Dòmhnallaich

Hi All, Mac user here and still working my through Affinity trial and wanted to ask those who moved from Adobe. What has replaced LR with regards to managing & tagging your photographs, and creating collections etc? I don't really use Photoshop that much, if at all, and the things I love about LR are: - I can manage and edit all my photos in a single program. 99.9% of the time, adjustment brushes are all I need - Not a deal breaker. - I can tag/key word my photos and create collections, making finding files a breeze - This is one thing I think I will miss, if I decide to move from LR. - I don't need to save anything - my work up to that point is remembered. If I quit the app, nothing needs to be saved. - Not a deal breaker. Affinity Photo so far has been impressive. The workflow is different for sure and would need some re-adjusting. The main pull for me is the price, and the fact I don't need to be constantly signed into something like Creative Cloud - That BS just rubs me the wrong way.

Finally got back to my laptop. Thanks @Brad Brighton for assisting with the Pano, and to everyone else who has contributed so far. After playing around with stitching different images together, and not using all 7 (as suggested by Brad), I am able to get a pano stitch with no blemishes. It's a little disappointing that photo wasn't able to do a better job with all 7, as PS and LR have no such issues. However, it also needs to be taken into consideration that this application is £40 so, this really is not a deal breaker. If I do switch to Affinity, this is something I will be able to adapt to with ease. I was also able to get the final edits very close to how my LR versions turned out. It took more work than LR and I hope improvements are made in this regard but again, I think it's simply a matter of getting used to the application. Very impressed so far and thanks again to everyone who contributed to this discussion.

Just an update to for @Murfee & @Southwest_Visuals Tried live filters and they are so much better, at least for shadow and highlight adjustments. They don't go to the extreme at all and are nowhere near as sensitive as the adjustment layers. I don't understand why there is a shadow/highlight adjustment layer and live filter. Very confusing for a newbie. Anyways, thank you very much @Murfee for helping with this query, and to @Dazzleralso, thank you!

The download failed for me. Thanks anyway guys.

Attempt 2. If this still fails, I guess the forum must be doing something to the file. Archive.zip

Hi Jeff, It should contain 7 files. I am trying another upload now.

Just tried myself also. Weird. I will re-upload.

Zipped them using macOS. Cant you download and unzip?

Files attached. My idea for this, if it helps was B&W, high contrast. With the foreground in deep shadow, deepening on the shadow of the munro but still being able to see some detail there also. Pano.zip

Hi Brad, Sounds good. Where do I post the zip file? It would be good to see how it turns out in the hands of someone far more proficient with photo.

Thanks for the response. I watched that video and tried the steps within but, there was always something not stitching properly. None of it really explains why the image looks so bad also, once it has been stitched. Look at the main shadow in the munro, its so muddy with a lack of shadow detail.

Hi All, **For some reason the forum won't let me add a second image, I will clear cookies etc and try again** Currently testing Affinity Photo (Mac) via a ten day trial, just posting some queries on these forums before the trial expires, thanks for any help offered. Not sure if the screenshot shows it, but you can see little defects (like dark smudges) where Affinity has stitched images together. And when converting to black and white, the image looks very muddy, like there is no detail in the shadows of the mountain. When I do it in Lightroom, I have none of these issues and, while the image does require editing, out of the box it looks better and requires less work. I also disabled the option to auto apply changes in Lightroom, so that it would not auto adjust the image exposure settings. I hope the attached images shows what I have stated above. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks Iain

Thank you, that is very kind. I will have a play around with the live filters, to see if that is of any help. I am having some trouble with panorama also, so that is taking a bit of my time.

Thanks for the responses folks, much appreciated. I will do some more playing around.

Hi @Murfee Thank you for responding so quickly. I have attached a screenshot, which I hope has the correct information you requested. With regards to the format/camera - It was an old Sony a57 and I shot in sRGB using Sony .ARW. I have tried several ways and they all respond a little different but all seem more aggressive than Lightroom. I have tried: - Adjusting Highlights in RAW developer. - Adding a Shadow/Highlight Layer - Adding an exposure adjustment layer - This is the most severe. I noticed in Lightroom that when selecting dodge/burn it is basically reducing exposure and I assume Affinity does the same thing, so I tried dodging/burning via the exposure adjustment layer. I know there is a dodge burn tool on the left but it seemed so subtle I could not tell a difference. Also, IIRC, you need to apply dodge/burn brush at the Pixel layer, which I would prefer to avoid.