Blending Options are one of the first things Photoshop Novices stumble upon. The infancy of adding layer styles often leads to a short period of horrible drop shadows and cringeworthy bevels. Ironicly, this easily available styling is one of the harder things to master. Blending options is all about manipulating individual layers to obtain a certain effect. It's a key aspect of creating icons, and will help you create textures, shading and highlighting.