Darken and Lighten

demo image
click for original size

Darken:
compares luminance values of each layer
uses only the darker values
RGB channels compared separately, hue changes

Shade:
legacy version of Darken, functionally identical

Darker Color:
Like Darken, but compares all 3 channels together

demo image
click for original size

Lighten:
compares luminance values of each layer
uses only the brighter values
RGB channels compared separately, hue changes

Lighter Color:
Like Lighten, but compares all 3 channels together