Cycle Through Photoshop Layer Blend Modes with Keyboard Shortcut

Learn how to change the layer blending mode without the mouse in Photoshop. Also learn how to avoid one of the biggest gotchas. Details below... With a layer selected in the Layers panel, the blending mode can be changed via a dropdown at the top of the panel. With a layer selected in the Layers panel and with the Shift key held down, tapping the "+" or "-" keys will cycle down or up through the blending modes. Some tools, such as the Brush tool, have their own internal blending modes. If using such tools, the keyboard shortcuts will alter that blending mode and not that of any selected layer. If wanting to change layer blending modes with the keyboard shortcuts, first switching to the Move Tool is a good habit to get into as this tool has no internal blending modes. Images by: Liao Je Wei https://unsplash.com/@alexliao https://unsplash.com/photos/vnIPqD5ZCHE Sydney Rae https://unsplash.com/@srz https://unsplash.com/photos/oafaSAQPfww