Blending different layers together in Photoshop is an easy, yet powerful way to create stunning photo manipulations and photo retouches. If you’ve ever tried to merge layers with different blend modes, chances are the result didn’t look anything like your previous image. This tutorial explains why it’s so difficult to merge layers without losing any of the blend mode effects and shows you effective techniques for how to merge layers with different blending modes in Photoshop!
If you’ve been using Photoshop for a while, you’re most likely familiar with layer blending modes.
Just like Photoshop’s layer styles, blending modes are an easy – yet powerful – way to create stunning effects that otherwise wouldn’t be possible to achieve.
Blending different layers together in Photoshop can be used for digital art, but also for image retouching in photography.
For photo manipulations, for example, you can take advantage of blend modes to design imaginary scenes and surreal stories that combine different layers seamlessly.
In photo retouching, blending modes help you adjust brightness, contrast, and vibrancy. The Screen blend mode, for instance, allows you to make an underexposed image brighter, while Multiply darkens an overexposed photo. Soft Light can make skin glow, and Overlay makes the colors more vivid and vibrant.
→ Grab Your Free Photoshop Blend Mode Cheat Sheet From The Freebie Library Now!
How do you merge layers with different blending modes in Photoshop?
If you’ve been a Photoshop user for a while, you probably also know that you can merge layers in Photoshop.
Merging layers can be used for different purposes. First of all, it helps you keep your Layers Panel clean and organized. Secondly, it can be necessary to merge different layers in order to further edit them.
Lastly, merging layers reduces the size of the PSD file. This can be useful if you want to email the file to a client or if you’re running out of disk space!
While merging layers usually isn’t a problem, merging layers with different blend modes can quickly become a hassle.
If you’ve already tried to merge layers with different blending modes in Photoshop, chances are your image looked different from what it was like before merging the layers.
In fact, it’s not easy to merge layers without losing blend modes.
In this tutorial, I’ll be showing you how you can merge layers with different blending modes in Photoshop, while preserving the original look of your image.
I’ll be working with four different stock images that I will blend together for the sake of this tutorial.
Stock images used in this tutorial:
My background is the pre-made ocean stock image from Dina on DeviantArt. Above it, I’ve added a Gradient Fill Adjustment Layer in Soft Light (Opacity: 53%) to change the overall feel of the image.
My third layer is the pre-made stony background from ALiceFaux on DeviantArt. The image’s blending mode is again set to Soft Light at full Opacity, which gives a nice eerie look to my creation.
Layer #4 is the dark sky texture from Koko Stock on DeviantArt, which just covers the ocean in the lower half of the image. The Overlay blending mode with 31% Opacity is enough to bump up contrast and vibrancy and add a subtle mysterious feel.
My top layer is my own glitter texture that you can download for free in the Freebie Library. The glitter texture in the Screen blend mode and 25% Opacity covers sky and rocks and increases the ‘foggy’ effect.
This is what my Layers Panel with the multiple layers in different blending modes and opacities looks like:
With all the layers blended together, my overall image looks like this:
How do you blend layers together in Photoshop?
Blending layers together in Photoshop is really simple. All you need to do is select a layer in your Layers Panel and then click on the Blending Mode dropdown at the top of the panel. Now you can choose whatever blend mode works best for you out of Photoshop’s altogether 27 blending options!
Related: → How To Use Blending Modes In Photoshop – Full Tutorial
What blending modes do is change the way the pixels on one layer interact with the pixels on the layer or layers below it.
Blending modes do not change the actual pixels of a layer.
If I set the blending modes of all the layers in my image back to Normal, Photoshop’s default blend mode, you’ll see that the images themselves have not changed.
Now, they simply don’t interact anymore with the layers below.
My background image and Gradient Fill Adjustment Layer are completely hidden by the stone background on my third layer, because that layer is set to 100% opacity. On top, you see a bit of the 31% opacity of the clouds texture, and the glitter texture with 25% opacity – both set back to the Normal default blend mode, too.
So this is what my image looks like without any blend modes selected, aka all layers are in the Normal blend mode:
How to merge layers in Photoshop
Ok, so let’s come back to how to merge layers in Photoshop.
As you probably know, there are two ways to merge layers. Option #1 is to merge layers using Photoshop’s ‘Merge Layer’ menu item, and the second option is to use the ‘Merge Down’ option.
Let’s start with the ‘Merge Layers’ option and see what happens if we merge layers with different blending modes using that option.
Option #1: Merging layers in Photoshop with 'Merge Layers' Option
First of all, let’s try to merge the layers with the different blending modes using Photoshop’s ‘Merge Layers’ option.
To be able to use that option, we first of all need to select all the layers that have different blending modes applied to them.
To select multiple layers, click on the top layer, press and hold Shift, and then click on the bottom layer. This will select the top and bottom layers and all the layers between them.
With the selection active, now right-click on any of the selected layers. This will bring up a pop-up menu. From there, you can choose the ‘Merge Layers’ option.
Very well… but what does our image look like now that we’ve merged the layers with the different blend modes?!
Not really what we wanted it to be… So let’s try Photoshop’s second option to merge layers. Maybe that will do a better job for us!
Option #2: Merging layers in Photoshop with 'Merge Down' Option
The second possibility is to use Photoshop’s ‘Merge Down’ option.
To merge layers together this way, all you need to do is select one layer at a time, right-click on it and choose ‘Merge Down’ from the pop-up menu.
No problem for my first, second and third layer. But once I try to use the ‘Merge Down’ option with the Gradient Fill Adjustment Layer, I’m in trouble.
‘Merge Down’ doesn’t even appear as an option in the menu anymore! All I could use now is ‘Merge Visible’ or ‘Flatten Image’. But that’s not what I want.
What to do now? Fortunately, there’s still the possibility to rasterize a layer to make it behave like a ‘normal’ layer. So let’s try that!
How to rasterize a blending mode?
We cannot actually rasterize a ‘bending mode’, but what we can do is rasterize the Gradient Fill Adjustment Layer that is set to the Soft Light blending mode.
To rasterize a layer, right-click on the layer in your Layers Panel and select ‘Rasterize Layer’ from the pop-up menu.
Once you’ve rasterized the adjustment layer, you can simply right-click on the layer above and select ‘Merge Down’ from the pop-up menu.
After merging all the layers with different blending modes using the ‘Merge Down’ option, my image looks like the second one right here down below.
A lot better that what I got using the ‘Merge Layers’ option!
Actually, it’s not bad at all. There are only slight losses in vibrancy and effects, which are mostly only noticeable in a side-by-side comparison.
Depending on the images and the blend modes you are using, ‘Merge Down’ is an option that might work for you.
If you are willing to sacrifice minor losses in blend mode effects, then this is a quick way for how to merge layers with different blending modes in Photoshop!
However, depending on how your layers interact with each other, you might not be able to achieve an acceptable result. But don’t worry, there are other ways to merge layers in Photoshop without losing layer blend mode effects at all and I’m going to show them to you right now!
How do I merge layers in photoshop without losing layer blend mode effects?
Actually, it’s not possible to simply merge together layers with different blending modes without losing any layer blend mode effects at all.
As we’ve seen above, Photoshop’s blend modes make layers interact with each other in a certain manner. Each layer can only have one blend mode applied to it at any given moment.
That’s why you cannot just merge layers with different blending modes without changing the overall look of the image. It’s not possible to have a single merged layer do all the things that multiple layers with different blend modes are doing.
Last but not least, if all the layers with blending modes interact with each other, they also interact with the background layer, which is still in the default Normal blend mode.
That means, if all the layers interact with each other to achieve the effect, can we not just merge them all to preserve the overall appearance of the image?
Indeed, merging the background layer and all the top layers with different blending modes is one way to merge layers in Photoshop without losing any blend mode effects!
Option #1: Merging all layers with different blending modes, incl. bottom layer
Option number 1 that allows you to merge layers with different blending modes in Photoshop without losing any of the effects is again by using the ‘Merge Layers’ option. But this time, we’re going to merge all the layers in the Layers Panel.
Click on the top layer, press and hold Shift, and then click on the bottom layer with the Normal default blend mode.
Right-click on any of the selected layers and choose ‘Merge Layers’ from the pop-up menu.
And here you go. Your image should now look just the way it was before, with just a single layer in your Layers Panel.
So this was one method how to merge layers with different blending modes in Photoshop.
However, there’s yet another one that you can use. This method also works if your bottom layer has a blend mode other than the default one applied to it.
Option #2 is a great and non-destructive way that creates a copy of the composite image that you’ve put together. You simply paste a snapshot of the overall result on top, while all the layers below remain there and intact.
That means you can come back to your original layers any time and make modifications to them, if you wish. That’s why ‘Creating a Copy Merged’ is a way better option than simply flattening the entire image.
So let’s see how to do that!
Option #2: Creating a Copy Merged
A Copy Merged creates a snapshot of your image, including all layer blending modes, adjustment layers, and layer masks, if you have any.
To create a Copy Merged, you first of all need to select your entire image by going to Select > All in the top menu bar. Alternatively, you can also press CMD + A on a Mac or CTRL + A on a PC.
Next, go to Edit > Copy Merged in the top menu bar. This creates a snapshot of your overall image.
Now you can paste the Copy Merged onto a new layer on top of your Layers Panel by selecting Edit > Paste. Likewise, you can also press CMD + V (Mac) / CTRL + V (Win) on your keyboard.
If you like to do some finger acrobatics, you can press and hold Shift, Option and CMD (Mac) / Shift, Alt and CTRL (Win) and press the letter E. This will create a Copy Merged and automatically paste it on top of your layers.
When switching off the visibility of your top layer, you’ll see that the original image looks exactly the same as the Copy Merged that you’ve just created.
Now you can go on making edits on the copy, without harming the original layers, which remain intact below the copy.
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I hope that this tutorial on how to merge layers with different blending modes in Photoshop was helpful. If you found any value in it, please feel free to share it with other artists so they can also learn from it!
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