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This article is part of a mini-series about the blending modes in ON1 Photo RAW and ON1 Effects.

What Is The Normal Blending Mode?

The Normal blending mode is the default mode for a layer or Effects filter. It is the blending mode you have been using all along if you never knew about blending modes before reading this article. The Normal mode does not make any additional changes to the pixels. It is the show-me-all-the-pixels blending mode.

The Normal blending mode is most useful in a layered workflow. I use it in two scenarios, creating double-exposures and blending exposures into a composite scene.

Create A Double Exposure With The Lighten Blending Mode

The Normal blending mode lends itself to double exposure looks.

1. Load two or more photos into layers.

2. Select the top layer. Do any masking to isolate a subject or area you want to include in the double exposure.

3. Lower the Opacity of the top layer to taste

In the example here, I masked a street sign and layered it on top of a vintage style gas station. The lower opacity of the street sign creates the double exposure look.

Blending Exposures Into A Composite

Another great use case for the Normal blending mode is to create a composite of several exposures that were all taken in close proximity. When you capture a few images of the same scene and want portions of each capture to be part of a composite. The Normal mode will show all the pixels, and with light masking in layers, you pick and choose the portions of each frame to combine.

I do this often with seascapes, although the technique works for other scenes, too.

Up Next

The next article in this series explores the Lighten blending mode.