Years ago I created a style I called Splintered Glass - kind of a modern version of Cubism. It creates almost an abstract composite of elements, combining natural objects with an abstract background. It uses a third party software program called FotoSketcher [Emergence 2] (which is a free download) to create the "splintered glass" look.
I decided to rewrite this tutorial to outline the steps I used in Affinity Photo. The original was written for Photoshop and can be found here:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-329743-1.html
Start by choosing an image you like, something with plenty of color, but with a background you wouldn't mind de-emphasizing. I exported this image from Affinity to a file I called "TutorialSplinteredGlassRedLeaf_Original.jpg"
I opened the file listed immediately above in Fotosketcher with File>Open a picture. I chose the Drawing Style "Emergence 2". I then hit the Draw button, but hit the Esc key when the drawing effects reached 22% completion. The longer you let the transformation run, the smaller the glass shards get. I kept them "fairly" large. I then saved the image, File>Save the image as>"TutorialSplinteredGlassRedLeaf_FotoSketcher.jpg"
Back in Affinity Photo, I already had the Original photo opened. I opened the other file, "TutorialSplinteredGlassRedLeaf_Fotosketcher.jpg". I then placed a Rectangular Marquis around the whole image,
then executed the Menu commands Select>Select All and Edit>Copy.
I selected the Original image, then, and executed Edit>Paste. This placed a copy of the Fotosketcher in its own layer at the top of the photo stack.
From there, it was a matter of masking out portions of the FotoSketcher so the Original layer Red Leafs would "show through". With the FotoSketcher layer selected, I hit the icon in the bottom left hand corner of the Layers panel, "Mask Layer". then selected the Mask Layer immediately under the FotoSketcher layer. I selected the Paint Brush tool and changed the parameters to Opacity: 56%; Flow: 71%; Hardness: 53%. I then painted over the section of the Mask where I wanted the original subject matter to become visible.
At this point I was ready for some finishing touches. When I add a Filtered Layer, I always execute the Layers>Merge visible command. This saves all my previous changes into a new Pixel layer. I used Filters>Plugins>On1> On1 Develop 2021 to add some more visibility to the Midtones, and repeated the process using Filters>Plugins>Anthropics>Smart Photo Editor [Softblur preset]. After each of these I used the Opacity slider at the top of each of those layers to blend them in with merged images below them.
I finally exported the image as a jpeg file I called "TutorialSplinteredGlassRedLeaf_FiltersApplied.jpg"
I have included a Screenshot of my Affinity Photo workflow to show the various layers used to composite this image.
Thank you so much for doing this Bob. We're getting quite a few Affinity users these days and they should appreciate this as do I.
Cwilson341 wrote:
Thank you so much for doing this Bob. We're getting quite a few Affinity users these days and they should appreciate this as do I.
You're welcome Carol. I, for one, would appreciate more of these.
Thanks for the post. My Affinity trial just ended. Not sure if I will buy the product as I have become so accustomed to On1.
kpmac wrote:
Thanks for the post. My Affinity trial just ended. Not sure if I will buy the product as I have become so accustomed to On1.
You're welcome, kpmac. ON1 is in my Toolbox as well and I would dearly love some one to explain a full workload from opening a Raw file to saving results as a .tiff (with layers) and then as a .jpg, adding in Filters as they go.
Really nice results. And a big thank you for the tutorial.
Well done and excellent tutorial. Thank you.
Thank you Bob... copied each paragraph and image and pasted to word, 4 pages including images... saved.
Thanks for the post. Have you tried using the Place option from the file drop down menu? I have seen a video on it & used this method for messing with a sky replacement. Just use an opacity, Y/N?
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