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Affinity Revolution

In this course, you will learn everything you need to know about blend modes.

First, we will learn how blend modes work. We will take a deep dive into Affinity's most important blend modes, so you can know exactly what they are doing. We will take a look at the technical aspects of how they work, but then also break them down into simple terms that anyone can understand.

After that, we will do 20 practice projects. In these projects, we will practice using all of the blend modes we learned about earlier in the course. During these projects, you will learn how to...

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In this course, you will learn everything you need to know about blend modes.

First, we will learn how blend modes work. We will take a deep dive into Affinity's most important blend modes, so you can know exactly what they are doing. We will take a look at the technical aspects of how they work, but then also break them down into simple terms that anyone can understand.

After that, we will do 20 practice projects. In these projects, we will practice using all of the blend modes we learned about earlier in the course. During these projects, you will learn how to...

  • Dodge & Burn

  • Sharpen

  • Add snow, sun rays, fog, and stars

  • Create special effects (vintage effect, soft glow, double exposure)

  • Use textures to enhance graphic design projects

This course comes with exercise files that we will use throughout the course projects. You will also receive a PDF that shows you where to find free resources online. By combining these free resources with blend modes, you can create stunning effects in your photo editing.

By the time you finish, you will have a deep understanding of how blend modes work, and know how to use them in your own projects.

Enroll now

What's inside

Learning objectives

  • You will learn how blend modes work in affinity photo
  • You will learn how to use blend modes in photo editing
  • You will learn how to use free online resources to enhance blend modes
  • You will learn how to use blend modes in graphic design

Syllabus

Course Introduction
Welcome!
Download the Exercise Files
Blend Modes for Beginners
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Activities

Coming soon We're preparing activities for Master Blend Modes in Affinity Photo. These are activities you can do either before, during, or after a course.

Career center

Learners who complete Master Blend Modes in Affinity Photo will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:
Photo Editor
A Photo Editor refines and enhances images for various purposes, from publications to marketing campaigns. This role is directly aligned with the techniques learned in this course, which provides a deep understanding of blend modes in Affinity Photo. Mastering blend modes, including techniques like Dodge & Burn, sharpening, and creating special effects such as vintage looks or soft glows, is fundamental to a Photo Editor's work. The course's practical projects, utilizing exercise files and free online resources, directly prepare you to manipulate images professionally, ensuring high-quality visual outputs. This course helps build a foundation in essential image manipulation, making it particularly relevant for aspiring Photo Editors.
Digital Image Retoucher
A Digital Image Retoucher specializes in enhancing and correcting digital photographs, often for professional photographers, studios, or publications. This course provides highly relevant skills for a Digital Image Retoucher, offering a comprehensive understanding of blend modes in Affinity Photo. Techniques like Dodge & Burn, sharpening, and creating precise special effects are fundamental to transforming raw images into polished masterpieces. Learning the technical aspects of blend modes and applying them through practice projects helps a retoucher achieve nuanced adjustments and creative enhancements, ensuring high-quality results that meet exacting professional standards.
Ecommerce Product Photo Editor
An Ecommerce Product Photo Editor enhances and refines product images for online storefronts, ensuring they are visually appealing and accurately represent merchandise. This specialized Photo Editor role greatly benefits from the course's focus on mastering blend modes in Affinity Photo. Techniques such as sharpening, adjusting tones with Dodge & Burn, and even adding subtle effects like soft glows can significantly elevate product photography. The course's deep dive into how blend modes work, coupled with practical projects, helps an editor create stunning, consistent product images that attract customers and drive sales. This course provides direct, applicable skills for ecommerce visual success.
Graphic Designer
A Graphic Designer creates visual concepts, using computer software or by hand, to communicate ideas that inspire, inform, or captivate consumers. This course is exceptionally relevant for an aspiring Graphic Designer, as it covers using blend modes for graphic design projects, including creative text ideas and enhancing designs with textures. The practical projects, such as creating designs for a Cool Party or Grand Opening, offer direct experience in applying these techniques. A deep understanding of how blend modes work in Affinity Photo allows a Graphic Designer to produce stunning visual effects and sophisticated compositions, crucial for standing out in the field.
Social Media Content Creator
A Social Media Content Creator develops and publishes engaging text, image, and video content for social media platforms to build brand awareness or foster community. In this dynamic role, compelling visuals are paramount, and this course directly equips you with the skills to produce them. Learning to use blend modes in Affinity Photo enables the creation of eye-catching special effects, such as vintage looks, soft glows, or adding atmospheric elements like snow and sun rays. The ability to enhance images and graphic design projects with textures ensures that content stands out, driving engagement and brand interest in a crowded digital space.
Marketing Designer
A Marketing Designer produces visual materials for advertising campaigns, promotional content, and brand communication across digital and print mediums. For a Marketing Designer, effective visual communication is key, and this course provides essential skills in image manipulation using Affinity Photo. Mastering blend modes allows for the creation of impactful visuals, from eye-catching advertisements to compelling social media graphics, using techniques like creative text ideas and enhancing designs with textures. The ability to generate special effects and refine images ensures that marketing materials are professional, engaging, and effectively convey brand messages, directly contributing to successful campaigns.
Content Creator
A Content Creator generates various forms of media, including articles, videos, and images, for digital platforms to engage an audience. For a Content Creator, mastering blend modes in Affinity Photo is a valuable skill for producing visually stunning and engaging image-based content. The course's focus on creating special effects, enhancing graphic designs with textures, and refining photographs, directly enables the production of high-quality visuals for blogs, videos, or social media. Understanding how blend modes work allows a Content Creator to craft captivating visuals that convey messages effectively and capture audience attention in a competitive digital landscape.
Digital Artist
A Digital Artist creates visual art using digital tools, often blending photography, illustration, and design elements. For a Digital Artist, mastering blend modes in Affinity Photo is a versatile skill that unlocks immense creative potential. The course's focus on creating special effects like double exposure, film grain, light leaks, and adding elements like snow, stars, fog, and light rays, directly supports the imaginative work a Digital Artist undertakes. Understanding the technical aspects of blend modes, combined with practical application, helps a Digital Artist to achieve unique aesthetic visions and complex visual narratives. This course provides a robust toolkit for digital artistic expression.
Visual Designer
A Visual Designer focuses on the aesthetic appeal and user experience of products and brands, often working on web interfaces, marketing materials, and digital assets. For a Visual Designer, the ability to control and manipulate images with blend modes in Affinity Photo is invaluable for creating engaging visuals that align with brand guidelines. The course’s emphasis on enhancing graphic design projects with textures, alongside creating various visual effects, directly applies to designing cohesive and attractive visual elements. Understanding how blend modes work, both technically and practically, helps a Visual Designer craft polished and impactful visual communication across various platforms.
Advertising Artworker
An Advertising Artworker prepares artwork for print and digital advertising campaigns, ensuring technical accuracy and adherence to specifications. This course provides highly practical skills for an Advertising Artworker, offering a comprehensive understanding of blend modes in Affinity Photo. The ability to manipulate images, sharpen details, apply special effects like vintage looks or soft glows, and integrate textures into graphic designs is crucial for producing high-quality advertisements. Learning how blend modes work, both technically and through practice projects, helps an Artworker prepare visually stunning and technically precise layouts, ensuring that ad campaigns are impactful and flawless across various media.
Game Artist
A Game Artist creates all the visual elements for video games, including characters, environments, props, and user interfaces. For a Game Artist, this course may be useful as it helps build a foundation in specific image manipulation techniques that can be applied to game asset creation. Understanding blend modes in Affinity Photo, and their practical application in creating effects like light rays, film grain, textures, or even subtle glows, can be valuable for developing unique visual styles or optimizing in-game assets. While game art involves 3D modeling, knowledge of 2D image manipulation with blend modes is supportive for texture work and concept visualization.
Web Designer
A Web Designer creates the visual look and layout of websites, focusing on user experience and aesthetic appeal. While not solely about coding, visual asset creation and manipulation are key components. For a Web Designer, this course may be useful as it helps build a foundation in image and graphic manipulation using Affinity Photo. The ability to apply blend modes for creative text ideas, enhance graphics with textures, and create special effects for background images or banners can significantly improve a website's overall visual quality and user engagement. Understanding how blend modes work helps a Web Designer produce polished and visually compelling web elements.
Digital Storyteller
A Digital Storyteller crafts narratives using various digital media, including images, videos, and interactive elements, often for educational, marketing, or entertainment purposes. This course may be useful for a Digital Storyteller as it helps build a foundation in creating compelling visual components using Affinity Photo. The ability to apply blend modes to create special effects such as double exposure, light leaks, or adding atmospheric elements like fog and stars can significantly enhance the visual narrative. Understanding how blend modes work allows a Digital Storyteller to create evocative and visually rich imagery, adding depth and emotion to their digital stories across platforms.
Technical Artist
A Technical Artist bridges the gap between art and programming, often developing tools and pipelines for game development or film production, and optimizing assets. This course may be useful for a Technical Artist, particularly one involved in visual asset creation or optimization, as it offers a deep understanding of blend modes in Affinity Photo. Understanding the technical aspects of how blend modes work can inform decisions about asset creation, texture blending, and visual effects implementation within broader pipelines. While not directly teaching programming, the course helps build a foundation in the specific visual manipulation techniques that a Technical Artist might need to understand or implement.
Art Director
An Art Director defines the visual style and images for projects, campaigns, or products, leading a team of designers and artists. This role often requires an advanced degree or extensive experience. For an Art Director, this course may be useful as it helps build a foundational understanding of specific visual manipulation tools. While an Art Director primarily guides artistic vision, knowing the capabilities of tools like Affinity Photo and the potential of blend modes, including creating special effects or enhancing graphic designs, can inform creative direction and facilitate effective communication with their team. Understanding these technical possibilities contributes to setting realistic and innovative visual standards.

Reading list

We haven't picked any books for this reading list yet.
Comprehensive guide to using blend modes in Photoshop. It covers everything from the basics to advanced techniques, and it is written in a clear and concise style. The book is also packed with helpful illustrations and examples.
Comprehensive guide to using blend modes in Photoshop. It covers everything from the basics to advanced techniques, and it is written in a clear and concise style. The book is also packed with helpful illustrations and examples.
Comprehensive guide to using blend modes in Photoshop and other imaging programs. It covers everything from the basics to advanced techniques, and it is written in a clear and concise style. The book is also packed with helpful illustrations and examples.
Comprehensive guide to using blend modes in Photoshop. It covers everything from the basics to advanced techniques, and it is written in a clear and concise style. The book is also packed with helpful illustrations and examples.
Collection of recipes for using blend modes in Photoshop. It covers a wide range of topics, from basic to advanced, and it is written in a clear and concise style. The book is also packed with helpful illustrations and examples.
This guide focuses on teaching 10 essential techniques in Affinity Photo. While it might not be as comprehensive as other books, it provides a focused approach to mastering key skills. is suitable for users who want to quickly learn specific techniques rather than a full overview.
An earlier version of the guidebook, this 2022 edition provides step-by-step instructions for new users. While superseded by the Version 2 guidebook, it can still be a useful resource for understanding the core features of Affinity Photo prior to the latest update. It's more valuable as additional reading for historical context.
This guide is designed for graphic designers who want to use Affinity Photo to create stunning visuals. It covers everything from basic editing to advanced compositing techniques, and it provides tips and tricks for getting the most out of Affinity Photo.
Aimed at new users, this manual provides a step-by-step introduction to Affinity Photo. It covers fundamental skills and gradually introduces more in-depth techniques through tutorials. is particularly helpful for absolute beginners seeking a structured approach to learning the software.
Focuses on applying Affinity Photo fundamentals to create effective image editing workflows. It emphasizes practical application and developing efficient habits for editing and enhancing images. This resource is useful for users who want to integrate Affinity Photo into a professional workflow.
This handbook provides a definitive guide for beginners, covering everything from basic edits to advanced techniques like frequency separation and working with RAW images. It aims to unlock the full potential of Affinity Photo for photographers and digital artists. serves as a comprehensive introduction and a valuable reference for beginners and those looking to explore advanced features.
This guide is specifically designed for beginners using Affinity Photo on the iPad, focusing on version 2. It provides step-by-step instructions tailored to the iPad interface and workflow. It's an essential resource for users who primarily work with Affinity Photo on their tablet.
An updated version of The Affinity Photo Manual, this book caters to new users of Affinity Photo version 2. It provides step-by-step guidance and exercises to help users quickly become comfortable with the software's interface and core functionalities. This valuable resource for beginners starting with the latest version.
Focuses on Affinity Photo version 1.8 and is written in German. It would be useful for German-speaking users who are still using or learning this specific older version of the software. While not the most current, it can provide a solid understanding of the earlier interface and tools.
Provides an introduction to how Affinity Photo 2 works, written in Dutch. It's a suitable resource for Dutch-speaking users who want to learn the software in their native language. It likely covers the core functionalities and workflow within Affinity Photo 2.
This is the official workbook from the developers of Affinity Photo. It offers a project-based approach to learning, covering a wide range of editing techniques through hands-on exercises. It's an excellent resource for gaining a broad understanding and solidifying core skills, suitable for all levels. is highly valuable as a practical reference tool.
Specializes in the crucial skill of making selections in Affinity Photo. Mastering selections is fundamental for precise editing and retouching. This book is valuable for users at any level who want to improve their accuracy and efficiency in selecting objects.
This official guide from the Affinity team provides comprehensive coverage of all aspects of Affinity Photo. It's a great resource for users of all levels, from beginners to experienced professionals.

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