How to Create a Rain Effect in Affinity Photo

In this tutorial, we will be creating a rain effect in Affinity Photo. This is a great effect to use to add an atmosphere or a mood to an image.

Before you begin the tutorial, go to the following link to download the image of the woman with an umbrella for the tutorial.

Step 1

First, go to File > Open and select the downloaded image.

Step 2

Second, go to the Layers Panel. Click the Add Pixel Layer to add a new pixel layer.

Step 3

With the new pixel layer still selected, go to the Swatches Panel. Then, fill it with black.

Step 4

Next, go to the Edit menu. Select Fill with Secondary Color.

Step 5

Once the pixel layer is filled with black, go to the Filter menu. Then, select Noise > Add Noise.

Step 6

Now, set the Intensity to 100%. Then, hit Apply. This creates a noise pattern.

Step 7

Go to the Filter menu again. Select Blur > Gaussian Blur.

Step 8

Set the Radius to 2px. Then, hit Apply.

Step 9

Next, go to the Layers Panel. Click the Adjustments icon and select Curves.

Step 10

With the Curves adjustment open, bring the black curve and the white curve towards each other. You want to make sure that you see some of the colored dots coming through.

Step 11

In the Layers Panel, drag the Curves adjustment layer inside of the rain pixel layer.

Step 12

Now, select the rain pixel layer in the Layers Panel. Go to the Blend Mode and set it to Screen.

Step 13

With the rain pixel layer still selected, go to the Filters Menu. Select Blur > Motion Blur. Then, set the Radius to 25 px and the Rotation to 80 degrees.

Step 14

Next, go to the Layers Panel. Then, go to Opacity to lower the opacity of the rain layer so that it’s not so intense.

Step 15

With the rain layer selected, press CTRL + J to make a duplicate of it (or right click and select Duplicate).

Step 16

Select the duplicated layer. Press CTRL + Shift to make this layer larger than the original.

Step 17

Then, move the duplicated rain layer slightly to the left.

Step 18

After that, go to the Layers Panel and increase the Opacity of the duplicated rain layer. This will make the rain look a little more realistic in your image.

Congratulations, you’ve created a rain effect in Affinity Photo. For more Affinity Photo tutorials, check this one out on how to create a Bokeh Effect.