Blend mode boosters
PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine|February 2022
James Paterson shares his tricks to enhance your image’s tones and colours with layer blend modes in Affinity Photo
James Paterson
Blend mode boosters

THE MISSION

Use blend modes and painting tricks to boost skies, trees and buildings in Affinity Photo

Time needed 20 minutes

Skill level Beginner

Kit needed Affinity Photo

Landscapes will often benefit from local adjustments to pull out detail, enhance colours or reveal textures in specific parts of the scene. One way this can be achieved is with layer blend modes. These are often thought of as a means to combine two or more images into one, but blend modes can also be hugely useful for enhancing colours and tones. In this project we’ll look at how to use blend modes in combination with other tools and adjustments to enhance the famous landscape of Meteora in Greece. We’ll break the scene down into different areas – trees, sky, buildings, rocks – and apply tailored edits to each. Whatever landscape you choose to edit, it can usually be divided up in a similar way.

Two of the most useful blend modes for this effect are Overlay and Soft Light. By painting colours on a layer set to the Soft Light mode we can enhance and enrich the existing colours in the scene. We can also paint in extra punch using the Overlay blend mode, and add drama to the sky. The Linear Light mode is another useful one for boosting colours. We’ve used it here to lift the reds in the roof of the monastery, which helps to draw the eye towards the subject and contrasts with the surrounding greens and greys. Finally, the Multiply blend mode is handy for darkening down overly bright areas, so we can use it here to balance out the bright sky with the land below.

Denne historien er fra February 2022-utgaven av PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra February 2022-utgaven av PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA PHOTOPLUS : THE CANON MAGAZINESe alt
The Art of Copying Art - James Paterson shows you how to use your Canon gear to capture artwork and paintings the right way with simple camera and lighting skills
PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

The Art of Copying Art - James Paterson shows you how to use your Canon gear to capture artwork and paintings the right way with simple camera and lighting skills

Whether you want to capture a painting like the above, digitise old prints or reproduce any kind of canvas, there's real skill in capturing artwork with your camera. Not only do you need the colours to be accurate, you also need to master the spread, angle and quality of the light to minimise glare and show the work at its best.This painting by the artist Bryan Hanlon has a wonderfully subtle colour palette. To reproduce the painting in print and digital form, it needs to be captured in the right way.

time-read
1 min  |
October 2024
Fright night
PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

Fright night

Canon photographer and digital artist Alexander loves to craft incredible fantasy scenes with a spooky horror twist

time-read
1 min  |
November 2024
Sharpen your shots with DPP
PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

Sharpen your shots with DPP

Sharpening a digital image also increases contrast at the edge of details

time-read
2 mins  |
November 2024
CANON ImagePrograf PRO-1100
PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

CANON ImagePrograf PRO-1100

Deeper blacks, better bronzing, greater lifespan and 5G Wi-Fi -Canon's new printer is full of new tech, says

time-read
3 mins  |
November 2024
Canon's new 'kit lens' is actually a half-price f/2.8 trinity lens!
PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

Canon's new 'kit lens' is actually a half-price f/2.8 trinity lens!

The Canon RF 28-70mm F2.8 IS STM lacks a red ring, but borrows premium features from its L-series siblings

time-read
2 mins  |
November 2024
DREW GIBSON
PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

DREW GIBSON

Pro motorsports photographer Drew on why he hasn't (yet) switched to Canon's mirrorless system, why old-school techniques can be the most reliable, and the lessons learned from more than a decade shooting the world's biggest car brands

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
Up in smoke
PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

Up in smoke

Make a smoky shape in Affinity Photo and get to grips with the amazing Liquify Persona under the guidance of James Paterson

time-read
3 mins  |
November 2024
Expand your creativity with Generative Fill
PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

Expand your creativity with Generative Fill

Photoshop's Al-powered feature brings revolutionary new tools to image editing. James Paterson reveals all...

time-read
2 mins  |
November 2024
Turn your images into vintage postcards
PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

Turn your images into vintage postcards

Wish you were here? Sean McCormack explains how you can give your summer photographs a vintage postcard look

time-read
2 mins  |
November 2024
The Angel Malibu
PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

The Angel Malibu

Light painting an American movie producer in the Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan was a highly unlikely evening out for David!

time-read
3 mins  |
November 2024