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Discover how Adjustment Layers and Blending modes can enhance the mood and colour balance of your shots
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Before
You’ve processed your raw images in Lightroom or other raw editing software, but that’s only half of the Y work done. Photoshop presents an almost irresistible opportunity to apply a range of effects that are simply not possible at the raw editing stage, and the ability to use Adjustments Layers and Blending modes is a perfect example of this shortfall. But it’s far from the end of the world because Photoshop remains an important part of the overall editing workflow.
We won’t venture too far into Adjustment Layers and Blending modes but will focus on two of each to explore the differences that can be achieved with minimal variables. This will not only provide a solid foundation for further exploration of Adjustment Layers and Blending modes where you can discover your favourite combinations, but also illustrate how keeping things simple and avoiding complexity can be an effective approach to photo editing.
1 Make it dark and moody
Click on the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and select Black & White. Close the dialog box because we only need to use the stock conversion and change the Blending mode from Normal to Multiply, which is a darkening Blending mode that also adds transparency to the Layer. Leave the Layer Opacity at 100% for the strongest effect or reduce it to the desired amount. For this image, it was set to 75%.
2 Add contrast and clarity
Use the Black & White
Adjustment Layer created in th
