The Mathematics of Blend Modes

I've been making computer illustrations and graphics for 30 years, thereabouts, and this is by far the best video on blend modes. Some have more math, others show more examples, but this one has just enough of both, and are of good quality, combined with a clear description delivered at just the right speed/cadence. Excellent! All the information, given without wasting time or insulting intelligence!

great tutorial

The 3d graph of Base-Blend and Luma made it easier to understand visually. No other channel explained it this way.👍👍

Let me simplify this : Photoshop works on Luminance of a Pixel. And luminance is measured from 0 (Black) to White (1) Grey is middle (0.5). So a pixel between 0 and 0.5 will be measured as .29 ... 0.34... 0.45 ...etc.... and those pizels above 0.5 will be denoted as 0.60 ... 0.70... etc .. til they reach 1 (Pure white).
Now here is the main difference between traditional maths and these standardized luminance values.
When you divide in traditional maths, you will always get a smaller number...but in 'standardized' maths, you will always get a bigger number (quotient)
When you multiply in traditional maths, you will always get a bigger number.. but in 'standardized maths' you will get a smaller number.
That is the reason why a multiply operation results in a darker image.....and a divide operation results in a lighter image in Photoshop (or any other graphic software).
Here is how the multiply blend mode works : luminance of base layer x luminance of top layer (Blend layer) = Resultant luminance values.
Suppose the luminance of base layer is 0.78 (bright value) ... and the luminance of top layer (blend layer) is 0.28.. the result will be 0.78 x 0.28 = 0.21 (darker pixel)
Addition of luminance values and subtraction of luminance values will work just like traditional maths. But its the multiplication and division which is different in 'standardized' luminance values.
Lets take the color burn equation : Base layer luminance is inverted ... then divided by top layer, and the quotient is then inverted.
If this helped, give it a like.
Note : Just because Im from India does not mean that this maths comes naturally to me or makes me a maths genius. I just figured it out too.😊

The amount of work demanded in creating so such a video paints pretty much all other videos explaining the same subject as an insult to this one.
Thank you good sir for the amount of thought and effort gone into this rather dige4stable explanation of the blending modes.
It is very much appreciated!

Wow ty so much!

so rgb is brightness in the dark and cmyk is darkness to a bright white background ?

I love you

Fantastic video, thanks a lot!

Should add timestamps, I find myself visiting this video often and a link to the effect would be helpfull :)

Great tutorial.
The gradient in Photoshop has linear mode. Just need to Uncheck "Smooth" Option for it to happen .

👏👏👏

Blending Modes really don't get talked about enough. When working with color, the color palettes you choose aren't the only important thing, the way the colors blend together can be night and day for the quality and aesthetic of a work.

I think this aspect of color needs to be explored more and have more people experimenting with it.

Glad I found this video, hope this helped make a difference for many armature artists and programmers. I already know a lot about blend modes, but I still learned a lot of useful details I didn't know watching this.

I hope one day I'll learn how the raw code behind these works, but that seems to be pretty advanced. Still though I'd love to be able to program automation in blending modes and make my own engines that use them.

This video require too much IQ , but a thump up was gave
Even subscribed, I feel good today

This is absolutely amazing! Thank you so much! Can't imagine how long this must have taken to make...

Muito bom. Obrigado!

What a great video. Great use of visuals and finally a video that makes a user friendly introduction to the blend modes. Thanks for sharing.

This video is exactly what I was looking for! Very cool!

Thanks a bundle

John's slowly becoming a Kung Fu sensei.

Hard mix blew my mind

Very few educators know how to blend teaching art and science at this level. Thank you for dedicating so much time to this!

Wow, this is such an amazing video. The graphical representation of everything couldn't be better. This would have so many more views if more people cared how everything works under the hood. Thank you very much!

Great explanations! Question: is there a relationship between the mathematics of these blend modes and the way light works in the physical world (with our eyes or with cameras)? Seems like especially for Screen and Multiply there must be some kind of relationship since they are so good at simulating real-world effects. Do you know?

I am currently learning how to write shaders, and this is invaluable to me at the moment. Thank you!

I should be editing, instead im watching these videos ....
good way to spend my time at least

it is a base of knowledge that every graphic designer need! thank you .

Are you looking to take on an intern for a short while?

Anybody know how to achieve/imitate the TECHNICOLOR look?

extremely useful, though a longer workshop would be a nice addendum

So much more amazing effort goes into videos on this channel it's lame that the yt algorithm seems to be recommending this channel less that it did a couple years ago. This channel deserves so much more attention and support.

Way too perfect, but i`ve been wondering to know an important tip about multiply blend mode, my question is long and its impossible to send it in form of text in comment, could i please send it as an short video via email for you?

Nice! Really informative. Been using those blend modes for years without knowing what the heck they were actually doing. Thanks for this!

Thank you for this fantastic information. I have been wanting to know more about these functions for awhile. Well done and great graphics.

🤯😉

Believe me or not. I have been searching just this, just only this for last 2 months. It's like a gem for me. thank you Sir

" Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - E. F. Schumacher
This Quote suits you, sir.

I might've just become literate in basic algebra if I had watched this video in pre-school! My math teacher never bothered to mention how Math functions function! :P

best video ever

Thank you for this video! Would you mind if I cited it for one of my upcoming videos?

Really appreciate the hard work put to make this video... I could only 50% of the maths explained but it was totally amazing

great work. Why don't you make a video on green/blue screen shooting?

Such a great teacher - making complex concepts understandable.

I am never going to need this information but for some reason I still enjoyed this.

Outstanding! Thank you so much.