Photoshop and Map Overlays

[Midgardsormr]

To expand on that a bit and let you know why it works, Multiply does exactly what it says: It multiplies the value of the top layer's pixel by the value of the image's pixel and displays the result. You would expect that to give you a brighter image, but Photoshop internally converts all of the colors to a range of 0 - 1. Since white has a value of 1, multiplying a pixel by that has no effect. Black, at a value of 0, will result in 0. A value of 0.5 (127 in the color picker) cuts the value of the output by half. Thus, multiply is very good for putting things like grids and hand-drawn work into your image.

Screen works in the opposite fashion, where black changes nothing, but white makes things brighter.

Overlay is a cross between the two, where 0.5 is no change. Anything above that acts like a Screen, and anything below it acts like a Multiply.

With that knowledge, you can more easily determine which blending mode you should try based on the images you're trying to merge. Multiply to integrate line work with your image or make shadows. Screen to put in lights or glows. You can adjust the opacity of your top layer to get exactly the level of darkening or brightening you want.

[xscottr]

I know this topic is really old but it still comes up when you google this issue. I've found a quick and easy solution. Download the hex PDF from Free Online Graph Paper / Hexagonal (thanks to RobA). Open the PDF in Photoshop. Then, zoom way in to select an area EXACTLY like the attached (or just used the attached jpeg). Then go to Edit>Define Pattern. Then, open your map image in photoshop. Go to the layers window and find the little semi-circle button on the bottom of the window called "create new fill or adjustment layer". Select "Pattern" from the list of adjustment layers. Your Hex pattern should show up by default - if not, select it. You can choose the scale before placing the adjustment layer. If you keep the image layered, you can go back at any time to change the scale by double clicking your pattern layer. Good luck and have fun! Attachment 52625

Thanks a lot that is amazingly simple and I love it. Works great in Photoshop CC 2017!