<p>I think the origins lie in many places. In photograms and photocompositing, each image component is <em>burned-in</em> over the initially white surface and the edges can be blended by using to <em>umbra</em> of the shadow of the hands or stencil controlling the burn. </p>

<p>Blending tones is an important technique in drawing with pastels. I think a lot of the blending tools come from the <em>color blending</em> realm, perhaps even more than from the <em>collage and photogram</em> realm. So even things liking mixing paints have their computer analogue, which can then be applied to edges due to the converge of the two sub-topics.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-20T04:53:10.403Z
2016-09-20T04:53:10.403Z
luser droog
<p>Before computers, to blend two pictures into one, I'd imagine the painter would have used some sort of mirror setup to reflect the one picture onto a mirror containing the reflection of the other picture. Does that sound right? 
What about different blending modes that Photoshop has, like "Difference," "Pin Light," etc. What are the pre-computer origins of these?</p>

<p><a href="http://image.slidesharecdn.com/blendmodesforopengl-140213092122-phpapp02/95/blend-modes-for-opengl-3-638.jpg?cb=1392283377" rel="nofollow">Example of blending modes</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-19T13:14:42.603Z
I'm not really sure what you're asking. Can you include an image? If it's a painting, I'm not sure why there would be any need to blend things like this...
Catija
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-20T16:00:17.327Z
The pre-computer version of Photoshop tools is generally darkroom tricks -- which wouldn't really apply to art as understood on this particular SE, but would be topical at [Photography.SE](http://photo.stackexchange.com/)
Erica
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-21T20:57:30.167Z
Ahem. [Cross-post](http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/83002/what-is-the-pre-computer-version-of-photoshops-blending-modes). [Cross-posting is frowned upon on SE](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/64068).
inkista
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-22T08:23:46.040Z
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it was cross posted to another site and it seems to be a poor fit for our scope.
Catija
<blending>
What is the pre-computer version of Photoshop's blending modes?
Edward Van Crowley
# What is the pre-computer version of Photoshop's blending modes?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-09-19)

Before computers, to blend two pictures into one, I'd imagine the painter would have used some sort of mirror setup to reflect the one picture onto a mirror containing the reflection of the other picture. Does that sound right?
What about different blending modes that Photoshop has, like "Difference," "Pin Light," etc. What are the pre-computer origins of these?

[Example of blending modes](http://image.slidesharecdn.com/blendmodesforopengl-140213092122-phpapp02/95/blend-modes-for-opengl-3-638.jpg?cb=1392283377)

**Tags:** blending

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I'm not really sure what you're asking. Can you include an image? If it's a painting, I'm not sure why there would be any need to blend things like this...  
> **username_2**: The pre-computer version of Photoshop tools is generally darkroom tricks -- which wouldn't really apply to art as understood on this particular SE, but would be topical at [Photography.SE](http://photo.stackexchange.com/)  
> **username_3**: Ahem. [Cross-post](http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/83002/what-is-the-pre-computer-version-of-photoshops-blending-modes). [Cross-posting is frowned upon on SE](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/64068).  
> **username_1**: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it was cross posted to another site and it seems to be a poor fit for our scope.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2016-09-20. Score: 1

I think the origins lie in many places. In photograms and photocompositing, each image component is *burned-in* over the initially white surface and the edges can be blended by using to *umbra* of the shadow of the hands or stencil controlling the burn.

Blending tones is an important technique in drawing with pastels. I think a lot of the blending tools come from the *color blending* realm, perhaps even more than from the *collage and photogram* realm. So even things liking mixing paints have their computer analogue, which can then be applied to edges due to the converge of the two sub-topics.


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