Blend modes (or Mixing modes) in digital image editing are used to determine how two layers are blended into each other. The default blend mode in most applications is simply to hide the lower layer with whatever is present in the top layer. However, as each pixel has a numerical representation, a large number of ways to blend two layers is possible. Note that the top layer is not necessarily called a "layer" in the application. It may be applied with a painting or editing tool.
Most applications, like Adobe Photoshop and GIMP, allow the user to modify the basic blend modes - for example by applying different levels of opacity to the top picture.
Read more about Blend Modes: Normal Blend Mode, Dissolve, Multiply and Screen, Dodge and Burn, Boolean Arithmetic Blend Modes, Hue, Saturation and Luminosity
Famous quotes containing the words blend and/or modes:
“If mass communications blend together harmoniously, and often unnoticeably, art, politics, religion, and philosophy with commercials, they bring these realms of culture to their common denominator—the commodity form. The music of the soul is also the music of salesmanship. Exchange value, not truth value, counts.”
—Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979)
“Sight and all the other senses are only modes of touch.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)