zypher69

Hello all: I am a 42 year old guy who's been in LOVE with Paula Abdul my entire life (since age 10). I was always obsessed with her "Foever Your Girl" album and album cover photo. Over the years, I always wondered what the rest of her profile looked like during the actual photo shoot. The photo was either cropped or taken from her neck up, which looks good, but I desired to see more. Well, a few photos from that actual photo shoot (1988) were leaked online and I used them to "re-imagine" what she might have looked like when the photo was actually taken. So I used images in Affinity Photo and masked in a profile which I think is a good approximation of what I was always looking for.

If you would have carefully read my initial post and read each reply you would have an idea without having each person "demonstrate" visually what the problems are with the gradient tool. Users shouldn't have to do so many workarounds to achieve the results they're looking for. There's no need for clairvoyance or any such nonsense. Again, you were being condescending by even mentioning clairvoyance to begin with. I'm not here to argue though, so I'll digress. I think most readers of this thread will understand what our grievances are.

HAAKOO - You can dispense with the condescending remarks. Saying someone "better" provide an example does no one any good. Such verbiage only creates a general feeling of hostility and a toxic environment. I think constructive criticism is more effective than condescension. If you know so much about the gradient tool, then perhaps you can provide us with some examples of best practices and the like. No?

That's a very interesting way to look at it. Wow. We start as children coloring in coloring books and then graduate to "composite art" as graphic designers during adulthood. Yes, this is true. Everything we've ever been taught comes into play in adulthood. Well, most of it anyway.

MEDICAL OFFICER BONES: Very well said. That's what I suppose I was trying to say. LOL! You hit the nail on the head with your comment "Affinity Photo is riddled with such small paper cuts throughout its basic tools." That's also precisely my point!

TH3_TWIN, you're having the exact problems I'm having. I just try my best to create the kind of gradient I need in one go so I don't have to start all over again as you mentioned. I also use the rectangle tool (with no fill) to provide a "shell" of sorts for the gradient to exist in. Some tutorials have shown that is how to work with gradients in AP. It's frustrating having to mess around with the rectangle tool in addition to a lousy gradient tool. I even have trouble getting the opacity right and I'm lucky if I get the results I'm looking for in a given project. Sometimes it works fine, other times it's a hassle. When I blend images, I use the simple paint brush tool with a soft round basic brush to perform almost all of blending using masks. I sometimes use the gradient tool, but as you know, AP overwrites previous gradients, so it's best to "try" to do what you need to do in one go unless you want to start over again and again. It's frustrating too, because I used to LOVE using the gradient tool in Photoshop. For all that I love about Affinity Photo, I do miss some things about Photoshop that seemed to just work. I can only digress though. Hopefully the attached image of the accordion is an example of when I actually did get results I was looking for. I'll have to create an example image of when I'm having trouble and post it soon so people will know more about what our problems have been. I post the accordion image just to say that the tool does work, it just needs to be refined to work better. Thanks for your comments and questions.

Thank you very much. I really appreciate your comments. I put a lot of hard work into each and every one of them. If you have any questions, just ask.

Very creative. I know I couldn't do anything like that. Great idea.

Affinity Photo is a joy to use and allows me to create composite art that helps me stay sane during these uncertain times.

I really enjoy creating double exposure images. Affinity Photo is such a joy to use and does the job exceptionally well. These images are so simple yet so "effective" and fascinating to me. I think the simplicity and minimalist approach is what makes creating them so fun. I can't get enough.

It's good to know I'm not alone in experiencing this problem. Improvements are definitely needed.

Thanks once again for your reply. I will simply have to experiment around with / use the software even more than I do. I will implement your tips into my work flow to see if better results can be achieved. I will post results accordingly. AT LEAST we're discussing something that I think is an essential issue in Affinity Photo and I hope this dialogue will be seen and considered by Serif developers when working on future updates for the software. I'm sure many of us want to see AP dethrone PS.

Thank you Murfee for your response. I apologize for using such a low resolution image in my example. I'm sure a higher resolution photo would have been more appropriate. I also apologize for hastily using the pen tool to extract the bear. Aside from those mistakes, I still think my example demonstrates the finer point(s) I was trying to make regarding optical aberrations and bleeding. I understand that making near perfect selections takes time, some amount of precision and patience. Additionally, I am also aware of various tips and tricks one can use to enhance selection edges and results. My issues have simply been that the Affinity Photo refinement dialogue box is a bit confusing and often produces substandard results. Shouldn't the refinement process eliminate the need to spend fifteen minutes of your time making more precise extractions? Adobe Photoshop seems to understand this. I get that Photoshop is more expensive and "should" therefore yield excellent results, but so too, should Affinity Photo. AP is being regarded as the Photoshop alternative and truly IS an excellent software application. Regardless of price, I think Affinity Photo would be better if it produced better refinement results. I simply find it odd that the software all too often forces users to spend inordinate amounts of time refining selections. At any rate, I do thank you for providing me and others with the reminder that levels and curve adjustments can be used with blur filters and other tools to make more precise selections and extractions. I didn't mean to offend anyone or insult anyone.

Robrr - thanks for your response. I think I saw the same Affinity Revolution video you mentioned. I agree with you that the issue must surely be dealt with and I'm surprised more people haven't noticed it. Many people may not have enough graphic design experience to know what's acceptable and what's not. Not everyone has attention to detail awareness. I just hope the issues with the refinement process get resolved soon in future versions.

Pardon any perceived misunderstanding here, but I've experienced fringe (optical aberrations) COUNTLESS times when doing my best to extract subjects and objects from their respective backgrounds regardless of colors. It just happens that the example I used might not have been the "best" image to use. My attempt was to simply demonstrate the fringing and jagged edges without giving much thought to colors, etc. If I had only experienced fringing and aberrations on rare occasions I wouldn't have brought the issue up in this forum. The fact that my experience has been quite dismal compelled me to assume that I wasn't the only individual experiencing this problem. I'm no Adobe apologist, but how does one explain the fact that Photoshop's selection refinement process is far superior to Affinity Photo's current refinement process? As I said, I've been a graphic designer for many years and I have come to just expect software to work, without much hassle. I understand nothing is perfect, but why is the issue so bad that it was one of the first things I noticed when I began using AP nine months ago? I've had to resort to using PNG files created by other graphic designers from stock photo websites for my own artwork. No one should feel like that's a better option than using the tools within their own software. Other people may NOT have had this problem, but I feel quite certain that it's been an issue for other users. The current refine mask / refine dialogue - the whole process is simply substandard. My ultimate point here is NOT to trash AP. I love using Affinity Photo for my work. I just think Serif can do a better job in some areas. Settling for second best is not an option (for me). I look forward to new and improved updates of AP in the future. Requesting that a tool be made better and more accurate is NOT a crime. The issues and problems with the tool are about more than just choosing the right colors and images. Serif can do better - and "must" do better if PS is to become second best. I believe that could well happen in due time. We have to remember it took Adobe many years to become King of the software world. If Serif works hard enough, it can only get better and better. I happily await such a time. After all, how will Serif know to correct such issues if no one mentions them?