dmstraker

Good idea. I'll look into it. I've plans for loads of different 'effects' tutorials, but they all take time...

Add adjustment, say Curves, to photo. Edit Blend Ranges/Options (cogwheel) within the adjustment. Don't adjust the curves. Editing both the left (source layer ranges) and right (underlying composition ranges) -- both have an effect. So I'm wondering, what's going on here? What is the difference in effect between the left/right graphs in this situation? Thanks Dave

Wups. " HSL desaturates colours and so all colours go the same shade of grey." In the example given, this does happen as each of the RGB colour gradients are linear from white to saturated hue to black. Yes, in an average image they will desaturate to different shades of grey, but the result can be quite manky, as in the video where I use a photo of flowers which mostly have the same degree of saturation.

"The Black and White adjustment makes result pixels white in the left part of the gradient, where the colour is fading to white !" refresh?

Aye, you're right, Alfred. Unclear language. Fix implemented. Adequate? It's a surprising effect anyway. I've just added a new video to my InAffinity YouTube channel showing the different effects of different methods of conversion to monochrome. Glowing praise welcome. Corrections appreciated.

If you're curious about the differences between various black and white conversion methods, attached is a demo with several different styles. The original is created from gradients across a rectangle, with RGBK going from white to saturated to black (tinting and shading). The other layers show different conversions (using a rasterised version of the original). You can explore the attached .afphoto file to see how this is achieved. The bottom line seems to be that there are three different 'styles' of conversion: HSL desaturates colours and so all colours go the same shade of grey. This is done by pulling the HSL S slider to the left. It also means colourful images can become very bland when desaturated. The Black and White adjustment makes result pixels white in the left part of the gradient, where the colour is fading to white. This can be seen if you create a fully saturated layer of any colour, add an HSL adjustment then a B&W adjustment. The layer goes white. Moving the HSL L slider right from the centre position does not change this. Moving it left from the centre gradually changes the colour towards black. A risk here is that some colours may burn out to white (a way to recover this is to introduce grey to highlights by turning down HSL saturation just in the area affected (Blend Ranges is easier than masking for this). The rest of the methods shown all have the same effect, though with each RGB colour changing at a different rate across the spectrum. This is presumably because saturated colours actually have different luminance values. It also helps explain why some people avoid HSL and B&W, preferring such as Document Greyscale or Gradient Maps (these offer greater flexibility). black and white conversions.afphoto

If you have your image in AP zoomed to fit (as I often do when editing the whole image) a handy quick move is to use Tab, so you can see it in further detail. However, Tab leaves it at the same zoom level rather than the desirable 'automatic zoom to fit again'. Yes, you can do a Ctrl-0, but that means finger-twiddling when a quick Tab-Tab is what you want to do. This is particularly useful when you have a smaller screen (I use a Surface). I think PS does this. Thank ye good sires and madams Dave

Just an idea. What if you had a curves-type control with colour wheel (like in HSL) input and output? Come to that, what other controls could use this interface? Tx

Using the Dodge and burn on a mask layer is handy when using to affect only shadows, midtones or highlights. Eg. Dodging a lighter sky through a dark tree. Tx

I had a similar question, with dialog boxes appearing totally off-screen in two-screen setup. Issue acknowledged and fix promised. Discussion here. Meanwhile, simple action from Chris B for off-adjustment panel appearing off-screen: Call the dialog Immediately press Alt+Space Press M Press an arrow key on the keyboard Move your mouse around

Yes, that seems to work. Thaks, Sean!

When I'm adding adjustment layers on Surface Pro, they disappear below the 'event horizon' and I can't get to them other than by jiggling around with panels. In other words, I need a scroll but there isn't one there. See attached clip.

In contribution, I just posted a set of 2D blend examples. Check out the Reflect and Glow -- there's clearly a reversal going on here. The curve is interesting too, perhaps suggesting some multiplicative aspect of the function?

Herewith a little document containing mono and colour examples of blend modes in action. I find it useful to see relationships between different/similar blend modes. Also how weird transitions can happen! Monochrome blend is gradient black to white, from top to bottom above left to right. Colour blend is trickier, with green over red, with both fading differently to each edge (to black, white, grey and transparent). Top (blend) and bottom (base) layers are shown on the first page. Enjoy! Blend modes -- 2D visuals.pdf

Nice work, Dechen. I like the video and the blog showing progressively more complex methods. I also agree with owenr that Blend Ranges (the cogwheel) offers enormous potential. It's like Photoshop's Blend If 'on steroids'. I use it to dynamically select different luminosity zones for adjustment, typically by adding a curves, tweaking it while looking at a particular luminosity area in the image, then adding the Blend Ranges to constrain the effect. The live view as you make the adjustment is just another reason Affinity Photo is so brilliant.