Workflow through Lightroom 6

[Stupac]

Hi, all!  I just started using Affinity Photo in August this year as a replacement for Photoshop as I wanted an outright purchase.  I never used Photoshop so Affinity Photo is my first experience with a more powerful editing software of this kind.  I'm not inept, but I'm learning, and the video tutorials are very easy for me to understand and self-explanatory.  However, I basically got Photo for reasons such as adding parts of a scene to a frame from another frame that were shot in a burst (e.g. wildlife in motion) for a slightly better composition.  The other reasons are mostly for the more advanced removal of distractions using Inpainting (similar to Photoshop's "Content Aware Fill" function), and also some focus stacking for macro. 

Now I do go through Lightroom 6, and I have Photo all set up as an external editor and that has no issues.  I have no issues with Inpainting either.  However, when it comes to wanting to add part of composition from one frame to another similar frame I'm having issues, and I'm sure it's just because I'm not versed enough with the program.  Watching the tutorial videos it's all simple enough, but I think the complications might arise from using it as an external editor through LR6.  I can select both photos I want to use in LR and then "Edit In" Photo, they both open in Photo and then I know I can drag one image into the other image (or copy and paste it into the other image).  I'll stack them as layers, but then that seems to be as far as I get.  I've tried masking the top layer and turning down the opacity so I can see the layer underneath of the photo I want to use to add to the frame, but I'm getting nowhere.  Help please?  Also, I haven't tried this for external editing yet for a focus stack, but how would these same functions apply in a focus stacking situation?

Looking also for help in the best external editing workflow from LR6.  Any help would be appreciated.  Also recently I used to be able to select 2 images (or multiple images) in LR6 to externally edit in Photo and LR would prepare them both and open them both in Photo.  Recently I've done the same steps, but I can only seem to open one image at a time to externally edit in Photo.

Greatly appreciate any help any of you can give me.  Thank you in advance!!!!  Let me just say that I think Photo is brilliant, and I'm happy not to have a subscription!  It's just as good, or better, than Photoshop from what I've seen.  Not to mention a better company!  Thank you Serif Affinity!!!!

[stokerg]

Hi Stupac and Welcome to the Forums,

It sounds like you are trying to stack images, which you can only do in Affinity by using File>New Stack and as such, you can't get the images passed from Lightroom to the Stack dialog.  You'd have to export the images from Lightroom and then in Affinity use File>New Stack which would stack the images together.  There are a number of stacking tutorials here:

https://affinity.serif.com/tutorials/photo/desktop/

[Stupac]

Hi, Stokerg, and thanks for your response and the warm welcome.    Yeah, I do understand the stacking and have no issues with that process directly through Photo.  The tutorials are also very clear with all of these processes.  However, does that mean I positively can't do any type of focus stacking or adding to my composition from similar frames through the external edit in Lightroom 6?  That seems to be what you're telling me, but I just want to make sure.  It seems to me that if I choose 2 images (for example) to "Edit In" Photo from Lightroom 6, that when LR gets both of those images ready for Photo and then opens both files in Photo (as tiffs) that I should be able to add part of a composition from one frame to a similar frame.  Is that incorrect?  

 

Thank you!