Chromatic Aberration

Chromatic aberration is one of the cleanest ways to inject glitch energy into an image without destroying legibility. Used well, it feels like the image is slipping out of alignment with reality.

What is chromatic aberration?

In optics, chromatic aberration is a lens defect where different wavelengths of light fail to focus at the same point, producing colored fringes along high-contrast edges. In photography it shows up as subtle blue, red, green, or purple halos, especially around backlit edges or high-contrast lines.

For glitch artists, that “defect” becomes a feature: we exaggerate the fringing until it reads as digital distortion, camera failure, or a reality glitch.

How it works (for artists)

Physically, glass bends different wavelengths by different amounts, so each color has a slightly different focal length. That mismatch produces:

• Axial (longitudinal) aberration – colors focus at different distances from the lens.
• Lateral (transverse) aberration – colors land at different positions on the image plane, causing visible RGB misalignment along edges.

Digital tools mimic this by shifting color channels rather than simulating full optics. The core idea:

• Split or treat R, G, B separately.
• Slightly offset one or more channels.
• Recombine to create colored edges and depth-distorting halos.

Most “chromatic aberration” effects in glitch art are just controlled RGB channel misalignment.

Core techniques and tools

1. RGB channel offset (universal method)

Works in Photoshop, GIMP, Krita, Affinity, etc.

1. Put your image on a layer.
2. Duplicate the layer 2–3 times.
3. On each duplicate, isolate a channel (e.g. keep only red on one, only green on another).
4. Set all duplicates to Screen, Lighten, or Normal and align them back over the base.
5. Nudge one channel a few pixels left/right/up/down.

Result: clean, directional color fringing that you can fine-tune per channel.

Tips:

• Small shifts (1–3 px on HD) feel lens-like; bigger shifts feel like hard glitch.
• Shift in one axis for a techy “scanline” vibe; radial/diagonal for lens energy.

2. Built-in chromatic aberration filters

Many art apps provide a direct effect that internally does RGB shifting.

• Procreate: Chromatic Aberration lets you shift red/blue planes to mimic lens CA, with control over direction and distance.
  • Perspective mode applies aberration radially from a focal point, increasing intensity with distance from that point.
• Photo/video tools (Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects) are usually designed to remove CA, but can be used in reverse or via creative presets to introduce subtle fringing.

Tips:

• Start low (5–15% in tools like Procreate), then push only where you want the image to feel unstable.
• Combine with a tiny blur or noise so the effect doesn’t look overly synthetic.

3. Motion graphics and video workflows

In motion graphics, chromatic aberration is often layered with other glitch elements as a finishing pass.

Common workflows:

• Add a post-process CA effect at the end of the pipeline and keyframe its intensity in sync with impacts, cuts, or audio hits.
• Apply CA mainly to the frame edges or bright objects to mimic lens stress and add “visual intensity.”
• Pair with vignette, grain, and subtle zoom to create a cinematic, unstable space.

4. Code and data manipulation

For more purist glitch practice, you can work at the data level:

• Manually manipulate RGB channels in code so each channel samples from slightly different coordinates.
• Use shaders or custom scripts that offset color channels based on distance from a focal point or edge detection, echoing photographic CA.

This approach treats aberration as a structural intervention in how the image is constructed, not just a stylistic overlay.

Practical tips for glitchologists

• Decide your intent first

  • Subtle CA: simulate optics, add realism or unease.
  • Aggressive CA: clear glitch, digital rupture, or “broken camera” narrative.

• Target edges and contrast zones
  Chromatic aberration is most believable on high-contrast borders and metallic or specular surfaces. Apply strongest shifts there, keep flat areas cleaner.

• Control the falloff
  Radial or perspective modes (like in Procreate) let you anchor aberration to a focal point, increasing intensity outward. This can imply gravitational distortion, psychic pressure, or a corrupted center.

• Combine with other glitch modes
  CA pairs well with:

  • Scanline offsets
  • Pixel sorting
  • Datamosh and compression artifacts
    Let CA “glue” harsher glitches into the image space.

• Respect legibility
  For portraits or text-heavy work, keep faces and key text areas mostly aligned and push aberration into the periphery.

• Use color strategically
  Traditional CA leans red/cyan or magenta/green. Staying near those pairs reads “lens-like”; unusual combos (yellow/purple, neon triads) read more synthetic and stylized.

Used thoughtfully, chromatic aberration sits right at the boundary between optical realism and digital error, making it an ideal lens-based effect for glitch art that still wants to communicate clearly.