically, when they were shooting on set and in studio, what happened was that they you know, the makeup artist applied this, um, highlighter and the highlighter was supposed to reflect all these colors, and that's how they market in this product. But the problem was with studio flash, it washed it out, and obviously they had to. They had to get it right. And so what I did was I used a lot of screen blending modes and started painting colors where the edges of the highlighter waas and what happened was it added that shimmer of different color and pops of light and the same thing for clothes. If you see any of these pieces with different colors across the wardrobe or across metallics with lights hitting it, adding that little subtle effect really goes a long way in matching and adding a little embellishes. So just things to consider in how to use them. Maybe even your you're doing things like enhancing color of water. If you're shooting on water escapes, or if you're shooting on sand dunes, I'll have reflective areas. Amplifying that manually is a good way to add a few pops, aside from just color toning the whole image.
Ratings and Reviews
Amy Vaughn
Pratik gave a nice range of tips for ways to color images creatively. I especially liked that he went over a workflow with Photoshop and CaptureOne, since that's my workflow too and it's sometimes harder to find those classes. His tips for adjusting skin tones were especially useful and something I'm always thinking about now when I edit photos of people. I also appreciated the way he explained the differences between hue and color, and I even learned a couple of new tricks with blend modes. His teaching style was engaging and I'd love to see more classes from him.
a Creativelive Student
basic info but nice artist, enjoyed the work flow
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