Robin Whalley - Essential Affinity Photo

Essential Affinity Photo

Image Editing Techniques Using Affinity Photo for Desktop

By Robin Whalley

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Text & images copyright 2019 Robin Whalley

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Contact Robin Whalley

Email:

Website: https://lenscraft.co.uk

Introduction

It was mid 2015 when I first learned of Affinity Photo. A member of my website contacted me to ask if he would be able to use my book Essential Photoshop with Affinity photo. At the time Affinity Photo was only available on the Mac and I was only using Windows. I had though seen several supposed Photoshop replacements in the past, none of which were very satisfactory. This made me very sceptical and I replied saying that I couldnt advise them, but I doubted my current book would apply to Affinity Photo.

As it turns out they did purchase my book and they wrote to me a couple of months later. They said that by following the book they could do almost all the exercises and a lot of the book translated to Affinity Photo. This sparked my interest and the following year when I purchased my first Mac, I also invested in Affinity Photo.

From the very first time that I opened Affinity Photo I was impressed. Not only was the software very affordable it provided a real alternative to working in Photoshop. Also, being an experienced Photoshop user, I found I could work very easily in Affinity Photo. There were only a few advanced features that worked slightly differently, and I was quickly able to master these. This was genuinely a viable alternative to Photoshop.

I would love to tell you that this was the catalyst for my writing an Affinity Photo book, but it wasnt. It was only following the repeated requests from my website subscribers that I was finally convinced to write this book. As Ive been writing, I have noticed more and more Affinity Photo books launching. Having reviewed several of these I can honestly say some are good but assume a level of knowledge that most people dont have. Others though are very basic and often take the approach of explaining features, but not how or why you would use them. And unfortunately, there are others that are poor and appear to be written only to cash in on the popularity of Affinity Photo.

Im therefore now convinced that my website members are right. Affinity Photo is an excellent photo editing tool but there is a real need for a book that explains concisely how to use it well.

Im hoping that you find this book a little different from the others currently available. Most importantly, its written for photographers. Whilst others may also benefit, its intended to help photographers who want to improve and enhance their photography. And if youre someone who doesnt have significant photo editing experience with Affinity Photo or Photoshop you will probably find it ideal. Its called Essential Affinity Photo because it explains the essential skills and techniques that will help you quickly master this software. If you learn the information and practice the skill in this book, you will be able to tackle many of the most common photo editing tasks (and some not so common) using Affinity Photo.

Alternatively, you may be someone who has tried to use Photoshop in the past and struggled. What Ive tried to create in this book is a resource that simplifies the skills and knowledge you will need. Ive also been quite ruthless in removing the fluff or padding from its pages. This should allow you to make fast progress where you will be able to quickly see results, whilst working in a professional manner.

If you are an advanced Photoshop user, its likely you will find a lot of similarity with Photoshop. There are some features of Affinity Photo that possibly dont work as well as Photoshop, but equally there are features that are much better developed. What I can say is that your familiarity with Photoshop may well leave you scratching your head for a while as some core features are probably different to Photoshop. Thats where this book comes in. It will allow you to transfer your skills to Affinity Photo and quickly work at an advanced level with the software.

Although Im reluctant to claim this is a book for all levels of user, everyone who uses Affinity Photo will probably find something of value in its pages.

This isnt really a book in the traditional sense but is more of a course in book format. It will guide you step-by-step from understanding the basics, all the way to applying quite complex editing. By the time youve completed the book you should know more about Affinity Photo than most users.

I also want to stress that this book doesnt provide a complete reference of all the Affinity Photo tools. If thats what youre looking for, you need to look for a different book. What you will find though are the core tools and concepts explained. Once you understand these you will find you can use Affinity Photo for your photo editing with great confidence.

Here is a little of what you can expect in the rest of the book.

The Affinity Personas

Affinity Photo is a very broad and powerful piece of software. To help users work effectively with its many features, the people at Serif (who developed Affinity Photo) have organised its tools into groups. These are Personas and are organised around a task you might need to perform. For example, you can use the Export Persona to export completed images to share with others.

Understanding the different Personas and how their different tools are organised is fundamental to working effectively in Affinity. If you dont have this, you can easily become confused when tools somehow seem to vanish and later reappear.

The Develop Persona

If youre photographing in RAW format (and Im assuming you are), youll need to convert your RAW files into pixel-based images before editing them with Affinity Photo. This is the role of the Develop Persona. If you attempt to open a RAW file with Affinity Photo you will find yourself automatically in the Develop Persona. You cant make any changes to a photo until youve used the Develop Persona to adjust and convert your RAW file to an image.

Its the Develop Persona that we will be using to make basic corrections to our photography. After that we can use the other Personas to add creative effects and more complex adjustments.

Layers

Layers are one of the most powerful tools and now appear in most photo editing packages. They also form the basis for working with images in Affinity Photo. Layers give you non-destructive editing meaning you can control and even remove an adjustment. They also provide powerful capabilities using controls like Opacity and Blending Modes which you will make full use of as the book progresses.

Layers are so integral to photo editing that were going to cover them early in the book. This ensures you have the knowledge and skills to work effectively in the Photo Persona.