Gerry Fraiberg

Thank you for your kind words. I'm happy to share what I've learned so that we can all learn.

I decided to have a little fun with what otherwise was a boring photo of a passenger train at a level crossing. To get this effect in Affinity Photo, I duplicated the photo layer. Then I added the Motion Blur filter to the top layer (Layer > New Live Filter Layer > Blur > Motion Blur). I selected Radius: 72 px, Rotation: 0, Blend Mode: Normal, Opacity: 100%. Preserve Alpha is checked. Next I selected the Erase Brush tool, and erased the blur to reveal the original train photo on the layer below. I played with the size of brush until satisfied. The front is not perfect. Playing with Preserve Alpha checked and unchecked makes a difference, perhaps adding a bit too much blur. It's all subjective, right? Before digital, getting an image like this would require panning at a slow shutter speed to blur the background while keeping the moving subject in focus. Then wait for the film to be developed. Original NRW (RAW) image was made with the Nikon P7000 compact camera.

Perfect. There they are. Thanks! Why didn't I think of that? :-)

I just found an answer. By making a slight adjustment in the document, when closing you are presented with a request to Save. Et voila!

Where are the Samples saved that are included on the Welcome screen? The samples are helpful in learning. After downloading once, they open quickly from the Welcome screen each time the program starts. But when selecting File > Save or Save As, that menu option is greyed out.

The spelling "colour" is a British thing. We spell it the same way here in Canada :-)

Perhaps it is a vision issue. I am a 70 year-old male and wear corrective lenses, otherwise known as reading glasses and have no problem with the design of the book.

Could you please post a photo?

My experience is that the spine is sturdy enough that it won't break when laid flat, even when open to early pages. When I open the book, I run the side of my hand up and down the page near the middle, as if straightening a fold. This gentle pressure is enough to keep the book open without breaking the spine.

Thanks. I'll give that a try.

I had to recreate the exercise to get a screen grab of the Export settings. The original JPEG file earlier today was 26.1 MB. This one is 19.2 MB As far as I know, I followed the Workbook faithfully.

In the Affinity Photo Workbook exercise "Peak Country 1: Mam Tor" (page 138), the exported JPEG is not as sharp as the adjusted TIFF image before export. All settings were followed carefully. I don't see this type of loss when exporting a TIFF from DxO Photo Lab 2 to LIghtroom 6, then exporting a JPEG from LR. Thoughts? Suggestions? Affinity Photo 1.6.7, Mac OS 10.11.6, Dell E2210H monitor, calibrated with Spyder3 Pro.

Twenty years ago it was suggested I learn Photoshop to make myself employable at the local community college. Well, I didn't and went on to other things. Now I'm learning Affinity Photo and I have to say I love the Affinity Photo Workbook. I find it's clearly designed, and the exercises are easy to follow. I've always found that I learn best by doing. The Help section is great, but having someone guide me along is very helpful. I'm early into the Workbook, learning about Selections. The first image shows you the photos I started with, the second is the composite made by Selections and saving with Transparent Background. I used a slight Glow effect around the dog to separate her from the cat, sampling the cat for the colour of the glow.

DxO links to Lightroom with a plugin, which shows at the far right up on the black horizontal bar below the Essential Tools palettes. Without the plugin, you likely see a blue button labeled Export to disk. I usually export an 8-bit Tiff, which gives a bigger file but keeps the colour information from DxO for further processing in LR. JPEG would work as well if you're just passing through to Export. If I shoot an event and edit down to 60-70 images, I edit in LR only, often starting with JPEGs in camera. Shooting NEF (Nikon) or RAW offers more editing options. As for Export settings, it depends on what your end goal is. Are you exporting for print at 300 dpi or 72 dpi JPEG for social media on the web? I mainly export to LR, and then use the export functions there which allow me to change file names if needed and add my watermark.

As I learn Photo, I decided to edit the same image in Photo then in DxO Photo Lab 2. My photo editing workflow starts in Lightroom 6 (no subscription for me) for asset management, quick edits, applying a watermark and to create online galleries for client review. I've been using DxO for a few years. One downside is the .afphoto file in this exercise is 545 MB. The Nikon NEF or RAW file from a D7500 is 24.9 MB. After editing in DxO Photo Lab 2, the image goes back to LR6 as a TIFF - 28.5 MB, so DxO wins over Affinity as far as hard drive economy goes. Interestingly, the JPEG from Photo is smaller, but that might be due to the intermediate TIFF. I intend to use Affinity Photo for composites (layers) and graphic screens with text for video. The image with the watermark was edited in DxO, then sent back to LR for watermark and resized for export. The image without the watermark was edited and resized in Photo. There are subtle differences as a result of the way the two softwares process images. At the moment, DxO does the best job for noise reduction in RAW or NEF images. By the way, the photo is of fringes on a scarf hanging on stair railing in morning sun. It caught my eye as I was going by.