Layer Blend modes explained (Affinity Photo 2)?

[leinmi]

Hello,

Where can I find all Affinity Photo 2 layer blend modes explained?
What each blend mode does etc.?
I have looked Affinity online help -> Layer blending.

There is only few basic blend modes explained: Normal, Multiply, Screen etc.

These are not explained: Darken, Darker Color, Lighten, Lighter Color, Color Dodge, Add, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Pin Light, Linear Light, Linear Burn, Hard Mix, Difference, Exclusion, Subtract, Hue, Saturation, Luminosity, Color, Average, Negation, Reflect, Glow, Contrast Negate, Erase and Passthrough.
Why these are not explained in online help? Where can i find explanation for these blend modes and their uses?

Regards,
Mika
 

Edited December 28, 2022 by leinmi
correcting typos

[lacerto]

At least on Windows, these effects look pretty much standard built-in Direct2D blend modes.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/direct2d/blend

The Photoshop blend modes [as far as they overlap] are probably also similar if not identical:

https://photoshoptrainingchannel.com/blending-modes-explained/

[leinmi]

8 minutes ago, lacerto said:

At least on Windows, these effects look pretty much standard built-in Direct2D blend modes.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/direct2d/blend

 

Thank you for this. Blending examples behind that link are hard to understand at least for me and mathematical formulas...well they are not useful for average user like me.
I think that if Sherif puts these blend modes to their products, they should explain all blend modes, their effect and use in their own documentation properly.

Regards,
Mika

[lacerto]

46 minutes ago, leinmi said:

I think that if Sherif puts these blend modes to their products, they should explain all blend modes, their effect and use in their own documentation properly.

Yes, that would be ideal. There is more specific Direct2D API related documentation available but it is very technical.

I would try to learn more about the blend modes reading descriptions related to Photoshop blend modes. While the effects are not necessarily identical they nevertheless overlap with ones in Affinity apps so the descriptions may useful when learning about possible or typical use cases of specific blend modes. E.g. sites like this:

https://www.bwillcreative.com/blending-modes-in-photoshop-explained/

[John Rostron]

Look at Dave Straker's 'notes' for V1. This will covera most of what is found in V2.

 

John

[Ron P.]

Head over to YouTube and do a search there..

Affinity Photo Blend Modes

There's some for Designer mixed in the results.

[leinmi]

2 hours ago, lacerto said:

Yes, that would be ideal. There is more specific Direct2D API related documentation available but it is very technical.

I would try to learn more about the blend modes reading descriptions related to Photoshop blend modes. While the effects are not necessarily identical they nevertheless overlap with ones in Affinity apps so the descriptions may useful when learning about possible or typical use cases of specific blend modes. E.g. sites like this:

https://www.bwillcreative.com/blending-modes-in-photoshop-explained/

Yes, this is good tip to try to find descriptions of photoshop blending modes.

-Mika-

[leinmi]

1 hour ago, John Rostron said:

Look at Dave Straker's 'notes' for V1. This will covera most of what is found in V2.

 

John

Thank you for this link. I will look what is in notes
 

-Mika-

[leinmi]

16 minutes ago, Ron P. said:

Head over to YouTube and do a search there..

Affinity Photo Blend Modes

There's some for Designer mixed in the results.

Thank you. I have tried to search suitable YouTube videos, but haven't found proper explanation for all blend modes that one can find from Affinity Photo 2.
I still feel Serif should document these anyway to their online help.

-Mika-

[Ron P.]

11 minutes ago, leinmi said:

for all blend modes that one can find from Affinity Photo 2.

The Blend Modes are all the same in both AP-1 and AP-2

[jfw222]

Scott Davenport has started a series on Tube on Affinity blend modes.

[Ron P.]

59 minutes ago, jfw222 said:

Scott Davenport has started a series on Tube on Affinity blend modes.

Davenport doesn't do Affinity tutorials. He does Adobe and On1 tutorials.

[leinmi]

8 hours ago, Ron P. said:

The Blend Modes are all the same in both AP-1 and AP-2

Yes, but still there is no proper and full explanation of layer blend modes, how they work and what they are good at. No matter if one uses AP-1 or AP-2. Serif has had plenty of time to make proper documentation, but they haven't done. Now users must rely on third party guides and YouTube tutorials which are not comprehensive. But of course it is good that there is such third party guides and tutorials.

-Mika-

[lacerto]

The first 26 of Affinity Photo blend modes and their typical uses are described in a nutshell in this Photoshop video:

 

Spoiler

 

The remaining six are discussed in the PDF notes linked above by James Ritson. This 52-page PDF is pretty good compilation that also gives information on ways these effects can be used.

The documentation of Affinity apps could certainly be more informative, but the blend modes are fairly similar in different apps and their basic operation is well documented in free sources like ones mentioned in this thread. It is obviously also quite a demanding task to write a comprehensive yet easily understandable description of blend modes (without copying much of what has already been mentioned in other sources).