Use blend modes, opacity and fill
The 16 blend modes, what each family does, and when to use opacity, fill or a group blend.
Intermediate3 min readUpdated 25 September 2026Editor · Blend modes
On this page
Opacity decides how much of a layer you see. A blend mode decides how its colours mix with the layers underneath. Together they let you add texture, tint a photo, knock out a white background or make light effects without painting a single pixel.
Where to set them
- Properties panel: open the Layer section for an Opacity slider and a Blend menu.
- Layers panel: open Blend, opacity and locks at the top for the blend menu, Opacity and Fill. Changes here apply to every selected layer at once.
- Keyboard: with a layer selected, press a number key. 1 is 10%, 5 is 50%, 0 is 100%.
- Phone: the Select sheet has an Opacity slider.
Opacity or fill
Opacity fades the whole layer, including its layer styles. Fill fades only the layer's own pixels and keeps its styles at full strength. Set a text layer's fill to 0 and keep its stroke style, and you get outlined text with nothing inside. Fill is also in the Layer styles panel.
The blend modes
The Blend menu lists 16 modes. They fall into families, and once you know the families you rarely need to try them all.
| Family | Modes | What happens | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | Normal | The layer covers what is below | Almost everything |
| Darken | Multiply, Darken, Color burn | Only darker colours come through. White disappears. | Scanned ink, line art or a logo on white; shadows; paper textures |
| Lighten | Screen, Lighten, Color dodge | Only lighter colours come through. Black disappears. | Light leaks, glows, sparks and bokeh shot on black |
| Contrast | Overlay, Soft light, Hard light | Darks get darker and lights get lighter. Mid grey disappears. | Adding texture or grain, boosting punch, tinting with a colour layer |
| Inversion | Difference, Exclusion | Colours are subtracted from what is below | Graphic, glitchy effects; checking two versions line up (identical areas go black) |
| Colour | Hue, Saturation, Color, Luminosity | Takes one part of the colour from the layer and the rest from below | Color tints a photo while keeping its detail. Luminosity changes lightness only. |
Three recipes
Drop a logo on white onto a photo
Place the logo above the photo and set it to Multiply. The white vanishes and the dark logo sits on the image. This works best with dark marks; for a clean cut-out use a mask or Remove background instead.
Add paper texture
Put a texture photo at the top of the stack, set it to Overlay or Soft light, and bring the opacity down to around 20% to 40%. Soft light is the gentler of the two.
Tint a photo with a brand colour
Add a shape or a filled layer in the colour over the photo, set it to Color, and lower the opacity until the tint feels right. For two-colour looks, a Gradient map adjustment gives more control: see Adjustment layers.
Groups, styles and adjustments
- Groups have their own blend mode and opacity, shown in the Layers panel header when a layer inside the group is selected. The default, Pass through, lets each layer inside blend with the design as normal. Any other mode blends the group as one flattened picture.
- Layer styles such as drop shadow and glow each have their own blend mode and opacity inside the Layer style dialog.
- Adjustment and filter layers have opacity and blend too. Lowering a filter's opacity is the simplest way to soften it.
Good to know
- Blend modes act on everything visible beneath the layer, including other groups and the background colour. If a mode looks wrong, check what is underneath.
- On a transparent background, Multiply and Screen have nothing to mix with. Add a background colour or layer to see their effect.
- Merging or flattening bakes the blend into pixels, so the result cannot be changed later.