Greyfox

@WMax70 Could you please check your Luminar 4's Info tab, using the same image, with Luminar 4 used free standing, and then used as a plugin from Affinity Photo. When used freestanding here, it shows the filename and the Exif information correctly, but not so when it is used as a plug in. In freestanding mode it also shows the date the shot was taken, but as a plugin that shows as the current date. The image size difference is as expected. My OS is Windows 10 Pro, 1909, build 18363.535, Affinity Photo is 1.7.3.481 and Luminar 4 is version 4.1.0 (5191)

Though it is not supported by Skylum, Luminar 4 (current Windows release 4.1.0 (5191) does work as a plugin with Affinity Photo 1.7.3.481, though with the caveat, that the Exif information which appears in the Info Tab when Luminar 4 is run in free standing mode, is missing when it's run as a plugin from Affinity Photo. That has not been an issue for me, partly because any Lens correction for RAW files that relies on Exif information has already taken place in Affinity before passing the image to Luminar 4, and also because Affinity is retaining the original Exif information so after the image is returned from Luminar, any export still contains the Exif information. It should be noted that each update of Luminar has a corresponding update of the Luminar4.8bf plug in file. Skylum have so far provided that file on request. I can't speak for the Mac version.

See https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/4-news-and-information/ Each release notice usually contains a list of the changes.

@JohnFromMI Have you tried clearing user data Hold down the Ctrl key whilst starting Affinity. A Clear User Data dialogue should open. Click on Select all, then click on Clear. Note: This will sort of restore Affinity to factory defaults, and as a result you will lose any user preferences you have set up.

The opacity setting is on the Context tool bar, which is not being displayed. Go to View menu and make sure "Show Context Tool Bar" is ticked.

Whilst that does occur here if a simple mask is added to a pixel layer, it doesn't if the mask is part of an adjustment, even after a mask to below. Windows 10 Pro, Affinity Photo 1.7.3.481

Thanks Gabe, have now done that.

On opening, the dialogue for the HSL Adjustment has the Picker button greyed out, and if one wants to use the picker to select a specific color from the image, they have first to select a color group. I don't understand why this extra step is necessary. If the Picker button was not greyed out, one could select EITHER a color group, OR the Picker..

@dmstraker Confirmed, also is there some reason why it is necessary to select a color before the picker can be used?

If I zoom the image to around 430% then I can see the one below the grill, but nowhere near as pronounced as in your screen shot. It becomes pronounced if I untick the top Mural/Background layer. However if I convert the format to either RGB/16 or RGB/8 then the issue becomes really obvious. Lots of colored squares (Red, Green, Blue, as well as what I could call a light magenta) all over the car and quite visible at 100% zoom.

@firstdefence @markhartphotography I too downloaded the file and have opened it multiple times in Affinity Photo. Strangely the squares have not appeared here at all. Out of interest, I saved it (saved as) to a new .afphoto file. The two files are not the same size. The original as downloaded is 1,067,703,979 bytes, the resaved file 1,060,711,600 bytes. I know "save as" will often reduce the size of the project file that has had repeated "saves", so the size difference probably doesn't mean much. More importantly, the squares don't show when the new file is opened either. I using Windows 10 Pro (1903, build 18362.476), Intel i7 processor, 16GB RAM, GTX 1050ti 4GB graphics card. Affinity Photo 1.7.3.481. Renderer set to Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050ti, Retina Rendering set to Automatic (Best)

Confirmed. Can map Ctrl + / to select sampled color OK, but Affinity Photo crashes to desktop when that shortcut is used. Application: Photo.exe Framework Version: v4.0.30319 Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception. Exception Info: System.NuIIReferenceException at Serif.lnterop.Persona.Commands,SetToolCommand.Execute(System.Object) at Serif.Affinity.ShortcutManager.HandleShortcut(Serif.Affinity.Shortcut, Boolean) at Serif.Affinity.Application.HandleKeylnput(System.Windows.lnterop.MSG) at Serif .Affinity .Application. Com ponentDispatcher_ThreadFilterMessage(System.Windows.lnterop.MSG ByRef, Boolean ByRef) at System.Windows.lnterop.ComponentDispatcherThread.RaiseThreadMessage(System.WindowsJnterop.MSG ByRef) at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.PushFrame[mpl(Systeni.VVindci.vs. Threading. DispattherFramei at System.Windows.Application.RunDispatcher(System.Object) at System.Windows.Application.Runlnternal(System.Windows. Window) at Photo.Application.Main(System.String[]) The actual keys assigned doesn't seem to matter, no matter what keys I assign to that function, it crashes as soon as the short cut is used. Windows 10 Pro (1903, build 18362.476), 16GB RAM, GTX 1050ti 4GB, Nvidia 441.12, Affinity Photo 1.7.3.481

Well it opens here without crashing, but as can be seen in the screen shot attached it has a significant problem. The amount of "gold flecks" varies with how much zoom is applied, Win 10 Pro (9103, build 18362.476), 16GB RAM Graphics card is a GTX1050ti 4GB, with Nvidia driver 431.86 Update: Have since updated the Nvidia studio drivers to latest version 441.12. Problem still present, however it does open correctly in Topaz Studio 1, and also in ACDSee Studio 2019, 17/11/2019 Sorry, my bad. I hadn't noticed that "Show Clipped Tones was On. With it off, display is OK

@mykee, Yes, the live filter version does have slightly more effect. Using a Denoise filter to smooth facial skin would not be my preferred choice of method, but everyone has their own way of doing things and as long as you get results you are happy with, then why not. In my view Denoise filters have generally been optimized to specifically reduce Luminance and Chroma noise, usually from high ISO and/or low light shots, rather than for smoothing or reducing the appearance of skin pores. If you haven't already seen it, this video tutorial shows an alternative method which I think can give a more controllable result. Perhaps I should add that for really noisy images that have to be "saved" I use one of two Topaz Labs plugins, Denoise 6, or DenoiseAI.

@mykee Your photo was taken at a low ISO (100) and has very little noise present, either Luminance or chroma, however there is an area where you can see the Denoise filter having some effect. In the attached comparison screen shots, I chose an area to look at just below the dark glasses and used Filter->Noise->Denoise. I didn't play around with finding optimum settings, just pushed all the sliders to Max. At a zoom of 426%. you can see the filter is having an effect, but to be honest I would not have bothered with Denoising an image with so little noise. At normal viewing magnification I would not expect to see any difference.