Separating layers that are blended

[Britt5E39]

Is it possible to save a single layer that has been blended to the layer below? I have 2 textures that I blended and I want to keep the distressed look of the top layer to place onto other textures and delete the base layer. I hope this makes sense.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

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

Once you have merged two Layers (and the merging can’t be undone via history, previous version documents, …) it is possible to accurately separate their content only in some special cases. 

If the two Layers are still separate duplicating the top Layer to another image should not be a problem. 

[Britt5E39]

I have attached 2 screenshots. The second one shows the gold layer able to move and if it's possible I would like to save it with its 'merged look' but be able to replace the stone with anything else.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I suspect I don’t quite understand what the problem is. 

What do you mean by »merged look«? 

What happens if you insert some other image and how does it differ from what you want to happen? 

[Britt5E39]

Sorry I should have said 'blended look'. In the 2nd photo you can see the stone through the gold. Originally the gold was solid. After I blended it with the stone layer using 'Darker Color' it looks like part of the gold has been distressed or rubbed away. I would like to save this distressed gold layer as a png to place on top of other textures.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

»Darker« works both ways, so you could Clipping Mask the stone-Layer to the gold-Layer, set it to »Darker« and use the gold-Layer’s Blend If-settings to create transparency. 

But quite frankly it is still not completely clear to me what result you expect exactly. 

[Britt5E39]

Ultimately I would like to have a png of the distressed gold on a transparent layer. I can only achieve this look when the stone is involved. I have attached a photo of a piece of paper in pic 3 that i would like to place the transparent gold png onto. If I place solid gold on the paper and blend the 2 together it only removes small parts of the gold.

Pic 1: Solid gold on stone before blending

2: Gold and stone blended

3. Plain paper

4. Paper and gold blended

I would like to have the gold on the paper look the same as it does on the stone. It is not distressed enough.

If I could have it saved as a transparent png in the stone blending process I could just take the transparent gold and place it on the paper with no blending.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Have you tried using the Blend If-settings? 

[c.pfaffenbichler · Accepted solution]

[Britt5E39]

You are a genius!! That works perfectly. I've never used that before so It's opened up a whole new world of possibilities.

Thank you so much 🙂

[Bojan Živković]

It is not quite clear what you want exactly.

If you want to save blended look after applying blend mode to top layer why do not use File > Save As or Export?

[Britt5E39]

I would like to save or export the gold layer only. Not the stone. When I try, the gold saves as it was originally (a solid piece).

I want the erased looking piece of gold on its own as a transparent png without the stone.

[Bojan Živković]

As a transparent? Where comes from that transparency? What you see on your screen is result of blending two layers and you can save that result as png using File > Export. Do not use export function to save only top layer because blending result won't be visible. Your top layer is not changed, blending result can trick you that top layer is changed and you may expect to see it as image on screen you are looking at after exporting that layer using ecport function to export single layer.

[Britt5E39]

Thank you for your help.

[Chuck Uebele]

Separating the effect of blend modes is difficult, if not impossible, depending upon the blend mode. In your case, with the darken mode, the gold layer is transparent where the gold is lighter than the stone. So you might be able to create a mask for the gold layer by this method:

Make a merged copy visible of the gold and stone layers, by using the shortcut ctrl/cmd-alt/opt-shift-E. Take that layer and with just the gold layer, set the top layer's blend mode to difference. This will give you a very dark or near black result.  Make another merged copy visible of that. The parts that are pure black are where the gold layer shows through and hides the stone. The lighter parts should be the stone layer. By using curves or levels on this new layer, you can adjust the lighter areas to make a mask that suits your needs. You will have to invert the mask, so the areas of gold will be white rather than black. Hope this is something along the lines of what you want.

[Britt5E39]

Thank you for trying to help. Blend if was a solution in the end.