Littletank

Thank you MEB for taking the trouble to reply and, basically, you are correct except that I am not necessarily looking for an HDR effect image. What I am trying to do is to re-cycle old colour transparencies which inevitably end up as B&W images. Until now my experience has been with ACR and PS and, after processing the scanned image in ACR the result could then be saved directly as a TIFF so I presume that in AP once the image has been developed it would then be exported as a TIFF. However, unlike with ACR, when I return to the Develop Persona the image I have is the one that has been developed and not the original image. My experience has led me to believe that there is often a lot of information in a colour slide if it can be extracted and this over and under exposed process seems to do this which is why I have used the original image for both over and under exposure. Would I be right, therefore, to achieve this in AP it would be necessary to load the original image each time I wanted to prepare a differently exposed image? Probably any of the merge processes might be suitable but the procedure to obtain the images would be the same.

I would like to load a RAW image into the Develop Persona and create several versions of that image which I will then process in New HDR Merge. On the first look, a possible workflow seems to be quite convoluted because, amongst other things, to use a merge process requires the image to be either JPEG or TIFF. Could someone please suggest a workflow to produce three images from one RAW image which can then be blended in the Photo Persona.

R C-R got in before me and his answer makes me wonder whether, in fact, you have installed NIK correctly. I followed this procedure:- https://www.dam-photo.com/install-nik-collection-plugins-affinity-photo/

Could you post a screen shot of Preferences -> Photoshop Plugins and I'll compare it with mine.

When I installed NIK not all of them were marked "Unknown" Analog FX and Colour FX are marked as working, are you sure that you installed NIK correctly?

That is great, thank you Alfred, why have I never seen this reference before, is it hidden from view?

Being on a Mac (CMD +1) works perfectly, Sima, thank you. Perhaps are there many other things which work in a similar manner, is there a list somewhere of these keyboard shortcuts, please?

To Invert in Gimp or PS it is just a case of selecting Invert from one of the drop down menus, the colours in the layer are inverted and that layer is available for use where as in AP it is not that simple. Is there some cunning reason for putting Invert as an adjustment layer when there is nothing to adjust? As far as invert is concerned, the colours are either inverted or they are not? For example, the way I like to deal with a colour cast is to copy the image, Blur -> Average -> Invert select colour and adjust the opacity to about 50%. This does not work in AP, why?

Thank you, owenr.

Having selected Blur -> Average I would like to invert the colour, what is the simplest way to do this AP, please?

One week ago this method was put up for comment and, despite 78 views, there has not ben a single comment good, bad or indifferent. Oh well, that's how the cookie crumbles.

Thank you and I presume the reverse applies to get the image back into AP.

OK Callum, I understand that but would the application need to be running at the same time as AP and what extension would avoid any loss of information?

From time to time I need to use one or other of the applications in Macphun Creation Kit which, unfortunately, cannot be installed as a plug in in IP, like it can be in Photoshop. However, the applications in the kit can be installed and run as standalone applications. What would be the best way to move an image to and fro between Affinity Photo and, for example, the application Totality, please?

This process for dodging and burning in Affinity Photo is based upon some details in a book by George DeWolfe published in 2009 which dealt with producing black and white prints which used the History brush in Photoshop. The process has been tried on black and white images but I feel sure that it would work on colour as well. I would be really pleased to receive comments and constructive criticism as I expect there are other ways of using the Undo brush to dodge and burn. Firstly it is essential that the top layer in the stack is a pixel layer so I included such a layer in the process. The other advantage of this layer is that if you are not satisfied with the end result it can be deleted and replaced with a fresh pixel layer. When your processing has reached the dodge and burn stage then proceed as follows:- To the layer stack add a Pixel Layer and then take Snapshot Select the Snapshot by clicking on the camera next to the name Select the Undo Brush tool, set the opacity to about 15%, leave the flow at 100%, adjust brush size and reduce hardness until you have a really soft brush. If you use a tablet make sure that the setting for pressure sensitivity is switched on. The last thing to do is to set the Blend Mode dependant on your requirements as follows:- Multiply - darkens a local area Screen - lightens a local area Colour Dodge - lightens small areas of extreme, bright white Colour Burn - darkens small areas of extreme shadows Difference - darkens extreme highlights Once you are set up the only thing which needs to be changed between the various dodging and burning needs is the Blend Mode. The effect is best built up gradually by a series of strokes - PLEASE NOTE that the effect does not show until the mouse button is released or the pen lifted from the tablet at the end of each stroke. Please excuse my way of presentation - I hope you will find this useful - enjoy.

That is a good idea and it would only need doing once, I hope.

Thank you R C-R, so I might as well stop wasting my time in being tidy.

Hopefully. I will have something of interest to tell you, in the next couple of days.

The first difficulty to overcome is that the process in Photoshop was using a panel devised by Ian Barber so whilst I knew I was using the History Brush I did not know what settings or other tools, if any, were being used. Probably the most popular method used for D&B involves a 50% grey layer whereas the History brush uses the image as the source, thereby retaining detail. I have only used the HB method with black & white images because that's where my interest lies but, in theory, I can see no reason for it not working with colour. Presently I am working on deciding what work flow to use with the Undo Brush tool and, when I am satisfied, I will be willing to share it with you if there is any interest.

There are several categories each containing many macros in my library which, to save space and keep things orderly, I collapse. After closing the application and starting up again all the collapsed categories re-appear in the expanded form. Is there some setting, which I am missing, which will prevent this happening?

Over the years I have used several different methods but non as elegant as that I have recently used in Photoshop using the History brush and I am wondering whether anybody has or is using the Undo Brush tool to do this in Affinity Photo. I feel sure that I can do this but I see no point in re-inventing the wheel if a procedure already exists.

Thank you, that's the answer.

To delete a snapshot in the snapshot panel - select the snapshot and click on the dustbin. When I do this the snapshot does not delete, am I doing something wrong?

Thanks folks for bearing with me, my brain is still a bit addled with Photoshop. The solution has been in front of my eyes for some time it was just that the little grey cells were not functioning as they should. If/when the sampler moves away from one pixel to 3x3 I'll be ready to go.

Unless I am doing something stupid two things happen. Frstly, when the picker is placed over the sampler and moved, the L reading for the sampler changes and you have to move the sampler in order for the small circle to appear on the curve which marks where the manipulation is needed. Secondly, the values read when the picker moves appear to be the values at the cursor as it moves within the curves adjustment layer.