Adobe Photoshop Tutorial: Extreme Contrast Photo Effect

Step 4: Change The Blend Mode Of The New Layer To 'Screen' And Lower The Opacity To 50%

With "Layer 1 copy" selected, go up to the layer blend mode options in the top left of the Layers palette. We're going to change the blend mode of this layer from "Normal" to "Screen" so that the image appears lighter. To do that, click on the down-pointing arrow to the right of the word "Normal" and select Screen from the list:

Once you've changed the blend mode, move over to the Opacity option in the top right of the Layers palette and lower the opacity of the layer to 50% to reduce the brightness:

Here's my image after changing the blend mode to "Screen" and lowering the opacity:

Step 5: Duplicate The Original Background Layer And Move It To The Top Of The Layers Palette

Click back on the original Background layer (the bottom layer) in the Layers palette to select it. Then press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to create another copy of it, which will appear directly above it. This time, Photoshop has named the new layer "Background copy":

Currently, the new "Background copy" layer is below the two black and white layers, but we need it to be above them. Moving the layer is easy. Just use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+] / Shift+Command+] to quickly jump the layer to the top of the layer stack:

Step 6: Change The Layer's Blend Mode To Either "Overlay" Or "Color Burn"

With the "Background copy" layer still selected at the top of the Layers palette, go back to the layer blend mode options and change it's blend mode to either Overlay or Color Burn. Depending on the image you're using, one of these two blend modes will make the image look either too bright or too dark, so use the one that looks best. I'm using "Overlay" for my image, since "Color Burn" makes it too dark:

You may find, after changing the blend mode, that the color in your image is now too strong, so lower the opacity of the layer a little to reduce some of the color saturation if needed. I'm going to lower mine to about 75%:

Again, it will depend on your image and what you think looks best.

Here's my image at this point: