alecspra

Thanks Alfred. There is a lot of information and chats on Luminosity masks, but most of it is too geeky for my patience level. My only question and request was about having a menu equivalent for keyboard shortcuts. If there is no menu equivalent, then by definition, it is not a keyboard shortcut.
 

Thanks Alfred. I looked at the keyboard shortcuts and found no indication of how to create a luminosity mask. It’s all right. I copied the instructions from James video. 
More broadly, I am concerned that as Affinity Photo continues to grow and increase in complexity, it runs the risk of becoming an esoteric behemoth like Photoshop. Making software really user friendly is not incompatible with making it professional and sophisticated. I sincerely hope the creators of Affinity keep that in mind.

Perhaps try a google search
There are lots available for download
 
 
 

Note that a 6:4 ratio & a 4:6 ratio are two different ratios -- the first is 6 units wide by 4 units high (or 3 W by 2 H because that is the same ratio) while the second is 4 units wide by 6 units high. Because they specify the ratio of one quantity to another, they do not have any dimensional units of their own, which is why the "Units:" dropdown in the Context toolbar is greyed out when you select the "Custom Ratio" mode or any ratio preset.

The first three options use ‘:’ because they are (fixed) ratios. The others are absolute dimensions which you can change; e.g. starting with 5" × 7" and changing it to 6" × 4". If you want a ‘constrained’ 6:4, you need to set it up as a custom ratio.

Thanks for the clarification.
He's in the Develop Persona at that point, which will have a different set of panels than in the Photo Persona.

I have been using the Tone Map Persona to see what it does with a variety of pictures. I have also watched all the great AP videos on HDR and Raw Development more than once. For the most part, I like the results for both color and black and white, especially if I use the local contrast conservatively.
 
I understand the benefits of using tone mapping for HDR images based on bracketed exposures. What I still don't understand is what is the difference between tone mapping a single image (starting from a Raw file) vs using various adjustment layers in both the Develop and Photo Persona.
 
In other words,
 
- Can I theoretically achieve the same results if I tinker with various adjustments than I would if I tone map a single image after doing some basic prep work in Develop first?
 
- Can Tone mapping a single image be considered a kind of short-cut to get particular results faster than going the other route?
   
- What are the trade-offs of using Tone Mapping (besides more noise) vs using the "traditional" workflow of Develop + Photo?
 
 
- For which types of single images does Tone mapping work best and for which one it does not do as well?
 
- Should I make different adjustments when I edit a single image in Raw, if my next step is tone mapping vs going directly into Photo persona?
 
Any clarification on these questions would be most welcome. Thank you!

The problem is, your document is tiny, only 500 pixels so the font is actually very small.. You are therefore viewing the text at a high zoom level.
 
I took your document, increased the font size and viewed it at 100%.
 
This is your document at 100% with the text (I didn't have your font) at 500 points.
 

 
If I zoom your document to 800%, without changing the font size, this is what happens.

 
As a tip, always view at 100%, or 200% etc. Thing often look bad if viewed at 95.68% but great at 100%.
 
In other words, go large!
 
 

Perhaps you could provide a .afphoto file that demonstrates the problem you're seeing, and attach it to a post here so we can see it, too?

Thanks JFisher! That worked.

Hi everyone, 

Try opening the app with the CTRL held down. Then click 'Select All' and 'Clear' 

Not a tip but attached is a macro that will do the steps @stokerg mentioned. It first hides & copies the selected layer for backup/safety purposes, renames the copy to "B&W copy," converts the file to LAB color format, & then clears the A & B opponent channels of the B&W copy layer.
 
Caveats:
1. If no layer is selected, it crashes my copy of Affinity Photo v1.6.6.
2. If a group layer is selected, it creates a "B&W copy" group layer, but the opponent channels of the layers in the group are not cleared.
3. If multiple pixel layers are selected (but not grouped) it creates a "B&W copy" layer for each of them & does clear their opponent channels.
LAB to B&W.afmacro

Hi alecspra,
 
A little quicker way of getting a black and white image in LAB mode, if you click on the Channels panel you can right click on the Channel Background AOpponent and select Clear and do the same for Background BOpponent.  This should now leave you with a black and white image.  If you now apply a curves adjustment, you'll be able to alter the tone of the image.  This should give you different results to the methods you've used above.
 
I'm sure someone else will be along to give you a few more specific tips on the best methods to use.  
 

alecspra,
 
I think a lot depends on your preferences.
 
Personally, I like to do the basic adjustments in Develop Persona, getting a well balanced image. So, the blacks are not crushed, I try to avoid highlight clipping, a touch of clarity.
There are cases, though, when I need to work with a flat profile, therefore I switch off the option in the assistant (sorry, can't remember right now what's called).
I also take care of the noise, but without overdoing it. If I can't get a good noise reduction, I leave the settings to the bare minimum and I take care of the noise later on with Nik.
This is how I like to work, because gives me enough room to play with the adjustments in Photo Persona. I might even still go back to Develop Persona if I feel I want to use the overlay to work on some areas, although is quite rare as most of the time I can get a similar result with a curve and a mask.
 
Anyway, after the first adjustments in Develop Persona, and again only if I feel the image needs it, I duplicate the layer and switch to Tone Mapping to add some micro-contrast: that's the only type of adjustment I usually need that I can't do in the other Persona. I'm not a big fan of pushing the image too much, nonetheless I love the contrast I can get in Tone Mapping. Also, something I wasn't aware of when I started using Affinity Photo, Tone Mapping takes into account any other layers above the layer is being applied to. Which is great from a preview standpoint as I can see what I'm doing to the image even if there are other layers on top of the selected one when I'm working in Tone Mapping. Is not so great when it comes to performance, as the whole process can get really slow.
 
That said, the place where I feel more comfortable and I have more fun is with Photo Persona. The way I can work with masks and layers in Affinity Photo changed my workflow and I feel I don't need much more to get my job done. There are improvements for sure that can be done and I'm confident they'll arrive soon or later.

-

alecspra,
 
I'm not sure if micro-contrast is the only reason why Tone Mapping exists, in fact, there might as well be other reasons but I personally didn't explore further so far and mostly because I'm not a big fan of working in a destructive way.
 
As for the flat profile thing, again it is something I personally consider from case to case.
When I deal with video, starting from a flat profile gives me more room to process the look after the fact (as long as there is information to process).
I did have situations with raw images as well when working off a flat profile was the best solution: this happened when I opened raw images that were too under exposed to get a good contrasty image right off the bat in Develop Persona and flatting out the profile was the only choice left in order to get some extra space to push the image later on in Photo Persona.
 
Hope that makes sense.

-

Thanks MJSfoto1956! I had been reading about Luminosity Masks and was a bit unmotivated to try it on AF due to the apparent complexity of the process. What you suggest is so much simpler and if it works just as well as the more complex process, it is definitely a big incentive to experiment with it.

I can confirm this. I have the same problem here. Exactly the same symptoms.

Hi alecspra,
 
Thanks for letting us know, I've passed this over to the developers to investigate as the Navigator Panels view points should be available to switch between. You can still use the shortcuts on the View menu and you can also assign keyboard shortcuts to switch between them as well in Preferences.
 
Regards
 
L

I'm on Windows, so I don't have Affinity Photo yet, but I usually do this kind of thing by loading a saved image with the desired adjustment layers applied, and then simply swapping the old background layer for a new one containing a different photo.

Alternately, you can use the Guides Manager on the View menu to set guides numerically. You can use whatever units you want (inches, mm, whatever) or percent.

Hi alecspra,
You have to drag the guides yourself from the rulers using the Move Tool and place them near the limits of the workspace area.
So click and drag (with the Move Tool selected) from the horzontal ruler to create the first guide, then position the guide near the top of the workspace almost touching the ruler on top. Do the same for the other sides, then you can change to the Crop Tool and adjust/position its grid using the guides as a reference. 

Yes, these values are the very same between these applications.
 
A stroke is composed of N dabs repeated along its length.
 
Flow controls single dab(*) opacity
Opacity controls the whole stroke opacity
 
 
Both can be combined achieving rich media effects
 

 
An analog comparison:
To have a Wash effect use Flow (Translucent) To have a Glaze effect use Opacity (Transparent) Currently AP can control Flow via tablet pressure (Flow Jitter), but not yet Opacity.
PS can control both.
 
 
In AP there is another way to achieve a credible glazing, setting the blending mode to Average.
 
 

 
(*) A dab is basically a brush profile, named nozzle in Affinity

I found this very helpful explanation of the difference between Brush Flow and Brush Opacity. It is about Photoshop but I believe the same principle applies to Affinity Photo. 
 
http://jemorris.blogspot.com/2011/04/photoshop-brushes-flow-vs-opacity.html