Blending Modes for Adobe Photoshop Custom Shapes Tutorial Beginner's Guide

By Andrew Buckle, Video Tutorial Creator / Designer

Updated : 2021

How to use custom shapes with the Photoshop blending modes such as darken, difference, lighten etc.

The Photoshop custom shapes can be blended as a layer via the layers panel.

blending modes and photoshop custom shapes tutorial You can also use the blending modes with custom shapes with the pixels. You can also use the blending mode with pixels with the fade as command via the edit menu. This tutorial shows you a number of ways to work with Photoshop custom shapes and blending modes in Photoshop

Select the custom shapes tool from the Photoshop toolbar
Select shape layer option
Select a shape from the shapes presets picker
Apply shape
Apply shape
Set color via the top bar fill
Go to the layers panel
Set the blending mode to darken

Select the CSH Photoshop custom shapes tool and set the option to 'layer' and then add the layer with the current design (or select another). You can then go to the layer panel and select the blending mode as well as the opacity - set them to darken and difference and the result will modify how the artwork interacts with the underlying layer. You can modify this at any point as well as change the color and the stroke of the vector. You can repeat this with new vectors to build all kinds of images.

Some blending modes are better than others and work well with some color, with other colors you will see no change at all such as trying to use the lighter color with a light image.

Filter shape layers in Photoshop by using the "kind" filter in layers panel

You can filter shape layers from all the other layers in the panel by using "kind". You may have created multiple layers such as adjustments as well as standard raster layers and type etc but you want to see only the shapes. You can do that via the layers panel's filters and by selecting the "shape layers" filter. The filter does not remove the other layers from the document. You can then select the shape layers and use the blending modes as required for each of them. You can also filter them by using name if you do not rename the shapes (such as keeping them as shape 1, etc)

Go to the layers panel
Go to the filter type
Select kind
Select filter by shape layers
Go to the shape layers and select the blending mode required and opacity such as darken

Blending As Pixels - you can use the blending modes such as darken with shapes / pixel mode in Photoshop

You can do the same as with the pixel option for the custom shapes. You can change the color of the shape as well as the blending mode and opacity before you apply it. You can also use the fade command. The effect is destructive so if you wish to preserve the work, it is best to apply on layers (which can be deleted)

Select custom shape tool from the Photoshop toolbar
Select shape from shapes dropdown / picker
Set color via foreground color
Set blending mode (especially if there is something already in the image)
Apply shape
Set color
Set blending mode again to something different
Apply the custom shape again and so on

Fade as - you can also fade the result as well as change the blending mode via the fade panel

You can also use the custom shapes with the edit menu and fade command. Apply the shape and then use the fade to change the opacity and blending mode

Select the custom shape tool in Photoshop toolbar
Select shape from picker
Select color
Select 'pixel' as pick tool mode
Apply the tool
Goto the edit menu in Photoshop
Fade
Change the shape's blending mode
Change the opacity
OK

The fade is useful in many different areas of Photoshop.

You can use the pixel option with layers and then blend the layers in Photoshop

You can also use blending modes if you use layers with the Photoshop custom shapes applied as 'pixels'. Simply apply the shapes to a layer and then go to the layers menu and set the blending mode. You can also add the shapes to multiple layers and use different blending modes and opacity with each layer. You can, of course, use different blending modes between each shape

Layer menu
New layer
Select shape and color etc
Apply shape
Select different blending mode
Apply new shape
Go to the layer menu in Photoshop
New layer
Continue applying pixel shapes in different colors and blending modes
Layer menu and add new layer etc
Go to the layers panel
Select a layer
Goto to the blending mode in layers panel
Change blending mode to darken or color burn etc

Blending modes available with Photoshop shape layers

blending modes and photoshop custom shapes

There are many different blending modes available for shape layers and shapes in Photoshop such as

Normal
dissolve
darken
multiply
color burn
linear burn
darker color
lighten
screen
color dodge
linear dodge (add)
lighter color
overlay
soft light
hard light
vivid light
linear light
pin light
hard mix
difference
exclusion
subtract
divide
hue
saturation
color
luminosity

There are a few others such as clear and behind etc that appear depending on the circumstances