Blending Backgrounds with CSS `background-blend-mode`: Creating Unique Visual Effects

Learn how to use CSS's `background-blend-mode` property to blend multiple background layers (colors and images) together. This tutorial explores various blend modes, their visual effects, and how to use `background-blend-mode` to create unique and visually interesting background designs for your web pages.

Blending Backgrounds with CSS `background-blend-mode`

Understanding `background-blend-mode`

The CSS `background-blend-mode` property controls how multiple background layers (images or colors) blend together. It defines the blending mode for each layer, influencing how the colors and images combine to create the final visual effect. This property is particularly useful for creating unique and visually interesting background effects.

Note: Internet Explorer and older versions of Edge do not support this property.

`background-blend-mode` Syntax and Values

The syntax is:

background-blend-mode: normal | multiply | screen | color-dodge | difference | darken | lighten | saturation | luminosity | overlay | hard-light | soft-light | exclusion | hue | color-burn | color;

The default value is normal (no blending).

Here are descriptions and examples of several blend modes. These examples would typically involve an HTML element with multiple background images or a background image and color defined. The provided code is illustrative; you would need to add the corresponding HTML elements and images to view the results.

`normal`

(Default) No blending; layers are stacked on top of each other.

`multiply`

Multiplies the colors of the background layers. The result is often darker than the original images.

`screen`

Inverts both the background colors and images before multiplying them. The result is often brighter than the original images.

`color-dodge`

Divides the background color by the inverse of the background image. Similar to the `screen` blend mode but can produce different results.

`difference`

Subtracts the darker color from the lighter color. This creates a high-contrast effect.

`darken`

Selects the darkest color at each point from the background layers.

`lighten`

Selects the lightest color at each point from the background layers.

`saturation`

Uses the saturation from the top layer and the hue and luminosity from the bottom layer.

`luminosity`

Uses the luminosity from the top layer and the hue and saturation from the bottom layer.

`overlay`

A blend mode that combines both `multiply` and `screen` modes based on the base color.

`hard-light`

Similar to overlay, but uses a harder contrast.

`soft-light`

Similar to hard-light, but with a softer contrast.

`exclusion`

Creates a muted effect, reducing the overall contrast.

`hue`

Uses the hue from the top layer and the saturation and luminosity from the bottom layer.

`color-burn`

Darkens the base color to reflect the top color.

`color`

Uses the luminosity from the bottom layer and the hue and saturation from the top layer.