Apple Final Cut Pro 7 - Manual (Page 1206)

The order of two clips affected by the Hard Light composite mode is important.
Boxes clip on top Monkey clip on top
Soft Light
The Soft Light composite mode is similar to the Overlay composite mode. Whites and
blacks in the foreground image become translucent but interact with the color values of
the background image. Whites and blacks in the background image, on the other hand,
replace the overlapping areas in the foreground image. All overlapping midrange color
values are mixed together, creating a more even tinting effect than that created by the
Overlay composite mode.
The order of two clips affected by the Soft Light composite mode is important.
Boxes clip on top Monkey clip on top
Suggested uses: The Soft Light composite mode is useful for softly tinting a background
image by mixing it with the colors in a foreground image.
1206 Chapter 71 Compositing and Layering