Photoshop Tutorials: Photoshop Advanced Blending - Blend If

Step 4: Drag The Black And White Sliders In Towards The Center To Blend The Layers

Let's take a closer look at the Blend If slider bars:

There's two Blend If slider bars, and if you're not familiar with them, you're probably thinking they look identical, and you'd be right. They both have a gradient inside them running from black on the left to white on the right, and they both have little black and white sliders on either end. But while they both look the same, they do slightly different things.

If you look closely, you'll see "This Layer" written above the top slider bar, and "Underlying Layer" written above the bottom one. The bar on top affects the layer you currently have selected in the Layers palette. The bottom bar is a bit misleading though because while it says "Underlying Layer", it really affects every layer below the currently selected layer. In my case here I only have one layer, my Background layer, below my type layer, but if I had more than one layer below my type layer, it would look at all of them, not just the one.

As I mentioned, both bars may look the same, but there's a slight difference between them. Moving the black and white sliders for the bar on top will cause areas of the currently selected layer to disappear from view. Moving the sliders for the bar on the bottom will cause areas of the layer(s) below the currently selected layer to show through the selected layer, as if it's punching holes through the layer. In other words, since I had my type layer selected, if I move the sliders on the top bar in towards the center, I'll be making areas in my type disappear. If I move the bottom bar's sliders in towards the center, I'll be making areas of my brick wall photo show through my type. Moving the white slider affects the lightest areas in the image, and moving the black slider affects the darkest areas. The further I move the sliders, the greater the tonal range that's affected.

I want to make my type look as if it was painted onto the brick wall behind it, and to do that, I need some of the wall to show through my type. Since I have my type layer selected in the Layers palette, and my brick wall photo is on the layer underneath it, I'm going to move the sliders on the bottom Blend If bar in towards the center to force some of the wall to show through my type. I'll start by moving the black slider towards the center:

As I drag the black slider to the right, the darker areas of the brick wall begin to show through my text:

That looks pretty good already, but there's a problem. The areas where the brick wall is showing through the type are too harsh. It's either the text showing 100% or the wall behind it showing 100%. I need more of a subtle transition between the two to smooth things out and make it look more realistic, and I'll do that next.