tomdot

That's going to be a useful tutorial – thanks!

I don't think Apple have a dedicated RAW editor any more, now that Aperture is no more. Photos offers basic tweaking, but nothing really advanced. I also saw the stacking video and I was interested in that, so I'll experiment. I like working in natural light, but maybe I need to consider getting more onto the sensor at source by refining my exposure settings? Maybe even set an auto ISO and rely solely on shutter speed? Thanks for the help so far, it's interesting!

This is all helpful. It seems as though I may need to look at dedicated noise reduction solutions, but also maybe consider my workflow. Though, I'm unsure why or how a third-party solution is better than the in-built noise reduction? As I'm new to RAW, is it expected to see noise even on very low ISO images? As I stated I'm not using a high quality camera as the rest of you would be.

I actually think it's others I've encountered so far who haven't had the patience – they've been too quick to show off their work at the expense of helping others. You know what it's like – some forums aren't as friendly as they first appear. I had saw that first video, but not the second so I'll have a look at that thanks. I'd also seen the noise reduction tutorial, but I think I'm at the stage where I need specific advice from the 'experts' as I'm not seeing the results I'd like. Actually, I've had good fortune using a high pass filter where I'd been using the Unsharp Mask, at the slight expense of clarity. In any case, it's still not enough. I have the Nik Collection, but I'd rather learn how to do it myself rather than reply on a plugin. Thanks again.

So I can see that this isn't a forum where help and advice is forthcoming. That's not a problem, but is there anywhere you recommend I can go to get this advice? Most of the answers I'm getting from people are, "I don't use Affinity Photo so I can't help". In my experience, not many people have been willing to share information, which is disappointing. In any case, if you can recommend a decent forum, I'd appreciate it.

I'm working on sharpening as it's a new concept for me, but ultimately necessary when editing RAW files. I don't think I've necessarily got this right, especially with dark colours. For reference, these have been taken with an iPhone 6s in natural light, are all PNGs at 1600px in width, output with an sRGB colour profile, with Bicubic sampling (apart from one image). For example, take the first image (1). It's without noise reduction, a clarity filter, or an unsharp mask. Notice the heavy noise (both colour and luminance) on the black t-shirt. The second (2) is with a denoise and clarity filter. The t-shirt here is too smooth, with zero noise on zoom at the heavy expense of detail. However, the third (3) image (which adds the unsharp mask) is perfect when viewed at a small size, but you can see a ton of noise when you zoom in. I'm thinking my sharpening technique is off here, but I could use some advice on whether this is acceptable. How can I retain the detail in the blacks, while not introducing noise when zooming in? I've tried setting the threshold, but I still get the problem of an undetailed flat t-shirt. I've also tried a High Pass filter first, which improves the initial sharpening, but as soon as the Unsharp Mask and Clarity filter are brought in, the noise returns. In short, I can't remove the noise and bring out the detail in the darkest elements without introducing noise and I'm getting annoyed. :-) Any advice, or am I simply overthinking it all and have got it right?