Experiments in Affinity Photo: how I created low-tech effects

I wanted something that looked low-tech for a project. Images that gave the impression they might have been run off a cheap printer. Or photocopied on a machine with a broken drum. All in keeping with the wider theme across the document.

When I want to do this I'll start with a single image and experiment with it across styles until I get the one I want. This time settled on the photocopy effect, although the blur made an appearance elsewhere.

Once I've got the method pinned down, I'll then run it across the other images in the piece. This gives a consistent look and feel. A few minor tweaks is all an image gets.

These are my rough notes for Affinity Photo on iPad. While they might not be complete tutorials, I hope they point you in the right direction.

Photocopy Effect.

This mimics an image printed on a photocopier where the toner drum is damaged or running out.

• Use an image with a high contrast between subject and foreground.
• Apply a Curves Adjustment to increase the contrast across the image.
• Apply a Black And White Adjustment. Depending on curves, red might need to be darkened.
• Overlay a striped mask. A black background using lighter perpendicular lines will give a photocopy look. Opacity will need to be adjusted (I use 50-75%). Set the overlay to "Screen".

If creating a series of images for use across the same article, use the same overlay so it looks like they came from the same printer.

Halftone Effect.

This adds dots over the image, which can either be used to imply the presence of printing.

• Use an image with a high contrast between foreground and background.
• Set the image to black and white. Adjust colors to bring out the contrast. This might require lens filters and brightness / contrast adjustments.
• Duplicate the original image.
• On the duplicated image, apply the Color - Halftone filter. Adjust until the desired appearance is achieved.
• Drag the image to the top of the layer stack.
• Change the opacity to a level where the adjusted image bleeds through.
• Change the Overlay to "Overlay".

Grid Overlay

This applies a grid over the image that gives the impression of shadow, or of looking through a mesh.

• Use an image with a high contrast between subject and background.
• Create a mask around the subject.
• Duplicate the original image.
• Adjust to black and white.
• Create the grid using a criss-cross pattern of lines. Group and apply a Gaussian blur effect to the grid. Overlay the mask.
• Apply the grid by moving it to the top of the stack and apply the Pin Light overlay.

Blur effect

Blurs the image, giving it a dreamy effect.

• Use an image with a high contrast between subject and background.
• Duplicate the image 3 times.
• Apply a Gaussian blur effect to the bottom image.
• Apply a motion blur to the middle image. Set the opacity (around 60% works well), and leave the overlay as "Normal".
• For the top image, change the overlay method to "Add" and adjust the opacity. 50-75% appears to work well.
• Convert the image to black and white. Levels, exposure and brightness/contrast may need to be adjusted.

Background change.

A simple effect overlaying a bright and bold color on an image processed using one of the methods above.

• Adjust the black and white image to darken and lighten highlights.
• Add a rectangle with the desired color as the top layer.
• Change the overlay to "Darken".

Further images

These are from a second image to which I applied the same techniques. This double-checks what I'm doing and gives me a point of reference to work from.

Filed under:
Work: writing, research and design
#design #photography

My name is Ross Hori

I'm a freelance writer, designer and photographer. By day I create articles, features and reports. At night I take photos and write fiction. Find out more.

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