If an ON1 Effects filter shifts color in an unwanted way, try using the Luminosity blending mode. Luminosity deals only with brightness values, protecting your photo’s hue and saturation.

The contrast increase from Vivid Light is a strong one and can overpower a scene. Temper its Opacity - and try it out for color grading (my preferred use for this blending mode).

The Soft Light blending mode has a more subdued touch than the Overlay mode. I like this mode for subtler texture blends.

The Overlay blending mode is one you should know. An excellent way to pop contrast and blend exposures, it is one of the most popular blending modes.

Color Dodge is a useful blending mode for creative and unique color grading. Its results can be harder to predict, so do be prepared for some experimentation.

Take your cityscape photos to a new level with a little field prep and the Lighten blending mode.

The default blending mode of Normal makes no special changes to the pixels in a layer. It is perfect for exposure blending and double-exposure looks.

The blending modes in ON1 change the way filters and layers interact with one another. They can be mysterious. Join me for a series of videos and articles that show practical uses for blending modes.

Give me 2 minutes and I’ll show you how to quickly and easily get more precise dodging and burning in Lightroom.

Give me 2 minutes and I’ll show you a simple Curves adjustment to fix pesky, stubborn, speckled blown highlights in your images.

Curves is a powerful and sometimes misunderstood editing tool. I have 5 ‘recipes’ to get you familiar with using curves.

I have been exploring ocean abstracts of late. I’m still homing in on the right balance of soft dreaminess yet maintaining good separation of tones to emphasize the different streaks and ribbons in the water.