How to Create Chromatic Aberration in After Effects

Many effects can enhance and add spice to a scene. Chromatic aberration can be used to show character perspective, depict being out-of-focus or intoxicated, or add an artistic look with color fringing around the image’s boundaries.

Chromatic aberration can be achieved in post-production software with plugins or by combining multiple effects. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to create chromatic aberration using After Effects built-in filters and with a Continuum effect that allows you to make quick chromatic aberration in just a few clicks.

Let’s dive in!

What Is Chromatic Aberration?

Chromatic aberration, or color fringing, is a photography effect that occurs when the lens can't focus the colors to the same point. The result is the footage with color fringes around the edges. This may be an error, but the effect can be used as an artistic style for videos and images.

How to Create Chromatic Aberration in After Effects

I’ll show you two methods for creating a quick chromatic aberration effect using only After Effects' built-in tools.

• Shift Channel Method

  The shift channel effect is the most common method to create Chromatic Aberration in After Effects.

  • Step 1: Apply Shift Channel Effect

    Create a new composition with your footage. Go to the Effect menu, then click Channel > Shift Channel to apply the effect to the layer.

  • Step 2: Duplicate Layers

    Now that you have the Shift Channel, duplicate the layer two times to have three layers in total. You can duplicate the layer from the beginning but don't forget to add the Shift Channel effect to each layer.

  • Step 3: Separate the RGB Channel

    We will isolate the footage's red, green, and blue channels into each layer. Go to the effects control panel and select the first layer. Set the “Take Red From” to Red, and change the Green and Blue to “Full Off.”

    Repeat the process with the second layer, but now set "Take Green From" to Green, and change Red and Blue to "Full Off." In the third layer, leave "Take Blue From" as Blue and change the Red and Green to "Full Off."

    Now, change the three layers' Blending Mode to Screen. You’ll see your original footage as if nothing has changed. However, this will allow you to distort each color independently for each layer.

  • Step 4: Create Chromatic Aberration

    To create the chromatic aberration effect, select the layer with the color you want to distort and go to Effect > Distort > Optics Compensation. You can shrink the footage by adjusting the Field of View or stretch it if you select Reverse Lens Distortion. You can apply this effect to the three layers to distort all colors.

    You can play with the FOV Orientation and the View Center to adjust the chromatic aberration distortion.

    Add some blur and other additional effects to finish your composition.

• Channel Blur Method

  We'll use the Channel Blur effect for this quick chromatic aberration effect.

  • Step 1: Add the Channel Blur Effect

    Create a new adjustment layer above your footage and add Channel Blur from Effect > Blur & Sharpen > Channel Blur. Select the Ellipse Tool and double-click it to create a full ellipse mask in the footage. Next, display the Mask parameters and change the Blending Mode to subtract.

  • Step 2: Create the Channel Blur Effect

    Adjust the Red, Green, and Blur Blurriness. You’ll notice it’s only affecting the edges because of the mask. You can increase the Mask Feather to make a subtle transition. You can add a Radial Blur and other effects to enhance the footage and the chromatic aberration.

Create Chromatic Aberration in After Effects with BCC+ Chromatic Aberration

BCC+ Chromatic Aberration is a Continuum plug-in that simulates chromatic aberration in your footage. It is easy to use, with simple controls to create a quick chromatic aberration effect.

• Step 1: Add the BCC+ Chromatic Aberration Effect

  After importing your video into After Effects and creating a new composition, go to the Effect menu, browse the BCC Lens category, and select the BCC+ Chromatic Aberration effect. You can apply it directly to your footage or an adjustment layer.

  

• Step 2: Explore Presets Library

  You can find inspiration in the FX Editor to create the chromatic aberration effect. Go to your effect controls panel and click the FX Editor button to launch the preset library.

  

  Select a preset from the left to preview it. Click Apply to apply it to your footage, then return to After Effects, where you can modify it.

  

• Step 3: Adjust BCC+ Chromatic Aberration Parameters

  The filter is easy to use and has three main parameter groups to adjust the red/cyan, green/magenta, and blue/yellow colors. For each group, you can set the distortion, the lens curvature, and the center point of the distortion.

  

  First, select the color you want to distort and move the Distortion slider for that color. Distortion pulls the image's corners outward if the values are positive and inward if they are negative.

  With Anamorphic Squeeze, you can simulate an anamorphic lens and adjust the X and Y curvature to create asymmetric distortion. To get creative, you can adjust each color differently to produce more distorted and aggressive chromatic aberration.

  The last parameter is the Center X and Y sliders, which adjust the center point of distortion. It will set the distortion left and right with Center X and up and down with Center Y.

  Play with these settings to create unique combinations and looks.

  Here is our before and after comparison with the simple application of a preset with just one click.

  

Final Words

Creating a quick chromatic aberration with BCC+ Chromatic Aberration presets is easy, and you can also fine-tune each channel to shift the center point. On the other hand, the chromatic aberration After Effects offers is also a great way to simulate chromatic aberration.

Try BCC+ Chromatic Aberration and other artistic filters by grabbing the Continuum free trial.

Good luck!