drippy cat

Hi everyone.
 
After being part of a conversation with one of the forum members where they expressed a wish to have a start to finish set of tutorials about developing landscapes I thought I'd do something about it. So here it is:
 
https://www.udemy.com/affinity-photo-developing-landscapes/
 
I've tried to make it different from the other courses I've done. Instead of presenting a range of tools and techniques, I've made the workflow a priority. You get to develop a series of (downloadable) landscape photos and follow a series of steps to get to the finished photo. There are variations with each photo, but the process is similar each time. I've done this for two reasons. The first is that, given this is a workflow based course, it seems only sensible to practice that workflow repeatedly to make sure people get comfortable with it. The other is that I've chosen different kinds of landscape photos to demonstrate the flexibility of the method.
 
I hope it's of some use to you and thanks for your time,
Simon

I'm in the process of making the auto generated captions legible for the Solid Foundations course at Udemy - https://www.udemy.com/affinityphoto-solid-foundations/ which is taking it's sweet time because they are so gloriously creative when transcribing what I say. Here's some epic quotes, along with my duller corrections underneath. I apologise for demeaning the mighty art that the auto generator hath wrought by correcting it so it actually makes sense. But enough! Here's the highlights from what I've done so far...
 
OK so I'm back to commit to my crap.
OK, so I'm about to commit to my crop.
 
Come up here to my croping tool. Cocteau or Prossy.
Come up here to my cropping tool. Crop tool, or press 'C'
 
Call me Mr Pretentious if you want the whole length.
call me Mr. Pretentious if you want, *darling!*.
 
nowadays, you'll see more and more very wide or tool photos from people's camera phones
nowadays, you'll see more and more very wide or tall photos from people's camera phones
 
Santa you're very tall and thin
...sending your very tall and thin..
 
Let's try 5 by 7 and say wow that's got big
Let's try 5 by 7 and rotate - wow! That's got big.
 
Now if I come back to my crotch to instead of the third grade.
Now if I come back to my crop tool. Instead of the thirds grid
 
in Photoshop Elements once we Crock-Pot image
in Photoshop Elements, once we crop our image
 
Let's take this picture into a vanity photo.
Let's take this picture into Affinity Photo.
 
So I asked him Manzi and combat straight into if you got to see them always you thoughts straight up
So, press ctrl/command + Z and come back to the straighten tool. If you've got sea there, always use that to straighten up
 
We have three day pokes to crop and rotate.
We have three .jpgs to crop and rotate
 
Now the ratio I want is 8:44
Now the ratio I want is 16:9 (think about it...)
 
Every foeticide record its own bit of...
Every photo site records its own bit of...
 
What's the Shafter goes down on your camera.
Once the shutter goes down on your camera,
 
and then come back to the lame ass layer
and then come back to the layer mask layer
 
 
... I can leave the original text there if you find it more inspiring...
 

I'm in the process of making the auto generated captions legible for the Solid Foundations course at Udemy - https://www.udemy.com/affinityphoto-solid-foundations/ which is taking it's sweet time because they are so gloriously creative when transcribing what I say. Here's some epic quotes, along with my duller corrections underneath. I apologise for demeaning the mighty art that the auto generator hath wrought by correcting it so it actually makes sense. But enough! Here's the highlights from what I've done so far...
 
OK so I'm back to commit to my crap.
OK, so I'm about to commit to my crop.
 
Come up here to my croping tool. Cocteau or Prossy.
Come up here to my cropping tool. Crop tool, or press 'C'
 
Call me Mr Pretentious if you want the whole length.
call me Mr. Pretentious if you want, *darling!*.
 
nowadays, you'll see more and more very wide or tool photos from people's camera phones
nowadays, you'll see more and more very wide or tall photos from people's camera phones
 
Santa you're very tall and thin
...sending your very tall and thin..
 
Let's try 5 by 7 and say wow that's got big
Let's try 5 by 7 and rotate - wow! That's got big.
 
Now if I come back to my crotch to instead of the third grade.
Now if I come back to my crop tool. Instead of the thirds grid
 
in Photoshop Elements once we Crock-Pot image
in Photoshop Elements, once we crop our image
 
Let's take this picture into a vanity photo.
Let's take this picture into Affinity Photo.
 
So I asked him Manzi and combat straight into if you got to see them always you thoughts straight up
So, press ctrl/command + Z and come back to the straighten tool. If you've got sea there, always use that to straighten up
 
We have three day pokes to crop and rotate.
We have three .jpgs to crop and rotate
 
Now the ratio I want is 8:44
Now the ratio I want is 16:9 (think about it...)
 
Every foeticide record its own bit of...
Every photo site records its own bit of...
 
What's the Shafter goes down on your camera.
Once the shutter goes down on your camera,
 
and then come back to the lame ass layer
and then come back to the layer mask layer
 
 
... I can leave the original text there if you find it more inspiring...
 

Hi everyone.
 
After being part of a conversation with one of the forum members where they expressed a wish to have a start to finish set of tutorials about developing landscapes I thought I'd do something about it. So here it is:
 
https://www.udemy.com/affinity-photo-developing-landscapes/
 
I've tried to make it different from the other courses I've done. Instead of presenting a range of tools and techniques, I've made the workflow a priority. You get to develop a series of (downloadable) landscape photos and follow a series of steps to get to the finished photo. There are variations with each photo, but the process is similar each time. I've done this for two reasons. The first is that, given this is a workflow based course, it seems only sensible to practice that workflow repeatedly to make sure people get comfortable with it. The other is that I've chosen different kinds of landscape photos to demonstrate the flexibility of the method.
 
I hope it's of some use to you and thanks for your time,
Simon

I've done a 90+ page downloadable guide to what I hope are the basics here - https://theeagerlearner.com/ and I made 3 tutorials on YouTube for people just starting out. The first one is here - 
 

Hi everyone,
 
I just wanted to let you know that I've added an extra hour's worth of new content to the course to tale the course total to just over 9.5 hours. I was very pleased to get good feedback from people who had enrolled on the course. But if there was one area where some students wanted more it was to practice what they had learned.
 
So, just after the 'five steps to developing your photos' section I've added a 'five photos to develop, start to finish' section. I take five photos and work them up from beginning to end so you can see the whole process of developing an image in action. Of course, the photos I develop are available for people to download so they can follow along. That way people can practice and consolidate the fundamental skills before they go on to more advanced topics like selections and layer masks etc.
 
The price of the course hasn't changed. I just want it to be the best possible introduction to Affinity Photo for the iPad that anyone can learn from.
 
Cheers,
Simon

Hi everyone,
 
I just wanted to let people know that I've put up a blog article explaining what layer blend modes are, how they are grouped together and what they do. I also give an visual example of the different blend modes so you can see the effect they have on your images. Here's the link - https://theeagerlearner.com/your-big-friendly-guide-to-layer-blend-modes/
 
Hope it's of help to you,
Simon

Typical jer! Never satisfied! Oo - I just lumped you into the never-satisfied category. I take your point though. The blog post was taken from a pdf I wrote to be a reference for and supplement the layer blend modes video from the 'Affinity Photo for the iPad' course over at Udemy. After I do the 'rather heavy by necessity' video on what they are, I go on to explain some uses for them because yes, you're right. Blend modes in isolation are not much use without practical examples. What I've done in the various AP courses on Udemy is to use blend modes as part of other projects, i.e. set a layer to overlay blend mode when I'm talking about dodge and burn techniques or color blend mode when I'm talking about recoloring a black and white photo. That, as opposed to making the blend mode the main point of the video. To make the blend mode the main point of the videos and do justice to the subject could be a complete course in itself (now there's an idea...)
 
Actually the .pdf & blog should be forming part of a chapter in the upcoming book about Affinity Photo (yes jer! Didn't you know?) & in that I was going to extend the chapter to include practical uses in a similar way to the Solid Foundations course and iPad course. But the book is behind other things in the queue like getting the 1.6 update videos finished for the SF course, adding some extra practice videos for the iPad course, finishing off the trial videos for the Landscape course & assessing that & so on. Pretty busy these days...

Hi everyone,
 
I just wanted to let people know that I've put up a blog article explaining what layer blend modes are, how they are grouped together and what they do. I also give an visual example of the different blend modes so you can see the effect they have on your images. Here's the link - https://theeagerlearner.com/your-big-friendly-guide-to-layer-blend-modes/
 
Hope it's of help to you,
Simon

Hi everyone,
 
I just wanted to let people know that I've put up a blog article explaining what layer blend modes are, how they are grouped together and what they do. I also give an visual example of the different blend modes so you can see the effect they have on your images. Here's the link - https://theeagerlearner.com/your-big-friendly-guide-to-layer-blend-modes/
 
Hope it's of help to you,
Simon

Hi. Were you posting about this on one of the Affinity fb groups a few days ago? Just in case that wasn't you I posted something which may or may not be partially what you need:
 
'Ok, try this. Have the two pictures open. On the picture which has the color you want to change, add two blank layers. Choose the color picker tool and set it's average reading to 5 x 5. Take a 5 x 5 sample of the cheek/chin/forehead/any reading which has the mid tones of the face you want to change. Use the brush tool and make a large, hard circle of that color on the lower of the two blank layers. Take another color sample from the target skin tone and put another hard edged circle of color on the upper layer. Make sure the two blobs of color overlap at least slightly. Then add a selective color adjustment layer in between the two layers.By default the color that will be affected will be red which is good since most faces are affected by adjusting the red bits of a picture more than any other color. Use the CMYK sliders so that the color blob that lies under the adjustment layer is affected. The color blob that lies on top of the adjustment layer won't be affected at all. Tweak the sliders until the two colors appear identical & that's your color adjustments done. The layer that has the face with colors you want to change should be under the selective color layer. Because you only adjusted the reds the rest of the layer shouldn't be affected, just the skin tones. If any other part of the picture is red it will be affected by the adjustment layer. The good news is that adjustment layers have their own layer masks built in, so if you paint black onto the areas of the adjustment layer, those areas become invisible so you can mask out the color change on a red jumper, for example.'

No worries at all! Went skiing in A-basin so I owe you.
 
Simon

Hi Mike. I'd be happy to hear more detailed feedback on how I could make the course you bought better. Fair enough if you weren't keen on the course; I know that I can't please everyone all the time but if there's an area you want to see developed more let me know. It could be others would like the same thing and as it is I'm just about to start the videos for the 1.6 update so that the Solid Foundations course remains current and relevant.
 
Bear in mind that the different courses I offer cover different areas. The Solid Foundations course is for beginner to mastering the basics. The Little Box of Tricks course is designed to go beyond that and offer a series of mini projects covering different effects. The RAW course is for - well - RAW processing. The just released Affinity Photo for the iPad is the broad equivalent of the Solid Foundations course. So it might be a case of which course would be the best place for your suggestions. Now I'll take a guess that you may want to see more things related to Landscape Photography? It's doable, but then we're getting into specialised course territory. As it is I've been considering the idea of that kind of series covering areas such as beauty techniques or compositing techniques. My problems is that I'm self employed and there's only so many hours in the day. I paused working on the Affinity Photo book to work on the iPad course, then there's the 1.6 update videos to attend to etc. But I would be interested to hear your feedback.
 
By the way James, massive respect for the videos you produce. I think they are excellent examples of clear and succinct information and have done Serif a huge service. I agree with your thoughts about the need for videos. I think any software, particularly software that deals with visual matters benefits hugely from visual training aids. & to Mike I would say it's a case of market forces in action. New software comes out and if it has the kind of videos James produces it helps attract customers. Once the software grows in popularity other people (like me, for example) realise there's a customer base to produce training material for. So potential customers realise they will be supported with a choice of training and so they are more likely to invest in the software & so the cycle repeats & hopefully grows which, in the case of Affinity Photo, is a good and deserved thing.

Hi everyone,
 
I just wanted to let people know that I've put up a blog article explaining what layer blend modes are, how they are grouped together and what they do. I also give an visual example of the different blend modes so you can see the effect they have on your images. Here's the link - https://theeagerlearner.com/your-big-friendly-guide-to-layer-blend-modes/
 
Hope it's of help to you,
Simon

Hi everyone,
 
I just wanted to let people know that I've put up a blog article explaining what layer blend modes are, how they are grouped together and what they do. I also give an visual example of the different blend modes so you can see the effect they have on your images. Here's the link - https://theeagerlearner.com/your-big-friendly-guide-to-layer-blend-modes/
 
Hope it's of help to you,
Simon

Hi everyone,
 
I just wanted to let people know that I've put up a blog article explaining what layer blend modes are, how they are grouped together and what they do. I also give an visual example of the different blend modes so you can see the effect they have on your images. Here's the link - https://theeagerlearner.com/your-big-friendly-guide-to-layer-blend-modes/
 
Hope it's of help to you,
Simon

Hi everyone,
 
I just wanted to let people know that I've put up a blog article explaining what layer blend modes are, how they are grouped together and what they do. I also give an visual example of the different blend modes so you can see the effect they have on your images. Here's the link - https://theeagerlearner.com/your-big-friendly-guide-to-layer-blend-modes/
 
Hope it's of help to you,
Simon

Hi,
 
I'd like to cutomise the wet edges of my brush on my PC version of Affinity Photo. But as you can see from the screenshot, I don't have the option to do so. I've checked my version of the software and it's 1.6.0.89. I've checked a number of brushes and can't find the custom dialog box that appears in the 1.6 features video at 00.21. Am I missing something?
 
Cheers,
Simon

Hi Mike. How DARE you criticise my amazing videos! I bring my genius to the great unwashed masses and, and - no problem at all, my friend! I don't know what kind of prima donna would give you a hammering for saying a video didn't meet your needs but I'm too old and ugly to do that. Well, I like to think so. The courses I've produced so far have been to cover a broad base and so it follows that people who have specific needs may end up frustrated.
 
I'll certainly take a look at the Joe Brady tutorial and see what kind of thing you're after. As it is, I've been looking at some landscape RAW files from my collection and having a little think about the possibilities...
 
What I would say though is that it'll take time. As well as doing regular design work for clients I have an Affinity Photo book I have to carry on with and I want to add a few more videos to the iPad course I've just released on Udemy plus other ideas for video tutorials - the list just goes on and on! But if there's an area that people are interested in learning about then it's of interest to me.

From the replies I've seen so far it seems that people would like a kind of 'sit next to an experienced user and watch how they work and what they do' approach to a video or series - does that sound about right? If so, It's something I've considered as a course. My main concern with the 'warts and all' approach has been that, for every person who appreciates the learning process when things don't work out well, there'll be another who complains that they only want to see the stuff that works. My other concerns are that it may end up repetitious because much of image processing is, and that I don't know how people would react to me coming out with things like 'Well for this one I'm going to combine the Main Problem Tackled approach with the Develop The Complementary Opposites approach.' I'd be hoping that people wouldn't find it a bit pretentious. They might be expecting hard technique instead of my deep and profound philosophies. But of course I'd be interested to hear what people think about  - working title of 'Affinity Photo: The Late Night Developing Sessions'.

Hi Mike. I'd be happy to hear more detailed feedback on how I could make the course you bought better. Fair enough if you weren't keen on the course; I know that I can't please everyone all the time but if there's an area you want to see developed more let me know. It could be others would like the same thing and as it is I'm just about to start the videos for the 1.6 update so that the Solid Foundations course remains current and relevant.
 
Bear in mind that the different courses I offer cover different areas. The Solid Foundations course is for beginner to mastering the basics. The Little Box of Tricks course is designed to go beyond that and offer a series of mini projects covering different effects. The RAW course is for - well - RAW processing. The just released Affinity Photo for the iPad is the broad equivalent of the Solid Foundations course. So it might be a case of which course would be the best place for your suggestions. Now I'll take a guess that you may want to see more things related to Landscape Photography? It's doable, but then we're getting into specialised course territory. As it is I've been considering the idea of that kind of series covering areas such as beauty techniques or compositing techniques. My problems is that I'm self employed and there's only so many hours in the day. I paused working on the Affinity Photo book to work on the iPad course, then there's the 1.6 update videos to attend to etc. But I would be interested to hear your feedback.
 
By the way James, massive respect for the videos you produce. I think they are excellent examples of clear and succinct information and have done Serif a huge service. I agree with your thoughts about the need for videos. I think any software, particularly software that deals with visual matters benefits hugely from visual training aids. & to Mike I would say it's a case of market forces in action. New software comes out and if it has the kind of videos James produces it helps attract customers. Once the software grows in popularity other people (like me, for example) realise there's a customer base to produce training material for. So potential customers realise they will be supported with a choice of training and so they are more likely to invest in the software & so the cycle repeats & hopefully grows which, in the case of Affinity Photo, is a good and deserved thing.

Hi everyone,
 
I just wanted to let people know that I've released an 8.5 hour course about Affinity Photo for the iPad here:
 
https://www.udemy.com/affinity-photo-for-the-ipad/ - it's aimed at beginners and I've structured the course to take you from novice to competent user. I wanted to hold off starting the course until the software went through a couple of updates and the latest iOS was released so that Serif had the chance to get things ticking over nicely. So here it is, and I hope you get a lot out of it.
 
Thanks for your interest,
Simon

Hi Generoso. I out a post up explaining blend ranges here - https://theeagerlearner.com/luminosity-masks-try-blend-ranges-instead/ & smadell is right; they are more powerful than the Photoshop blend if.

Thanks for that Alfred. Actually I may be able to give you something back for it after experimenting. I found that once I altered the width of the line using the pen tool, when I then selected the shape tool again it inherited the properties of the pen tool and I got a line of the same thickness as the one I made with the pen tool. It's a rather clunky workaround but hey! It's a workaround, and one I can put in the tutorial if needs be.
 
Thanks again,
Simon

Hi pixupdate. If you get completely stuck I cover restoring and colourising old photos on my Affinity Photo: Little Box of Tricks course over at Udemy. Unfortunately it's a paid for course so maybe consider it only if no one comes up with a free alternative.
 
...I'm not exactly salesman of the year, am I?
 
Cheers,
Simon