Digital Camera World - UK (2021-03)

80 DIGITAL CAMERA^ MARCH 2021 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com

Perfect tones with Gradient Maps

Tint your images and recreate retro toning

effects with this Affinity Photo essential

Explore the Split

Toning Panel

Tucked away in the Develop

Persona (Affinity Photo’s

dedicated raw workspace), the

Split Toning Panel is another

excellent tool for tinting your

images. More beginner-friendly

than Gradient Maps, it offers an

array of simple sliders for adding

colours to highlights, shadows or

both. You can fine-tune the hue

and control the saturation of the

colour. The Balance slider lets you

shift the bias one way or another

to make either colour stronger.

James

Paterson

With over a decade’s

experience as a writer

and photographer, James

is also an accomplished

image editor – and an

expert in Affinity Photo.

hen you first add a Gradient Map

adjustment in Affinity Photo, the default

effect is a psychedelic mix of red, green

and blue that will be of no use to anyone.

But don’t let that fool you into thinking

the command is worthless – in fact, it’s one of the most

powerful tools in Affinity Photo for tinting your images.

A Gradient Map adjustment allows you to add colours

to your highlights and shadows, as well as any part

of the range in-between. Whether you want to add

a split-tone treatment to a black-and-white image

like this, or skew the shades in a colour image, the

Gradient Map is one of the best tools for the job.

In this tutorial we’ll explore some of the key features

of Gradient Maps. We’ve opted for a retro gold-blue

treatment here, but you can use the same techniques

to replicate all kinds of other analogue effects, like a

sepia tone, selenium colouring or a bold blue cyanotype.

Along the way we’ll also look at several powerful

features in Affinity Photo that apply to all kinds

of adjustments, like the Blend Options box and

Adjustment Layers. You’ll find a full walkthrough

of the technique in the accompanying video.

Get the Affinity Photo trial at affin.co/WeWantToHelp

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