Quote Originally Posted by marko
hey thanks for that Alex!

I have to double check this though as now I'm not sure of something. I always thought that the blending modes in photoshop went from 'weakest' to strongist...where overlay ia weaker than softlight which is weaker than hard light etc. HMMM.
Paint yourself a dodge/burn layer and try the different blending modes -- you should find Softlight the most subtle, then Overlay, then Hardlight the most extreme, I believe. Try it on a colour image and include some heavy lightening and darkening -- then watch for colour shifts as you switch between modes.