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1
This rocket and its jet flame are on two separate layers. The flame is actually a
photograph of a firework, rotated to the same angle as the rocket. Fireworks
make really great explosions. But how do we get rid of that black background?
3
When we change the sky for a much brighter one, however, the flame loses all
its power. Sure, we can still see it, but the Screen effect has now become insipid.
Change the mode back to Normal and we’ll find another solution.
5
So far, so good. But when we zoom in on that flame, we can see that it’s a hard
cut-off. Everything darker than 25 is hidden, everything brighter is visible: and
this produces an ugly, ragged stepping effect.
T
HE BLENDING OPTIONS FEATURE,
tucked away within the Layer Style
palette, is one of the most overlooked features
in Photoshop. But it’s an enormously powerful
tool that allows you to hide or show picture
elements automatically, without touching a
brush or layer mask.
In the image above, for the Guardian, I used
Blending Options to make the bottle surface
show through the distorted G2 logo, and the
label ‘printed’ on the bottle.
Blending Options 1: fire power
3
Hiding and showing