To keep a gradient adjustment mask editable in Affinity Photo 2 on Mac, create the fade on a separate Fill layer, then use that layer to mask the adjustment. Keep the gradient as a fill so you can return to its handles and stops later.

This tutorial uses an original arrangement of colored abstract shapes. The task is to make a color adjustment fade across that artwork while keeping both the adjustment settings and the fade independently editable. Affinity’s documentation explicitly identifies Fill layers as preserving an editable gradient path. Gradient and bitmap fills

What needs to remain editable?

There are two separate controls: the adjustment changes the artwork’s appearance, and the mask controls where that change appears. Keeping an adjustment layer lets you reopen its settings. Keeping a gradient Fill layer preserves the fade’s construction. Affinity documents adjustments as non-destructive and Fill layers as containing adjustable solid or gradient colors. Using adjustment layers, Fill layers

A pixel mask remains editable through painting and other mask operations, but that is a different kind of editability from retaining a gradient path. Affinity documents drawing gradients directly on adjustment masks; its gradient guide specifically recommends a Fill layer when the path must remain editable. Choose the layer structure before drawing the fade. Using adjustment layers, Gradient and bitmap fills

The instructions below target the separate Affinity Photo 2 desktop application. The newer Affinity application introduced a Mask Tool in its September 2026 release. Its interface has additional masking options, so these Photo 2 menu instructions should not be treated as a description of that newer tool. September 2026 release notes

Build a simple abstract test document

Use a new document with an illustrative canvas size of 1600 × 1000 pixels. Draw a large teal ellipse, an orange rounded rectangle, and a smaller violet ellipse, with some overlap. These are suggested practice dimensions and colors, not required settings.

Choose the corresponding shape tools from the Tools panel and drag to draw each object. Set their fills through the color controls. Keep the shapes as separate layers so the example is easy to inspect; no conversion to pixels is needed. Affinity’s shape tools support drawing by dragging and changing shape properties afterward. Draw and edit geometric shapes

Select the uppermost shape layer. In the Layers panel, click Adjustments, choose HSL, and reduce saturation enough to make the change obvious. Close the adjustment dialog. Position the adjustment above all three shapes so it affects the whole arrangement. You can later reopen its settings by double-clicking its layer. Using adjustment layers

For this example, aim for the original colors on the left and the desaturated result on the right. Keeping that direction explicit makes it easier to diagnose a reversed mask.

Create the editable gradient and attach it to the adjustment

Create a separate Fill layer

Select the adjustment, then choose Layer > New Fill Layer. The new fill appears above the selected layer. Rename it Editable fade to make its purpose clear. Fill layers automatically cover the canvas and resize with canvas changes, making them convenient for a fade across the whole composition. Fill layers

With that Fill layer selected, activate the Gradient Tool. On its context toolbar, set Type to Linear, then drag horizontally across the canvas. These are the documented controls for applying a gradient to a Fill layer. Fill layers

Make the fade opaque to transparent

Set both gradient stops to white. Select the left stop and set its stop Opacity to 0%; select the right stop and set its stop Opacity to 100%. Keep the Fill layer’s overall Opacity at 100%. Stop opacity is available through the gradient controls; it determines how transparent each stop is. Gradient and bitmap fills

This setup deliberately varies transparency. A fully opaque black-to-white fill is a color gradient; it does not supply the transparent end required by this workflow. Here, the left side of the fill is transparent and the right side is opaque. Once attached as the mask, that fade controls the adjustment’s visibility. This combines Affinity’s documented fill-opacity controls with its layer-masking workflow. Gradient and bitmap fills, Layer masks

Mask the adjustment with the fill

Ensure Editable fade sits immediately above the HSL adjustment. Select the fill and choose Layer > Mask to Below. The target is the adjustment layer, so the fade controls the color change rather than hiding the shapes themselves. Affinity documents Mask to Below as a masking operation and supports masks on adjustments. Layer masks

Your intended structure is one adjustment above the artwork, with Editable fade attached beneath that adjustment as its mask. The fill should no longer appear as a white overlay. Instead, the colored shapes should transition toward the desaturated appearance across the canvas.

Select another layer, then select the nested Fill layer again and activate the Gradient Tool. Edit the existing gradient rather than drawing a replacement. This return-to-edit check establishes that you retained a fill instead of creating only a pixel-based fade. Fill layers

Refine the fade without rebuilding it

Select Editable fade whenever you want to change the transition. Move an endpoint to change the gradient’s reach or angle. Use Reverse gradient on the context toolbar to swap the ends if the adjustment appears on the wrong side. Affinity documents these controls in its gradient tools. Gradient Tool

For the illustrative 1600-pixel-wide document, try placing the transparent endpoint around x = 400 and the opaque endpoint around x = 1200. Then try x = 650 and x = 950. Compare the broad transition with the narrower one. These coordinates are a practice exercise, not measured results or a required formula.

Use this decision aid to choose what to edit next:

What you want to change Control to edit
How much color the adjustment removes The HSL adjustment settings
Where the transition begins and ends The Fill layer’s gradient endpoints
Which side receives the adjustment Reverse gradient
How the fade is distributed between its endpoints The gradient midpoint
The maximum visibility at one end That gradient stop’s Opacity

The midpoint changes the spread between stops; it is useful when the transition is correctly positioned but feels weighted toward one side. Keep adjustment strength and fade placement as separate decisions so you can identify which change improves the composition. Gradient and bitmap fills

Troubleshoot the layer structure before redrawing

If a white gradient covers the artwork, inspect whether the fill is still an ordinary layer above the adjustment. Confirm the masking relationship and target. If the artwork itself disappears across the fade, check whether you attached the mask to a shape instead of the adjustment. Mask placement determines which content is affected. Layer masks

If only one shape receives the adjustment, inspect the adjustment’s nesting. Clipping can confine an adjustment to a single layer or group. For this example, place it above the three shape layers at the same level so the test covers the complete arrangement. Layer clipping

If the gradient handles do not return, check the selected layer’s type before making another drag. Select the Fill layer itself, not the adjustment or a pixel mask. Affinity explicitly distinguishes applying gradients to masks from retaining the gradient path on a Fill layer. Gradient and bitmap fills

Preserve the editable master

Avoid Rasterize to Mask for this workflow. That command converts supported layer content into a raster mask. Also avoid rasterizing the abstract shapes merely to make the fade: Affinity documents rasterization as conversion to pixels, after which vector editing is unavailable. Duplicate a layer first if you deliberately need a pixel version for another operation. Rasterizing

When changing the adjustment, close its settings dialog rather than choosing Merge. Affinity documents Merge as applying the adjustment and merging it with the layer beneath, which removes the separate adjustment control this task is designed to preserve. Using adjustment layers

Choose File > Save As and retain an .afphoto project. Affinity states that this format preserves project information for later editing. Reopen the saved project, select Editable fade, and check the gradient again before considering the editable master complete. Save

The finished document should let you make three independent changes: reshape the original artwork, reopen the color adjustment, and reposition its fade. Keeping those controls in separate layers makes the next revision straightforward.

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