How to Create Light Rays in Affinity Photo

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create light rays in Affinity Photo. With this effect, you’ll be able to add light rays to landscape images or other images that you weren’t able to capture light on camera. You can also use this effect to add light coming through a window.

Before you start, go to the following link to download the image for the tutorial.

Man in the forest

Step 1

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

Step 2

Second, press CTRL + J to make a copy of the image. In the Layers Panel, turn the original picture off.

Step 3

In the Layers Panel, click the Adjustments icon and select the Curves adjustment. Go to the Green Channel. Next, place a point in the middle of the curve and drag it down. Now, go to the Master channel and add a point in the middle of the curve. Then, drag the point up slightly to brighten the image.

Step 4

After that, select the duplicated background layer. Go to the Select menu. Then, go to Tonal Range > Select Highlights

Step 5

Now, go to the Layers Panel and click the Adjustments icon. Select the Shadows/Highlights adjustment. Set the Highlights to 70 percent. Label this layer Highlights. Press CTRL + D to deselect.

Step 6

Select the duplicated background image in the Layers Panel.

Step 7

Grab the Freehand Selection Tool from the Tools Panel. In the Context Toolbar, set the Type to Polygonal. Take the tool and place a point in front of the man. Then, drag the line diagonally to the right and off the document. Make your selection the same way you see it on the screen.

Step 8

After that, go to the Layers Panel and click the Adjustments icon and select the Curves adjustment. Place a point in the middle of the curve and drag it up to brighten this area. Then, press CTRL + D to deselect. Label this layer Light 1.

Step 9

With the Light 1 layer still selected, go to the Filters menu and select Blur > Gaussian Blur set the Radius to 40 px.

Step 10

Next, grab the Freehand selection Tool again. Select the background layer. Take the tool and make a selection inside of the previous selection we made. Click the Adjustments icon in the Layers Panel and select the Curves adjustment. Place a point in the middle of the curve and drag it up. Press CTRL + D to deselect.

Step 11

Now, go to the Filters menu. Select Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 30 px. In the Layers Panel, label this layer Light 2 and drag it above the Light 1 layer.

Step 12

After that, select the background layer. Next, grab the Freehand selection Tool. Make a smaller selection inside of the second selection we created. Go to the Layers Panel and click the Curves adjustment. Place a point in the middle and drag it up. Press CTRL + D to deselect.

Step 13

Next, go to the Filters menu. Then, select Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 15 px. In the Layers Panel, drag this layer above the Light 2 layer. Label it Light 3.

Step 14

Now, go to the Layers Panel and click the Adjustments icon. Select the Curves adjustment. Click on the middle of the curve to add a point and drag it up some to brighten the image. Label this layer Brightness.

Step 15

Once you’ve done that, click the Add Pixel Layer icon in the Layers Panel to add a new layer.

Step 16

Grab the Paintbrush Tool from the Tools Panel. Select a soft brush from the Basic brushes in the Brushes Panel. In the Swatches Panel, select the white color for the fill color. In the Context Toolbar, set the Opacity to 30 percent, Flow to 25 percent, and Hardness to 0 percent.  Next, go to the Layers Panel and select the pixel layer we added. Then, take the brush and paint around the bottom area of the light ray. Also, add some white slightly along the actual ray of light. After that, lower the Opacity of this layer to 88 percent. Label this layer Fog.

Step 17

Select the Background layer in the Layers Panel. Next, go to the Select menu and click Tonal Range > Select Shadows.

Step 18

In the Layers Panel, click the Adjustments icon and select the Shadows/Highlights adjustment. Set the Shadows to -60 percent. Label this layer Shadows. Press CTRL + D to deselect.

This part of the how to create light rays tutorial is optional. But, we can add some texture to this image by using the Noise filter.

Step 19

Click the Add Pixel Layer icon in the Layers Panel. Go to the Swatches Panel and select black for the fill color.

Step 20

With the new layer selected, go to the Edit menu and select Fill with Primary Color to fill the layer with black.

Step 21

Then, go to the Filters menu. Select Noise > Add Noise. Set the Intensity to 100 percent. Select Gaussian, and make sure the Monochromatic box is checked.

Step 22

In the Layers Panel, set the Blend Mode of this layer to Overlay, and lower the Opacity to 25 percent.

Congrats, this tutorial is complete! You now know how to create light rays in Affinity Photo. For more Affinity Photo tutorials, check out this article on how to create a light leak.