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Participant
Jun 16, 2021 7:15 AM UTC
Answered

All of my brushes act as if using a blend mode and i dont know how to turn it off

I've just been messing with some new brush sets and a few hours ago every one of my brushes started acting strange. Instead of adding the same color I have color picked from the painting, it's creating some sort of blend mode(multiply?) layer on top of wherever there is already paint. If I insert a new layer on top, I can paint one stroke of paint down and it will look normal on top of the painting(with the exact selected color) until I add another stroke over that piece on that same new layer, which adds the darkened effect yet gain. Opacity is 100% for all brushes here, each layer is set at "normal." I've hardly touched brush settings aside from brush size. Is there any way to turn this brush effect off for all brushes? 

 



I only just started using photoshop today coming from a much simpler program, Autodesk Sketchbook. It's very likely I bumped a key or something by accident and now I'm just stumped. Any help would be absolutely appreciated (: !

davescm
davescmCorrect answer
Community Expert
Jun 16, 2021 7:27 AM UTC

With the brush tool selected, go to the options bar at the top of the screen and check the brush blending mode, opacity and flow settings.

 

Dave

9 replies

Participant
Sep 13, 2026 11:33 PM UTC

I have the same problem. I’ve checked my brush settings and mode is set to normal. But in painting a mask, the brush acts like it’s in blending mode. This is new for me with the latest update. I cannot paint a solid 100% white or black on my mask.

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Trevor.Dennis
Community Expert
Community Expert
Sep 14, 2026 12:05 AM UTC

Can you show us a full res screenshot of your entire workspace?

We need to see:

 The document window.

 Brush Settings panel

The brush tool needs to be selected.

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c.pfaffenbichler
Community Expert
Community Expert
Jun 16, 2021 7:32 AM UTC

What are the Layer’s settings? 

Could you please post screenshots with the pertinent Panels (Toolbar, Layers, Options Bar, …) visible? 

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davescm
Community Expert
davescmCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
Jun 16, 2021 7:27 AM UTC

With the brush tool selected, go to the options bar at the top of the screen and check the brush blending mode, opacity and flow settings.

 

Dave

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Participant
Jun 16, 2021 5:30 PM UTC

Thank you for pointing that out! It was just one click away. The brush "mode" was set to multiply on the top bar. All good now 🙂 Much appreciated.

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jane-e
Community Expert
Community Expert
Jun 16, 2021 5:39 PM UTC

Hi @sezzie.ezzie 

 

You may have accidentally used a keyboard shortcut when your brush tool was selected. Multiply is Shift + Option + M.

 

Result

Windows

macOS

Cycle through blending modes

Shift + + (plus) or – (minus)

Shift + + (plus) or – (minus)

Normal

Shift + Alt + N

Shift + Option + N

Dissolve

Shift + Alt + I

Shift + Option + I

Behind (Brush tool only)

Shift + Alt + Q

Shift + Option + Q

Clear (Brush tool only)

Shift + Alt + R

Shift + Option + R

Darken

Shift + Alt + K

Shift + Option + K

Multiply

Shift + Alt + M

Shift + Option + M

 

~ Jane

 

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