Cinematic Color Grading in Affinity Photo

In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to do cinematic color grading in Affinity Photo. Color grading is essentially the process that’s used to enhance a photo. It’s usually associated with video editing, but color grading takes place in photography too. When color grading, things such as the contrast, saturation, color, and other attributes of an image are enhanced to achieve a certain look. We’ll create color grading looks from The Matrix, the orange and teal look, and a horror look.

Before you start, go to the following links to download the images used in this tutorial.

• New York
• Man on Motorcycle
• Man Standing in Field

First, we’ll create The Matrix look.

Step 1

Go to File > Open and select the picture of New York.

Step 2

In the Layers Panel, click the Adjustments icon and select the Black and White adjustment. Take the sliders for the Red, Blue, and Magenta, and slide them to the left. I set the Red to 54%, Blue to 80%, and Magenta to 79%.

Step 3

Take the sliders for the Yellow, Green, and Cyan and slide them to the right. I set the Yellow to 115%, Green to 115%, and the Cyan to 119%.

Step 4

Next, go to the Layers Panel and lower the Opacity of this adjustment layer to 70% to make some of the color show through.

Step 5

After that, click the Adjustments icon in the Layers Panel and select the Color Balance adjustment. Go to the Tonal Range and select the Shadows. Take the slider for the Cyan/Red and slide it to the left. I set it to -27%. Then, take the Yellow/Blue slider and slide it to the left too. I set it to -23%. Also, add some green to it by sliding the slide to the right. I set it to 6%. Also, make sure you check the Preserve Luminosity box.

Step 6

Now, go to Tonal Range and select Highlights. Take the Cyan/Red and slide the slider to the left to add cyan to the image. I set it to -31%. Then, slide the Yellow/Blue slider to the left to add yellow. I set it to -28%. Slide the Magenta/Green slider slightly to the right. I set that to 5%.

Step 7

Grab the Crop Tool from the Tools Panel. Take the tool and slightly extend the top and the bottom of the document form the middle. Then, hit Apply. Make sure the picture is centered on the document.

Step 8

Next, grab the Rectangle Tool from the Tools Panel. Draw a rectangle that covers the top part. Then, press and hold CTRL + Shift and drag a duplicate of the rectangle to the bottom.  

We’ll now create the orange and teal cinematic color grading look.

Step 1

First, go to File > Open and select the picture of the man on the motorcycle.

Step 2

Next, click the Adjustments icon in the Layers Panel and select the Channel Mixer adjustment.

Step 3

Now, go to the Layers Panel and click the Adjustments icon. Select the HSL adjustment. Click on the Red Channel. Set the Hue Shift to -28% and set the Saturation Shift to 30%.

Step 4

After that, go to the Adjustments icon and select the Vibrance adjustment. Set the Vibrance to 24% and set the Saturation to 50%. In the Layers Panel, lower the Opacity of this layer to 50%.

Step 5

In the Layers Panel, click the Adjustments icon and click the Selective Color adjustment. In the Color go to Cyans. Set the Cyan to 80% and Black to 20%.

Step 6

Go to the Layers Panel and click the Adjustments icon. Select the Curves adjustment. Take the node on the left and slide it up slightly. Add a node in the middle of the curve and drag it down. Then, add a node further up the curve and drag it slightly down.

Step 7

Grab the Crop Tool from the Tools Panel. Stretch the top and the bottom. Then, click Apply in the Context Toolbar. Now, grab the Rectangle Tool from the Tools Panel and draw a rectangle to cover the transparent part at the top. Press and hold CTRL + Shift and drag a copy of the rectangle to the bottom.

It’s now time to create the final cinematic color grading look – the horror look.

Step 1

Go to File > Open and select the picture of the man standing in the field.

Step 2

Next, click the Adjustments icon in the Layers Panel and select the Black and White adjustment. Slide the sliders for the Cyan, Blue, and Magenta towards the right. Slide the Red and Yellow sliders to the left. In the Layers Panel, lower the Opacity of this layer to 60%.

Step 3

In the Layers Panel, click the Adjustments icon and select the Color Balance adjustments. Go to the Tonal Range and select the Midtones. Slide the Cyan/Red to the left. I set it -17%. Next, slide the Magenta/Green to the left to add magenta to the midtones. I set this to -18%. Then, slide the Yellow/Blue slider to the right. I set that to 54%. Also, I checked the Preserve Luminosity box (this is optional).

Step 4

After that, go to the Tonal Range and select the Shadows. Slide the slider for the Cyan/Red and the Magenta/Green to the left to add these colors to the shadows. I set the Cyan/Red to -18% and the Magenta/Green to -24%. Then, slide the Yellow/Blue to the right. I set this to 24%.

Step 5

Now, go to the Highlights. Slide the Cyan/Red and Magenta/Green to the left. I set the Cyan/Red to -26% and the Magenta/Green to -16%. Then, slide the Yellow/Blue slider to the right. I set it to 23%.

Step 6

In the Layers Panel, go to the Adjustments icon and select the Curves adjustment. In the Master channel, select the node on the left and slide it to the right. Then, add a node up the curve and drag it down. After that, go further up the curve and add another node and drag it down. Take the node on the right and slide it down.

Step 7

Next, go to the Blue Channel, add a node in the middle of the curve and slide it up.

Step 8

Once you’ve done that, go to the Adjustments icon and select the Brightness and Contrast adjustment. Set the Brightness to -33% and the Contrast to 23%.

Congratulations, you now know how to do cinematic color grading in Affinity Photo. For more Affinity Photo tutorials, check out this article on how to create a dual lighting effect.