STEP BY STEP ENHANCE LANDSCAPES

Use a variety of blend modes and painting tricks to boost images in Affinity Photo

01 MAKE A NEW LAYER

Open the image and click the new pixel layer icon in the Layers panel. Next, click the Blend Mode dropdown at the top of the Layers panel and change it from Normal to Overlay. Grab the Brush tool, zoom in close to the trees and hold Alt to sample one of the brighter green colours.

02 PAINT BOLD COLOURS

Hit 5 to set the brush opacity to 50%. Paint over the trees with the green colour to lift the tops of them where the sunlight highlights the edges. Vary the colour if you like, and choose a darker green to add depth to the shadows in the foliage. If the effect is too strong, lower the layer opacity slightly.

03 LIFT THE ROOFTOP

Make another new layer and set the blend mode to Linear Light. This time zoom in close to the tops of the monastery and Alt-click with the Brush tool to sample the red colour. Paint to boost the red roof of the building. If you need to erase areas, hit E to switch to the Eraser tool.

04 BOOST THE SKY

Make a new layer. Choose a dark orange colour and paint over the sky, then change the blend mode to Overlay. Make another new layer and change the blend mode to Multiply, then paint over the top part of the sky to darken it further. Reduce the layer opacity to soften the effect.

05 ADD PUNCH TO ROCKS

Click the Adjustment icon in the Layers panel and choose Levels. Change the blend mode to Overlay and hit Cmd/ctrl+i to invert the mask to black, hiding the layer. Grab the Brush tool and paint white to reveal the change in contrast over the rocks. If you like, repeat step 1-2 over the rocks to boost the highlights.

06 COLOUR AND CONTRAST

Add a HSL Adjustment. Click the red and yellow spots and increase Saturation. Change the blend mode to Color so only the colour is changed. Finally, add a Curves Adjustment and plot an S-shaped curve to boost contrast. Set the blend mode to Luminosity so only brightness is changed and colours stay the same.