How to get this effect

[Phil Alder]

I am trying to get this type of effect in Affinity and having trouble. Would love some help if someone can assist me please

[Ldina]

@Phil Alder Welcome to the forum.

Of course, part of it depends on the image you start with. The final result contains a lot of contrast, saturation, back lighting, a wonderful scene and sky to start with, perhaps a "sun-ray effect" was added, etc. It could also have had some Recolor adjustments, Blend Modes, and other effects. Depending on the exposure, it may have started life as an HDR Merge (probably not), but care needs to be taken to avoid blowing out highlights in the original exposure. It's hard to advise without having a starting image to assess. Many smartphone cameras automatically do some HDR Merging in camera. 

If you have an image you want to try this on (preferably a RAW image without blown highlights and plenty of detail throughout), perhaps upload it to the forum and people here can give it a go. This will likely provide you with more meaningful feedback and techniques. I can say that there is plenty of contrast (Curves, Levels, Brightness.Contrast, etc), saturation (Vibrance, HSL) , interesting lighting on the clouds, water and sand, etc. Care was also taken to preserve tonality in those foamy waves. The image is dark and saturated overall, which helps to make those highlight tones pop! 

[Phil Alder]

Thank you so much I do have an image of my own that I will have a go at today. This is what I did earlier on my image but I will start over again.  All my images are raw files. I really do appreciate your fantastic help 🙏🙏🙏

Edited December 27, 2024 by Phil Alder
Wrote don't instead of do fat fingers

[Ldina]

@Phil Alder Feel free to upload your RAW file and I will see what I can do with it. Others, no doubt, will probably be glad to do the same. If it comes out well, we can share our AfPhoto file, with all the layers, edits, etc. 

[Phil Alder]

Original Raw File attached. This photo isnt excellent I really just wanted to learn how to get the effect. Then I will go and take some more images. Thankyou so much for your help

Sun Rays 1 April_20.dng

[Ldina]

@Phil Alder Phil, attached is an afPhoto file using your DNG as a starting point. Mine is not what I would call a good edit. My goal here was to give you some ideas and techniques to consider to accentuate contrast, detail, separation of tones, etc...it is extremely overdone. There are a hundred different interpretations for an image like this, but your original request seemed to be looking for "dramatic".

First, the attached file was developed in the Affinity Develop Persona. I sent the file to Photo using the RAW Layer (Linked) feature, which kept the AfPhoto file very small. In order to look at it, place this AfPhoto file and your original DNG file into the same folder. When you open the AfPhoto file, it should see your DNG file and keep the link. If not, go to Window > Resource Manager, and relink to your DNG.

If you want to see what I did in the Develop Persona, double click on the thumbnail of the DNG layer in the opened AfPhoto File. This will send you back to the Develop Persona and you will see the settings I used. My goal in the Develop Persona was to boost contrast, clarity, etc, but I also wanted to avoid premature clipping of highlights and shadows, which is why I used the Shadows and Highlights sliders fairly aggressively. I also did a little noise reduction. I planned on doing most of my edits in Photo, non-destructively. When using RAW Layer (linked or embedded), you can go back and forth between Photo and the Develop Persona non-destructively, which is a nice feature. Linking also keeps your AfPhoto files smaller. 

When I work on photos, especially if I know I'll be making BIG edits, I typically look at the biggest issues first. In this case, I wanted to boost sky contrast, so I added a Curves adjustment and masked it to the sky. (Layers are named to help understand what I did). The next step I used was a Gradient Map Adjustment to add color, set to the Multiply Layer Blend Mode (one of many possible ways to add color). Then a Curves Adjustment to the entire image, followed by Clarity and a "High Radius - Low Amount" Unsharp Mask. That is similar to adding clarity, but is flexible and really helps separate tones and boost local contrast. The larger radius creates large sharpening halos, so we usually need to keep the Amount low. I followed that with a more traditional Unsharp Mask to sharpen some of the finer details in the sky and water. I wanted a bit more contrast, so I added a Levels Adjustment (Brightness/Contrast or Curves would have worked fine too). And finally, an HSL Adjustment to tone down the yellows, which were pretty overdone (IMO). You could even use HSL, Recolor or Selective Color to turn this into a deep blue night scene. 

I usually start an edit with a general idea of what I am looking for. At each step along the way, I usually see something that I want or need to adjust, and depending on what I'm looking to do, one or more tools will suggest themselves. So, at least for me, it is a process that unfolds as I am editing, and sometimes I end up with something totally different from what I originally intended. The image I start with doesn't always lend itself to my original vision, so I may change direction midstream. But, I do try to address the bigger problems first, whether it be noise, contrast, White Balance, brightness, color casts, or whatever. 

This is probably a completely different interpretation from what you or others might want (in fact, it is even for me!). But hopefully, this example gives you a few ideas and approaches to get whatever it is you DO want. The DNG file is still a linked "Image Layer" in its pristine state. (Image Layers differ from Pixel Layers, which is a bit confusing to many new to Affinity, and it's worth learning about...check Affinity Help). All the layers in the stack are non-destructive, so you can change them, delete them, add new ones, or whatever. It's definitely 'dramatic" and I went overboard, but for the purpose of showing you a few tools in Affinity you can use. Let me know if you have any questions or need clarification. 

 

Sun Rays 1 April_20.afphoto

[Phil Alder]

Lou this is what my screen looks like

[Phil Alder]

I can see it when I click Navigator but just get pixels in main screen

[Ldina]

Check Window > Resource Manager and make sure the original DNG file you posted on the forum is shown as “linked”. If not, relink to it. You can also choose to embed it in your document from resource manager. I suspect that is why you aren’t seeing the proper preview. I’m not at my computer and won’t be until tomorrow. 

[Phil Alder]

Lou all is good I just had to change the resources to link original image. Thank you thank you thank you that is what I was after. It's really how to do the work flow so the layers is a great help. I know that's over dramatic but it is exactly what I am trying to do. Thanks so very much🙏🙏🙏💯🙌👍

[carl123]

It's a linked document, which for some strange reason refuses to show the low resolution version, when the linked file is unavailable

Never seen that before

[Ldina]

Glad that worked. If you look closely at the image you were trying to emulate, you will notice some orange peeking though in portions of the white foam. That was probably a mask to avoid coloring the waves (or recoloring the foam) so it wasn’t so orange. 

[Phil Alder]

Thank you so very much indeed. I am so grateful for the assistance and kindness given 🙏 🙏🙏💯🙌👍

[carl123]

A somewhat less dramatic effect but still quite challenging

 

[Ldina]

@Phil Alder if you have an HDR capable monitor on your Mac, you can really amplify the drama of a scene. First, make sure your monitor is set to Apple XDR mode in your OS (if supported on your display and your OS). Then, Convert your file to 32 bit. Open the 32-bit Panel and make sure EDR is checked. Next, use an Exposure adjustment layer and raise exposure to drive highlights into brighter HDR territory. You can add a Curves or Brightness/Contrast adjustment to adjust SDR tones separately, without affecting your HDR tones. Add other desired adjustments.

If intending that from the start, it would make more sense to to open your DNG file in the Develop Persona in 32 bit mode, but you can do it afterwards as mentioned above. (Changing the Develop Mode only takes effect on the NEXT image you open for development, not the currently opened image).

Export your HDR versionto an HDR compatible format like jpeg-xl or png-hdr. These formats are not widely supported yet, so others may not be able to see your dramatic HDR. Just thought I’d highlight other possibilities. Have fun.

[Phil Alder]

Thank you very much indeed. Interesting to try that. I will give it a whirl 🙏🙏🙏🙌👍

[Oufti]

@Phil Alder: [Forum tip] A screenshot is more readable than an actual picture of the screen.
On Mac, you can take a screen shot by pressing the keys cmd-shift-3, for the whole screen, or cmd-shift-4 and drag to select a part of it (if you then press the space bar, you'll select the window's content which the cursor is over).
For more options, press cmd-shift-5.  

(Adding the ctrl key will copy to the clipboard, without creating a new file.)

 

[Ldina]

1 minute ago, Oufti said:

(Adding the ctrl key will copy to the clipboard, without creating a new file.)

Thanks....I knew about the other commands, but not about that clipboard trick!! Nice.