Glitchy portraits
James Paterson uses a combination of filter effects and layer skills to make a fun digital glitch effect in Affinity Photo
Craft a fun glitch effect in Affinity Photo
A corrupted photo file will usually send us photographers into a cold sweat, but as a visual effect it can result in a striking photograph. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to get the pixelated glitch look in Affinity Photo using a range of simple tools.
We’ll begin here by making two copies of our layer then apply the Pixelate filter to each layer in varying amounts. This handy filter effect breaks our image up into a series of coloured blocks, each an average of the segment of image underneath.
By utilizing blend modes we can combine the different pixelated versions of our picture. Once that’s done, we can select little slivers of the pixel blocks then shift them slightly to enhance the glitch effect in the image. Along the way we’ll encounter several fundamental Affinity Photo editing tools, such as layer masks, adjustment layers and Curves.
To complement the pixelated look we’ll also skew the colours in parts of the image by creating a red version of our photograph, then use the Exclusion blend mode for a striking colour effect. This can be strengthened with a combination of simple tonal adjustments, each applied using a different layer so that they all stay independent from one another and remain endlessly editable.
We’ve supplied a starting image amongst the project files, but it’s more fun to use one of your very own portraits. Any close-up portrait will work, so you can glitch your friends and family in minutes.
Pixelate the portrait
Open the portrait then press Cmd/ctrl+j twice to make two copies of the layer. Go to the Layers panel and set the blend mode of the top layer to Lighten, then go to Filter> Distort>pixelate. Set the Quantization slider to around 70, or whatever works for your own portrait.
Mask your layers
Change the blend mode of the red layer to Exclusion. Highlight the layer above and click the Add Mask icon, then grab the Brush tool and paint black to hide parts of the pixel effect over the important areas in the face. Do the same with the other two layers to create an interesting blend of pixels and colours.
Boost colour & contrast
Click the Adjustment icon in the Layers panel and choose HSL, then increase Saturation. Next, add a Colour Balance adjustment. Shift the colours towards Cyan and Blue. Then add a Curves adjustment and plot an S-shaped curve, as shown, to boost contrast a little.
Liquify the image
Highlight the middle layer then click the Liquify Persona at top left. Use the Push Forward tool to warp the image by pushing the face to the side – any sort of distortion will do. Hit Apply. Set the blend mode to Soft Light, then go to the Pixelate filter again and use a higher amount, like 300.
Skew the colours
Highlight the bottom layer and press Cmd/ Ctrl+j to make a copy. Hit Cmd/ctrl+l for Levels. Click ‘Master’ and choose Red, then drag the ‘Output Black Level’ slider to the right. Hit Cmd/ctrl+e to merge the layer down, then get the Move tool. Tap the left arrow to nudge the layer sideways a little.
Shift selections
Press Cmd/ctrl+shift+alt+e to merge a copy of the layers, then grab the Rectangular Marquee tool. Make a thin rectangular selection and use the Move tool to alter the position. Repeat to build up the effect across the face.