AlanPC

I understand the frustration and it drove me somewhat nuts at first. I can tell you though that much of it makes more sense with time. What happened to me was I realized I was chasing my own tail, getting frustrated at tutorials I didn't really understand, as they were talking a foreign language and in the meantime I was distracted by some other feature... So what I did was write down a list of the top 10 things I needed to know, that I didn't already. For me it was how to do 'dodge and burn', split-toning, and a few others, including the 'in-painting' thing. Heck, I still don't really feel confident with 'masks' and 'quick masks' (or what the difference is?) but usually manage to muddle through. Doing my own personal Top 10 has made me much more comfortable and confident with it, and now I just edit my photos, rather than getting frustrated. I did try a variety of other softwares out there and Affinity seems the allround best, though far from the best for raw conversion. For my particular camera model (RX10IV) I find the DXO software does a much better job with it's profile for that camera/lens and for noise reduction. On the other hand it's $200, 4X the price of Affinity and nowhere near as nice to use for the actual editing. So I use both, DXO to process RAW, then export as 16 bit TIFF files and edit those with Affinity as JPEG. Guess what I'm saying is, don't give up so easy. Figure out what you actually need to do, learn those things and don't worry about the masses of other stuff you don't really need anyway. Hope that helps, a little?

I'm having the same issue, just got back from a shoot, have 400 RAW files, it's nearly 1AM and have realized that at my current rate it will be, literally, daylight before I'm finished. As an image editor I love it but as RAW processor I can't use this. I'll have to find something else to process the raw files then tweak and edit with Affinity. In fact I already know what software I'll be using, as the 30 day free trial has expired and for now I'm trying to do this with Affinity, but I just can't. That other software is $200 but it has much better noise reduction and I can process an entire folder of raw files, just tell it to get going and come back an hour or two later. If there's any updates on this issue, do tell?

In a YT vid a chap talks about overlays, but the buttons and brushes he refers to don't seem to exist in my copy of Affinity Photo? Is this a discontinued feature or am I missing something? Never mind, found it, it's in the Develop persona again

Aha! There it is! Cheers!

Is there a way to spot which, if any, parts of a photo are over-exposed or underexposed? In a video with a different software they have little triangles on the histogram, that makes the over/under bits stand out. Do we have something similar?

Thanks!

Sorry, let me rephrase that, as I guess you could export an 8 bit jpg as a 16 bit tif, which would just be a larger file size for the same image - my concern is if there is any setting or adjustment I might make by mistake, such as some default, or a setting I should make on purpose, even if it slows things down, to ensure I am preserving the 16 bit aspect of the file I'm working on? Sorry for being so nooby

OK, so as long as I export it as a 16 bit tif there's nothing Affinity Photo can or will do to change it to 8 bit?

OK, good to know. I'm sure in one of the tutorials the silky-voiced guy says to make sure you're editing in 16 bit, to prevent banding when doing gradients and stuff? So.. I guess that's my question.. or was he just talking about saving the file, for later?

Hi, I am not familiar with the names of various color... formats? Profiles? I opened a 16 bit "tif" file, and got a message that AP had "assigned your working profile" to the "unprofiled document" (see pic attached). So is that still 16 bit or has it degraded it to 8 bit? And how would I know? Is there any way of telling Affinity to always and forever do everything in 16 bit, unless I specifically choose to export as 8 bit jpg? I'm guessing that would be the "working profile" bit? Update - under "Edit" (?) I find "Preferences" - "Color" and this seems to be where it's hiding the profile things. From there, it seems my profile is 32 bit? Or not? I tried closing that file and just looking under Edit (?) - Preferences, and it still shows the same as in the 2nd pic attached. Hasn't changed. Let's try opening a jpg.. I believe all jpegs are 8 bit, right? That didn't change anything. Preference settings stay the same, regardless if I'm opening a jpeg or a 16 bit tif? OK, first question - how to tell it to work in 16 bit? Can I get it to stay that way, or at least recognize 16 bit 'tif' files from the software I'm using? Bonus Question (BQ) What's the difference between tiff and tif, and jpg and jpeg? Thanks!

I'm not actively trying to be awkward, just trying to get my head around the various different ways this thing works. So if I select a LAYER, on the right hand side, and then select Effects, then the Gaussian Blur, that doesn't work on the area selected, but if I select Filters at the top of the screen and then 'Gaussian Blur'.. that does work on a selected area. So 'filters' are not 'effects'? But Gaussian blur is both an effect, and a filter? The effect of a filter? Er... So something "live" is NOT destructive? Oh I geddit, live as in live view? Not live as in activated or active? I see nothing under view... hang on... So which one IS destructive? OK, I've found "live filters", it's a tiny hour-glass symbol at the bottom of the layers and effects panel. If I hover my mouse over it, it says "Live Filters". OK, let's try that one.. Open image... live filter.. I didn't select anything, try again, open image... object selected... live filters... Gaussian Blur Filter.. OK, that's blurring the selection. Cool. So if I invert the selection... so now the background has the marching ants thing. Slide the slider... No, that's just blurring the selection again? *sigh OK, so the "Invert Selection" button doesn't work when using a Live Filter on a Selection? Because it's live, or something? Right... Alright, we're making progress, I think... So if I make a Selection, then click Effects (right side), then choose a Filter, that does NOT affect the Selection, but if I click Live Filter (right side, little hour glass) then choose a Filter that DOES affect the Selection, but "Invert Selection" does not work? But if I click Filters (top of the screen) and then the Invert Selection button the Gaussian Blur Filter DOES affect the background? Well I'm glad we cleared that up! Thanks! *twitch Update: Wifey just asked why I was looking so confused, so I showed her, how if I make a selection, then click the Effects thing, it doesn't affect the selection... except this time it DID? So I tried again, opened the image, made a selection.. and this time it blurred the whole pic again. It's like random or something? Welp, that's enough for tonight.

How?

That doesn't appear to be the case? OK, my steps: I open a jpg... Create duplicate layer of the background original Turn off visibility of the original, Select the duplicate layer. Outline something, using one of the vast multitudes of selection thingies. Have a marching ant outline of the thing selected. Select "Effects" Pick the G' blur thing Slide it... EVERYTHING IS BLURRY. How do I make the selected thing blurry, or the non-selected things blurry (or other effects)? Thanks

OK... but that doesn't answer my confusion over how to apply effects to the selection-only? Sorry to be such a helpless puppy

Mm. I'd used the pen tool to outline something, and was trying to create some blur in the background. I'd followed the basic concept of inverting the selection, so it was the background selected. However if the main background layer was selected everything was blurry, but if the new pixel layer was selected nothing was blurry. How to make adjustments only on the selection? I'm obviously missing something on this whole "create a new layer so you don't damage the original" thing, as any adjustments to the new layer don't really DO anything, because it's a new layer... or something. But for some tools, sometimes, it does? Argh.