smadell

Before you reset the Studio, try grabbing the Library panel (by click-dragging over the “Library” tab at the top) and dragging it out of the Left studio. Leave it free-floating and/or drag it into the Right Studio. This might cause the panel to be forced to redraw, and might give a more normal looking result. Worth a try...

Check out the AP Panorama Stitching tutorial (especially, starting at around 1:13) which goes over the process of correcting problems with panorama stitching. At present, panorama stitching has to be corrected at the time the panorama is first made (since AP will not save individual layers and masks – only the final output). Basically, you can tell the Panorama stitching algorithm to fill in a particular area of a panorama from a different source image. This might be the solution to your issue.

Glad to have helped you. Masks were always hard for me to wrap my head around; once it started to make sense, though, it really became second nature. The mental gymnastics you go through to get comfortable with creating masks is worth the time.

Here is a really simple explanation of what a layer mask is. It is 8 years old, and uses an old version of Photoshop. But, it gives you a good explanation for just what a mask is and why it is preferable to just erasing pixels. Also, remember that there will be differences between Photoshop and Affinity Photo – the Layers panel is laid out differently, showing and hiding masks works slightly differently, etc. But the basics are there. Now, here is an Affinity Photo tutorial. It's one of the "legacy" tutorials (the ones that were available prior to version 1.7). It, too, is a pretty basic overview, but it gives some pretty good examples of masks applied to Pixel and/or Image layers, Adjustment layers, and Live Filter layers. https://player.vimeo.com/video/130972598

First things first - your result is really nice. Using Erase to get rid of the portions of the flag that don’t overlap the sky is a fine solution, but it is “destructive.” That is, those pixels are gone forever. Using a mask is a “non-destructive” way of doing the same thing; the difference is that all of the flag layer is still there, but part of it is hidden. Your solution certainly works (and, as noted, your result speaks for itself). But, if you’re going to use Affinity Photo you really should spend the time figuring out Masks. Take your time; it is admittedly a bit of a mind-bender early on. But it opens up so many possibilities that it’s well worth the effort.

You can (i) increase the "Radius" setting of the Gaussian Blur filter layer; or (ii) choose another type of Live Blur layer.

1) Use Place... to put the second image (the flag) in a second layer, above the sunset layer. 2) Click the New Mask button at the bottom of the Layers panel. That will put a mask on the Flag layer so that only the area corresponding to the selection will show. You can Deselect now. 3) Lower the opacity on the flag layer to let some of the sunset (in the layer beneath it) peek through. Note: you might want to Feather the selection before creating the mask, so that it fades in and out at the edges.

I recently watched one of @dmstraker Dave Straker’s InAffinity tutorials about “Pastel Colour Grading…” and it gave me some ideas. So, thanks to you for the inspiration, Dave! I’ve attached another macro for creating a specific Artistic Look – this one called a Pastel Watercolor Effect. The attached file is a macro category (even though it only contains a single macro); you can import it into the Library Panel in the Desktop version of Affinity Photo, and it is compatible with the iPad version as well. (In my own preliminary testing, the macro works fairly well on an iPad, although there are some issues with missing items in the dialog box that appears for setting parameters.) When you click the macro, it creates a number of layers inside of a group. The group is called “Pastel Watercolor Effect” and it can be turned on and off by simply showing or hiding the entire group. When you invoke the macro, you will be presented with a number of options in a dialog: 1-6] Lighten Color - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Red, Green, Blue All of these color ranges are initially set to a value of -200%. As you move each of the sliders to the right, that particular color range will be selectively lightened. If you set any of the sliders all the way to 100% then that color range will go to white. 7] Set Amount of Pastel Blurring This slider defaults to a value of 25 px. Setting it higher or lower will adjust the amount of “smudging” that the pastel layer displays. 8] Set Intensity of Outlines This slider defaults to a value of 0.7. You can set it to values between 0 and 2, with higher values giving you darker and more intense outlines. If you set the Intensity slider to 0, the black outlines will effectively disappear. 9] Adjust Brightness Brightness defaults to a value of 20%. You might want to increase it if (i) you have increased the outline intensity significantly, or (ii) to compensate for changes (particularly decreases) you might make to the Contrast. 10] Adjust Contrast Contrast defaults to 0%. Adjust this to taste. I’ve attached 2 photos (below) to show Before and After versions using this effect. Included in the photos are the settings that were used (which are a bit different from the default values). * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * As with all of the macros I have submitted, please note that I am only one person and have tested this on a limited number of images on a single computer. There is no way to have foreseen every possible scenario. I am hopeful (but obviously won’t guarantee) that you’ll like the results. If you do like the macro, please keep it and enjoy it. This is “pay it forward software,” the happy result of an abundance of learning gleaned from the members of this forum who are so generous with their time and expertise! Pastel Watercolor Effect.afmacros

It is very possible! Try importing this macro (into the Library panel): Dodge & Burn (50% Grey Layer).afmacros

Good morning, Andy (well, it's morning here...) Studio Presets are still really buggy - lots of crashes. Also, still bummed out that the Presets still seem to update themselves if changes are made to a preset. I also noticed that the App always seems to start up with the "Default" preset chosen, rather than remembering the most recently chosen preset. Any hopes that these issues will change?

OK, maybe not exactly what you asked for. But, I posted this about 3 years ago, and you might want to take a look.

If you simply want to move the selection, you can (i) make the selection; (ii) press Q to invoke the Quick Mask; (iii) choose the Move Tool (or just press V); (iv) move the selection where you want it; (v) press Q again to leave the Quick Mask.

More to the point: 1) To merge 2 or more layers into a single layer, (i) select the layers you want to merge in the Layers panel; and (ii) choose Merge Selected from the Layer menu. This will merge your selected layers into a single pixel layer (the original layers will no longer be there). 2) In order to change the opacity of a mask, you can select the mask in the Layers panel and use the opacity slider (although I don't think that's what you want). That will alter the opacity of the areas of the mask that show through – the "masked" areas (the ones that are Black in the mask itself) will not be changed. In order to do what I think you want, you can do one of 2 things (probably more, but I can only think of 2 right now). You can change the mask from black to a shade of grey, which will alter the degree of opacity in that portion of the mask. Or, an easier way, apply a Levels adjustment to the Mask (create a new Levels adjustment and drag it over the Mask's thumbnail in the Layers panel). Set the channel of the Levels adjustment to Alpha, and then use the Output Black and Output White sliders. [see below] Mask Opacity.mp4

Use a Gradient Map.

Walt... I don't think anyone is suggesting that the layout of the Studio be forgotten. I agree that if I move a studio panel to a new position, or close it, or open another one, then the configuration of the Studio should survive a closing and re-opening of the application. The bone of contention, however, is whether or not the Preset itself should be updated. If I create a Studio Preset and then close out a single panel, (i) should the studio look just as I left it when I re-start the application? and (ii) if I then choose that newly-created Studio Preset, should the panel I closed after creating the Preset be re-opened, or should the Studio Preset itself update to reflect the closed panel? So far, my hunch is that the majority of us think that (i) the studio should look the way you left it; and (ii) the Studio Preset should look like it did when you created it (rather than after you selected it and changed the layout). I think you are conflating those two conditions, and they are not mutually exclusive. i.e., both conditions can be true – the Studio Preset is fixed in stone once you create it, and the current layout of the studio is remembered from session to session.

I think it's fair to say that everyone expects this. The real question is whether the moved panels now represent an updated version of the preset, or if choosing the preset would revert to a state prior to moving those panels. For me, I would prefer the latter. Thanks for listening to the commoners on this one; it is much appreciated.

One final thought about the Studio Preset issue, and then I'm going to leave it in Andy's capable hands. Every graphics program I've ever used that lets users save a Workspace pretty much does the same thing: get your workspace configured/laid out the way you want it, save that as a New Workspace, and give it a name - in that order. From that point forward, choosing that Workspace brings the layout back to the state it was in when it was saved as a discrete entity. There is no auto-updating. There is no "do you want this or do you want that?" kind of dialog. If you don't like the way it got saved, correct it and save another new workspace (and, optionally, delete the one you replaced). Also, every other thing within Affinity Photo that we refer to as a "preset" works in that way. That is, if I choose a preset from the Adjustments panel, a layer is created that is precisely the way the adjustment preset was saved. There is no updating, and if I want to use the preset as a suggestion and go from there, well away I go... The only other option that might be helpful is the choice to "Export Studio Preset" so that I can duplicate my studio on another machine (or create it in the Beta and then load it into the retail app).

Andy... In response to your comment about Studio Presets – it would be extraordinarily confusing to have a preset update itself when a change is made. In my mind (and only mine, for now), what good is a preset if it is that fluid? To me, the whole idea of a preset is that I can come back to it at any time; in that scenario, it should be stable (in the sense of not updating itself). Also, how would I ever make a second preset? If I start at my default studio, add and subtract and move around studio panels, then create another preset, it seems I would have 2 presets that have become the same. The only way to do this would be to create the second preset at the beginning and then start changing things. To me (again, this is only me for now) this is the exact opposite of what I would expect. Obviously, your game and your rules. But I think you'll get more traction (and user acceptance) if the studio presets don't update themselves.

Andy... I love the idea of Studio Presets (and I'm sure they'll be quite popular). The current implementation is really buggy. (i) I can create a new Preset, but once I try to do anything else, the application almost always crashes. (ii) I was able to create 2 presets – one for my own default setup and a second for a setup with a single panel removed. When I tried to use the Remove Preset command, the app crashed at least 50% of the time. (iii) When I was able to remove the second preset (leaving only my "normal" setup in the menu) choosing that preset still gave me a studio that did not have that panel included – i.e., it was labelled as my normal studio, but created a setup matching my test studio (that I had already removed). Also, 2 suggestions. First, the Remove Preset command really ought to have a confirmation dialog attached (à la "are you sure?"). Second, if I choose a Studio preset but then modify my studio (add or remove a studio panel, etc) the preset remains checked. Is there a way to uncheck the preset to indicate that the current setup is actually NOT the indicated preset, but is something different?

Andy... The menu item for Benchmarking currently says "Support..." (and duplicates the Support... item directly below it). I'm using MacOS Catalina, US English. I'm assuming this is just a language localization issue, but thought it should be reported.

Here's another take on it. I selected and copied the statue to a new layer. I also selected and copied the shadow to another new layer. In selecting the shadow, I tried to make a larger selection that included all of the shadow and some of the background. I feathered the edges, but then re-established a sharper edge where the shadow and statue meet. I then use Blend Ranges to get rid of the background portion of the Shadow layer, and set the Blend Mode to Luminosity to neutralize the color(s) in the Shadow layer. I used a Levels adjustment to darken up the shadow a little. There's many ways to skin a cat... Statue plus Shadow.mp4

The Windows analogue to NeoFinder is called abeMeda, from the same company. http://www.cdwinder.de/

OK, this may seem a little convoluted but bear with me. I've used 2 pictures of George Clooney (since they are readily available). I've placed them side by side in the same frame; you could do them individually or you could open both in Separated Mode (if you're on a Mac). First, I used the Info panel to put 2 points down – one on each photo. These were points where I wanted to match Luminosity (and Color). I picked similar points on each photo – in this case, they were points on roughly equivalent spots on George's cheeks. I set the Info panel to read out L*A*B values for each of the points. You can see that they are close, but definitely not the same. In my case, I put a Curves layer between the two images in the Layers panel. If you do them separately, you can put a Curves layer above each of the photos. For each Curves layer you use, set the drop-down menu near the bottom left to LAB (instead of the default value of RGB). Now set the main drop down menu to Lightness, AOpponent, and BOpponent. Each time, click the "Picker" button, put the crosshairs over the appropriate Info sampler, and drag the cursor up or down. The goal is to get the values for L, A, and B to be the same in each of the photos. Once you've done this, you've matched not only the Luminosity but also the Color. Note, of course, that you've only done this for a single point (so your choice of Sampler positions is critical). Also, this will not change the lighting on the photos, so they may not seem completely equivalent. Nevertheless, this is the (admittedly obscure) way I would do it.

I love that Merida has a framed photo of Jasmine on her wall. Nice detail!

This video dates back to the “legacy” set of tutorials from Serif (pre-version 1.7). It should help... https://player.vimeo.com/video/136106256