Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 Studio Techniques

The Blending Sliders

Don't let this ho-hum name fool you. When it comes to advanced masking, this feature is like the sleepy-eyed pitcher with the secret curve ball that can win the game. You'll definitely want to give this baby a test drive. The Blending sliders are found by choosing Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options, or by double-clicking in the empty area on a layer in the Layers palette to the right of its name. We'll talk about these sliders in more detail in Chapter 15, “Collage,” so for now we're going to limit our discussion to the top set of sliders, the ones labeled “This Layer” (Figure 14.52). These sliders allow you to show or hide part of a layer based on its brightness. I find them to be very useful when the subject of a photograph ...