Photoshop Effects: Digital Pixel Effect

Step 12: Experiment With Different Blend Modes For The Pixelated Layer For Different Results

To create even more variations on the effect, experiment with different blend modes for the pixelated layer by going up to the blend mode options in the top left corner of the Layers palette and selecting different ones from the list. First, I'm going to set the Opacity of my pixelated layer back to a full 100%. Then, I'll going to change my blend mode of the layer from "Normal" to Darken:

Here's the effect I get with the pixelated layer set to "Darken":

Let's try the Lighten blend mode, again by changing it in the top left corner of the Layers palette:

Here's the effect I get with the "Lighten" blend mode:

Just to show you how much different an effect can look simply by changing layer blend modes, we'll try one more. I'm going to change my blend mode this time to Hard Mix:

I think you'll agree that the effect now looks completely different, even though all we've done is changed the blend mode:

And there we have it! That's our look at how to create a simple "digital pixel" effect and a sample of how we can create different variations on the same effect, and even create entirely new effects, by experimenting with layer masks and blend modes in Photoshop.

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