ch22

Please, look at the mp4 file in http://www.cjoint.com/doc/17_02/GBBpGrVmoCQ_demo.mp4 This is a report of what I did

I followed the section "luminosity mask" of the manual. Pressing CMD and SHIFT and clicking the thumbnail in the Layers panel creates a luminosity-based selection of the corresponding layer. This selection can then be transferred into a mask by opening a new mask, either by the Layer menu or the Mask button in the Layers panel. My point is that this "luminosity" is not the LAB luminance. In Photoshop, one observes the same behavior through a mere desaturation (CMD SHIFT U) on a layer

Letter to Santa Claus : (i) make the gradient tool operation closer to the brush tool, so that it no longer erases the initial content of the layer when applied with a reduced opacity. (ii) Make it reminiscent of the previous color choice. (iii) Allow for a few useful presets (such as Black to White, Foreground to Transparent, etc.) or allow to save and reload various adjustments.

Hum ! why make it simple when one can make it complicated ? Is there no hope to get a more comprehensive gradient tool in future AP versions ? That said, the process described by MEB can be modified and even simplified at various levels : — the gradient tool can be applied after the creation of vector masks rather than before ; — instead of repeating four times the process of creating a vector layer, then applying a gradient to it and transforming it into a vector mask, one can save time by doing it only once, then making 3 copies of the resulting vector mask (by CTRL/CMD + J) and finally editing the gradients in the 3 copies. One also escapes the detestable reset of the gradient tool whenever it is applied to a new layer. — Instead of calling the Rectangle Tool first, I find it simpler to create a new empty pixel layer just above the layer to be partly masked and then to apply the Mask To Below contextual menu to it. Surprisingly, even from a pixel layer, this creates a vector mask. Then, as above, apply the relevant gradient to it, duplicate 3 times, and so on. — Finally, one can give up the vector masks if one also gives up the reeditable gradients. Simply open 4 pixel masks and write the relevant gradients in them. Beware, the transparency can then be obtained by depositing either black with 100% opacity or any color with 0% opacity ; attention must be paid to both colors and opacities. Obviously, if the gradient is not satisfactory it must be completely rewritten. Also, one must cope with the systematic reset of the tool when one passes from a mask to another one. Anyway, many thanks for this instructive example.

Well, I succeeded in achieving a simulation of the Highlights Filter following the idea of Darren Bernhardt. A demonstration file is attached. I first explain what I made and then I state new remarks ; maybe the operation of AP could be improved—or my brain reoriented ? When you open my file, you see the background layer only : a little girl with a hat a bit too luminous, which would be better somewhat darkened. In the Layers Panel, the 2nd line is a group containing the simulated filter ; for completeness, the top layer shows the corrective adjustement I made in Photoshop, namely a curve adjustment with the ad hoc mask. Please do not activate the two corrective layers simultaneously ; also do not pay attention to the strength of the correction, this is only an exercise. The simulated filter is made of three layers : (i) a curve adjustment with a luminosity mask within its mask ( “Strength“ layer). The curve applies a very strong contrast to the lighter tones. Normally this would result into a strong darkening of medium and dark tones, but this effect is contained by the dark tones in the luminosity mask. (ii) This containing action is not sufficient, it is necessary to put black in the darkest tones of the mask. This is made with a Level ou Curve adjustment (“Range“ layer) acting on the mask of the first layer ("Strength") (iii) At this point, the lightest tones of the picture are darkeneanxd, as wished, but also somewhat flattened. This is counteracted by blurring the mask of the first layer (“Strength“), through a live filter adjustment in the “Radius“ layer. As a gaussian blur may easily lead to undesirable halos along edges, I used a more sophisticated bilateral blur. Obviously, the names Strength, Range and Radius come from the control sliders of the Highlights Filter. And obviously as well, in Photoshop, steps (ii) and (iii) are not reversible. Now the new remarks : (1) when I open the Level or Curve adjustment over a mask, as in step(ii) above, I have to switch to the alpha channel. Cannot this be done automatically, since it should be possible to recognize that one is working on a mask? More comfortable ! (2) When you apply a Curve/Level adjustment to a mask and switch from RGB channels to the alpha channel, the bottom histogram suddenly disappears, which is a little alarming, especially for a beginner. Would not it be possible to display the histogram of the mask alpha channel? (3) Mere curiosity : would it be possible (simply) to merge the three layers into a single curve adjustment layer, Photoshop-like, with a mask including the action of steps (ii) and (iii) ? (4) More annoying : I did not manage to run the dodge/burn tools on a mask. Try with the upper layer in my file ; alt-click its thumbnail in order to display the mask. I could paint it with the brush tool but I got nothing with the dodge/burn tools. Did I miss something again ? la_bonne_glace.afphoto

Thanks. This gives me a little light but I still have a lot of problems — I am aiming at an adaptation of the process described long ago (2004) by Darren Bernhardt in http://www.dbphoto.net/techniques/luminancemask/page2.htm(simulation of the Shadows/Highlights filter with adjustment layers). I shall come back here with more precise questions or remarks.

In the in-line manual, it is proposed to click the layer thumbnail while pressing CMD/CTRL and SHIFT keys (so as to get the selection of luminosities) before opening the mask. Doing so with the Granger chart (attached), one merely obtains a mere vertical black-white gradient with nothing left of the structure of the initial picture. Conspicuously, this implies that the initial luminosity selection is done in the sense of HSL or HSV color model, not in the sense of LAB as Photoshop does. This is annoying if one is really interested in true L, but it is not easy to predict the practical consequences of this inaccuracy. One can also use one of the RGB channels as a mask , through the channel panel and its contextual menu. Incidentally, the four HSL blending modes (Hue, Saturation, Color, Luminosity) behave as those of Photoshop, i.e. HSL components can be fairly understood in the LAB sense.

Apparently, you can paint in a mask with a brush or apply a gradient to it, or apply filters from the Filters menu, but you can not apply a level or curve adjustment. Or did I miss something ? It is an important feature for an advanced image processing ; I would like to have it in AP.

1 - Can the auxiliary masking color be changed ? In case of a globally red picture, a green color could be more convenient. 2 - It is not always easy to see when Quick Mask Mode has been activated, because of the insufficient contrast in the tool bar ; at first glance, we never know which tool is activated in this bar. Also, seemingly, there is no longer any activated layer in the layer panel, but there are other situations that give the same result. It would be nice if the color of active line in the layers panel was changed when switching to this Quick Mask Mode, like in PS. Incidentally I am very fond of this selection mode.

1 –The Opacity sliders in the brush options and in the Color panel are duplicated; Apparently the actual opacity is the product of both. What is the advantage of having this double opacity setting? In all cases, after sufficient brush strokes, one always arrives at a completely opaque color (A = 255). Is there somewhere in AP a function that really needs the opacity setting in the color panel? The menu Edition > Fill has its own Opacity slider. The Flood Fill Tool has none, but it could be added to its options. 2 - In the brush options, there is a button "Protect Alpha" which corresponds to a transparency lock (Transparent pixels Lock) in other well known softwares. These offer an alternative blending mode for the brush, "Behind". Why not add a "Paint behind" button in AP, just asides Protect Alpha?

1 - In the layers panel, I find it annoying that one can't distinguish between a layer filled with black and a totally transparent empty layer. The thumbnails would be much more readable if the transparent areas were represented by the classic gray-white checkerboard (which is otherwise used in other parts of AP). 2 - Also, I find it annoying that a pixel layer thumbnail becomes completely black when you add a mask filled with black; I would prefer this thumbnail to represent the layer pixels, whatever the mask attached to the layer. 3 – In the contextual menu (opened by right-clicking any layer line in the panel), I don’t see the difference between the two items “group“ and “layer group“ 4 – In the contextual menu again, besides the items “merge down“ and “merge visible“, I would have expected “merge selected“ and “flatten“. Also, why is “flatten“ not within the Layer menu either? 5 – In both the contextual menu and the Layer menu, the name “merge visible“ is somewhat misleading. One would expect a collapse of the visible layers into a single one, as with merge selected; instead, the menu merely adds a new layer containing the collapsed result. One gets the same effect by successively calling the menus Document > New snapshot and Layers > New Layer from Snapshot . (Personally, I am very fond of this function)

Thanks I already thought of this solution but it is not really the simple method that I am asking for. As you are asking for possible improvements of AP, I maintain this could be one. This is not specially important for my domain of interest, namely post-processing of photos, but from time to time, I have to prepare pedagogic illustrations, and lines with arrows would help.

Among the geometric shape tools, I would have expected a simple tool for drawing straight lines at an arbitrary angle, with options for adjusting the width and possibly for adding arrows at one or both ends. Did I miss something ?

Thanks. Indeed I saw this point in the Tools Preferences, but only through an unhappy French translation that I did not understand. However, other AP functions always follow the general constrain principle associated with the SHIFT key (rectangular ou elliptical selections, rotations, pen tool...), and so the third choice looks more logical for me.

(i) I like the idea of ​​having a single tool to move a layer and make it undergo various geometric transformations; also the short instructions for use at the bottom of the display. Unfortunately, these tips are not complete in the current version. After a click somewhere in the image, which selects the corresponding layer, I am instructed "Drag to move selection" in order to move the layer, but it is not specified that I must operate from the inside of the selection. If I click outside, it's another layer that is activated. This behavior is unfortunate if one tries to rotate or to shear the layer, because one then seeks sensitive areas outside, just beside the handles; if one clicks too soon, before the mouse pointer has changed, one activates another layer. I would like it better if one could not change the selection merely by clicking outside the current selection. (ii) The effect of SHIFT key when moving a corner to change the layer size is opposite to the usual convention, actually followed by AP for other functions, when this key is associated to some constraint within the change : with the Move Tool, one must not press SHIFT if one wants a true homothety (i.e. changing the size while keeping the shape), and, on the contrary, one must press this key to compress or stretch the layer without considering its shape. This is exactly the opposite for Geometric Shapes tools. Too bad for the logic of the whole. Charles

Hello I teach post-processing of digital photos to beginners in a French photo club. So far, our teaching was based on Photoshop and I wonder if the time has not come to switch to Affinity Photo, so as to operate on a simpler but yet very powerful software. I know that quite a lot of video tutorials already exist which potentially should be helpful to beginners, but all of them are English-speaking, and thus, sadly, nearly useless to most of our French ears (by the way, I apologize for my possibly approximate English). So I'm trying to find out how our beginners could find their way into the software and, for that purpose, I try to follow the same path as we did with Photoshop and I list the things that seem odd to me in the software. I give below a first list of these remarks. I am using v1.5.1 on Mac OS. Preferences : — in color preferences, the option Warn when assigning working profile to unprofiled files does not work, there is never a warning — the Artboard Background Gray Level slider does not work — the choice of the language works for the software only, not for the online manual (which remains in French for me and which refuses to pass in English) Colours — in the slider display, logically, the Granger chart should not be affected by the Saturation slider in HSL mode — I am puzzled by the logic of the small reset button, just at the bottom left of the foreground / background patchs (instead of the black/white reset button in Photoshop). It removes any color information in a tool like the brush. What good is it for? — when working with the brush, one can pick a color from the image through an ALT-click on the image. However, the software is not very responsive and sometimes the ALT-click has to be repeated several times. Also, it would be nice if the ALT key could temporarily replace the brush circle with the color picker icon. — In the Fill dialog box, it would be nice if a click on the custom colour plot automatically activated the Custom Colour option. Selection brush tool : why not add a feather option ? Since the shortcut CTRL+ALT+click-and-drag (Mac OS) is already implemented for the size, it could also control the feather. Infos panel : length and position information can be displayed either in pixels or in cm (depending on the choice in the options of the Main tool). However, curiously, when you choose "cm" and draw a rectangular selection, the position of the starting point is displayed in cm, but the width and height remain in px. Hoping these remarks could be dealt with in the next upgrade. Charles

The issue is not specially connected to 16-bit mode, at least on my v1.5.1 on MacOS. I got a 16-bit picture with a linear ICC profile from a previous post. As told before, it does not correctly open in AP since it is converted into my default RGB space (sRGB for me). When I convert this picture into 8-bit mode in Photoshop and I open it in AP, I obtain the same behavior. Actually, when I try to use the menus Document>Assign ICC Profile ou Convert ICC Profile, the linear profiles (gamma=1) do not appear in the drop-down list. Currently I use two of them, based on sRGB and Adobe-98, who are accepted by both Photoshop and Chromix Color Think. Apparently, such profiles are not recognized by AP as valid ICC profiles. Charles

Hello The dialog in the resize dialog box is not satisfactory. I explain : (i) with no resampling, when the size is displayed in length units (i.e. inches or centimeters), the size boxes should be active. For instance, if I wanted to print a 10x8 cm picture, I should be entitled to directly enter 10 cm and 8 cm in width and height boxes. Currently, I cannot. (ii) More annoying, still with no resampling, the size indications should vary accordingly to the dpi slider. They do not. (iii) Some of the options are memorized when the dialog box is reopened, but not all of them. I can accept the systematic reset of the resampling to ON, so as to learn not to forget to deactive it when necessary, but why is the resampling algorithm reset to bilinear, the poorest of all ? Charles (MacOS user)

I am a French user but I would like to access to an English version of help files. From time to time, I come across translation issues about various technical terms, which does not help for discussing with English-speaking people such as on this forum. Accessing to english versions of help files would be interesting for me, but switching to English in Preferences is of no help since these files stay in French for me. What can I do ? Charles

Thanks!

Hello I like your Shortcuts-Cheat-Sheet for MacOS. Did you adapt it to Windows users ? If yes, I would appreciate to get it, though I am currently working on MacOS Thank you Charles