When color grading your images, Photoshop’s vivid light blend mode should not be ignored

 

 

There are 27 blend modes in Adobe Photoshop and many people use only a handful of them in their own workflow. As Blake Rudis of f64 Academy points out in his latest video, there may be blend modes you haven't tried yet that could significantly improve your photo editing workflow. One of these lesser-used blend modes if the "vivid light" blend mode, which Rudis states is a very powerful tool for color grading.

Upon first look, the vivid light blend mode may not seem particularly useful. However, once you understand how it works, it's easier to see its utility. The vivid light blend mode utilizes color burn and color dodge as its base. You will want to use it with fill in every case, as this will allow you to dial in the proper intensity via opacity adjustments. It can enhance the contrast of your image, so it might not be a good idea to use with images which are already high in contrast, as the final look could be extreme. To fine-tune your color grading and selectively apply the effect, be sure to utilize masks. You can see Rudis use the vivid light blend mode in the video below.

(Via f64 Academy)