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I have been using the Workbook diligently and have gotten to the point where instead of being enlightened, I am frustrated and disappointed. The book is helpful in showing many of the features of Affinity Photo but it certainly will not prepare me to then proceed with my own editing and be successful. I know this takes a lot of work but more organized help is needed. I wanted to recreate a project performed in Photoshop in a tutorial I watched and it was way too difficult, confusing and ultimately unsuccessful. If your goal was to compete with Photoshop, then it needs to be much clearer how to do it. And unlike Photoshop, there are no books that are goal oriented rather than tool oriented. Affinity needs, perhaps, a series of small books that can be referenced if you wish to perform a specific editing goal or project or more thoroughly understand some of the functions right down to the most basic, like how to erase mistakes quickly. This has been the source of frustration even in these forums.

Scott Kelby has written dozens of books on Photoshop and it is time for Affinity to play catch up. His "How Do I Do That in Photoshop? The quickest ways to do the things you want to do, right now!" is an extremely helpful format. No one has the time to reread the workbook which most likely will not help routinely. No one wishes to just experiment endlessly trying one thing after the next or to refind the video tutorial and watch it again. I jumped into Affinity with guns ablazing ready to become proficient and to put in the time needed. I find, though, that the time put in does not seem to correlate with my level of competence. Do I really have to sign up for Photoshop?

Photodoc16

 

 

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There are many tutorials for the Affinity applications, provided both by Serif and many other users, that may help you. You can find some via the Tutorals forum, others via YouTube.

There are also courses available, e.g., on Udemy, that should help. And there are some books by other authors.

I'm not sure which, if any, are from the perspective of "OK, so I know Photoshop, how do I translate that to Photo". They are different enough that concepts may transfer, but exact methods often will not.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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1 hour ago, richard gold said:

to recreate a project performed in Photoshop in a tutorial I watched and it was way too difficult, confusing and ultimately unsuccessful.

Perhaps doing AP tutorials would help better first, and trying to translate Photoshop tutorial to AP can begin when you'll feel more at ease with AP.
You can always ask the forum for help too.

1 hour ago, richard gold said:

Affinity needs, perhaps, a series of small books that can be referenced if you wish to perform a specific editing goal or project or more thoroughly understand some of the functions right down to the most basic

There's a lot of tutorial about feature or "how to do this", usually, they give link to the pictures used so we can do it too, and as suggested by some book or as a lot of people do, writting down tips and tricks or procedures can help memorize them (with keeping a file from the exercise if notes aren't enough).
Reading the help about some tool after using it in an exercice can give ideas how to use it too.

Yeas ago, I spend a summer holidays with 3 small books about Photoshop, Illustrator and QXPress, without any computer, only to be more focused and try to understand the apps, the menus, the tools, etc. It was really effective and I keep on reading documentation or help files when I strugle with something I don't understand enough to be proficient with. It's the hard way, but sometimes it's better than playing around with a shiny app and going nowhere: going back to basic methodology can help.

Perhaps you can read and test if this site is the sort of explanations you need,  https://theeagerlearner.com/   he did a ebook and give some courses (some a offered with the book). There's a lot of other books, but I don't know them, you'll have to read the comments, the previews, or if the authors have a site with tutorials to check if it suits you.

Oups, I forget to mention the author that posts in this forum too: @drippy cat

 

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Gentlemen,

I do thank you for your comments. For the moment, I would ask Walt if there is any way he knows to obtain the ebook "Affinity Photo for Beginners" by Ezra and Ally Anderson. At their site it tells you to choose from the video course or the e book or both, but it is impossible to get the order to go through. Any ideas about getting a copy or the course?

Also, at Udemy, while all of their tutorials are pay to play, they are offering a video course for $11.99 that I am considering. I watched the sample videos which seemed helpful. Are you familiar with this product?

Thanks, Richard

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I own several of the Udemy courses about Affinity. Have not watched most of them yet, but I've been impressed with the parts I have watched.

If you're having problems ordering anything from a site (such as the AffinityRevolution site that I think you're looking at) you should contact them directly. There's a Contact link at the top of that page.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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Richard. I have many Udemy courses and can say I have been very satisfied with all of the ones I have watched so far. I have ten by Jeremy Hazel, and six by Simon Foster, and I am sure they will show you most everything you need to know and many ways of executing all kinds of different actions for many different projects. "The Complete Guide to Photo Editing in Affinity Photo" by Jeremy Hazel is a course with 19 hours of video and shows you just a whole lot of functions, tricks and tips. 

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Walt,

Thank you again. I will try to contact the site.

Richard

To RickRails,

Thank you also. When you say "I have many Udemy courses..." does that mean as PDF or ebooks or always available videos that you own or what?

Richard

40 minutes ago, RickRails said:

Richard. I have many Udemy courses and can say I have been very satisfied with all of the ones I have watched so far. I have ten by Jeremy Hazel, and six by Simon Foster, and I am sure they will show you most everything you need to know and many ways of executing all kinds of different actions for many different projects. "The Complete Guide to Photo Editing in Affinity Photo" by Jeremy Hazel is a course with 19 hours of video and shows you just a whole lot of functions, tricks and tips. 

 

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Just a general comment
I have often felt that many new to all this digital photography /editing are in a too bigger rush to the more advanced editing .  If a baby rushes into running they usually get hurt . An apprentice mechanic must learn how to use the tools while doing smaller jobs before putting a complete motor together .
I'm quite sure I could not start photography and editing from scratch today . I had the advantage of starting in film days , used a minilab, doing picture framing , went to (film) photography workshop as digital came to life. So when I bought my first digital camera (nikon D1 ) and photoshop 7 happened to jump onto my spooky new computer  ; I already had a head and shoulders start. 
I have never been a great student and do have some learning difficulties ; but IMO digital photography and photo editing is not easy and certainly not "just a click here and there" . In fact there are 3 year university studies for those who want to know it all --- not that too many "know it all".

It takes time folks . It's easy when you know how , however crawl before you walk and walk straight  before you run .

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I have several Udemy courses from Simon Foster (@drippy cat) which are all video tutorials. Whilst I would recommend these, I personally prefer written tutorials. If you search for "pdf manual", you will find one from @ve2cjw. You may prefer this.

John

Windows 10, Affinity Photo 1.10.5 Designer 1.10.5 and Publisher 1.10.5 (mainly Photo), now ex-Adobe CC

CPU: AMD A6-3670. RAM: 16 GB DDR3 @ 666MHz, Graphics: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 630

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To ianrb,

Thank you for your thoughts. I, too, have been into digital photography for quite some time and have used Photoshop Elements and plug ins for a while. Realizing some of the shortcomings of Elements, I sought an editor that was more sophisticated and settled on Affinity Photo due to the finances and the 'daunting' nature of the Photoshop program. I have just not made the progress I was hoping for even after watching many videos and reading articles from all over about how to use Affinity. I think part of the problem is the poor explanations of the tools and symbols in the program and the fact that I have had a very bad experience trying to duplicate projects done in Photoshop on other tutorials. I have found other sources recently and will stick with it. I don't want to waste all this time by switching to Photoshop but it is a remote possibility at some time down the road.

To John Rostron,

I am actually watching a video by Mr. Foster now and enjoy it. I will follow up your references and I thank you for them.

Richard

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I meant to ask before. What is the significance of your thread Title "Trouble in River City"? It helps if you use a meaningful title such as "Looking for a beginner's guide".

When referring to other users, you can catch their attention by prefixing their user name by a @ symbol. As you type the name it gives you options to choose from. When the right one appears, click on it and it will appear as a highlighted link such as @richard gold.

John

Windows 10, Affinity Photo 1.10.5 Designer 1.10.5 and Publisher 1.10.5 (mainly Photo), now ex-Adobe CC

CPU: AMD A6-3670. RAM: 16 GB DDR3 @ 666MHz, Graphics: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 630

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5 hours ago, John Rostron said:

Whilst I would recommend these, I personally prefer written tutorials.

He's writen a ebook, and he gives interesting advices and talk about workflow.  And some of his video are offered to those buying the book. It's an interesting deal, since the low price permit to check if the video tutorials are suited for our way to learn.

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7 minutes ago, richard gold said:

I am not sure I am using the @ symbol as you intended. The only options were to paste and paste without formatting.

You cannot paste. You must type the @ and then start typing the username. Type enough to get a reasonably short list to pick from, and then click on the proper name.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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Another general comment 
I suggest  ''only learn as need to need to learn'' . Programs like Affinity have so much more capabilities than most people (anyone) really needs but all those capabilities are partly used by others .  It's not a case of ''have to know it all'' . It was said  that very few people, if anyone in the world knows every capability of photoshop . Or if 10 people with advanced Ps knowledge were given a file or files and brief to how the edited file should look , all 10 people would get to that final edit in 10 different ways . 

Tip from personal experience when moving from Ps/bridge  to lightroom 2 + PS3 is ''turn off all other programs to concentrate on the one new program'' . Not everyone will need to do that; however  I was able to make more progress faster when I did . 
Every program is different ; and not a clone of another . Most have similar tools , but often with different names hiding in different places --- that has been my harder part of learning the affinity way  --- still not used to "flatten layers" under documents 🤬 That's the sort of stuff up we expect from overpaid government bureaucrats 🤣

Too many (happy snappers) seem to have too many programs doing little jobs when many of those little jobs could often be done in one program IF they stopped to learn that ONE program better .

In other words; ''don't make  digital harder than it already is'' .

Why am  I typing all this :70_poop: ? Bloody sick of frustrating editing programs 🤬

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@walt.farrell

Hello Walt,

Well, I have been busy. I am in the middle of a terrific video tutorial offered in what was Lynda.com and now is called LinkedIn Learning called Affinity Photo: Essential Training  and it is terrific. I also am using the Udemy course which I got on sale for $12 and it is also wonderful. I finally was able to obtain the Affinity Photo for Beginners by Ezra Anderson. These resources should get me well on my way and I am looking forward to becoming competent to handle most edits.  One question is why there was no mention of manipulating the White Balance in the section on using the RAW image for initial image corrections in the Lynda course. In my Infrared work, using the RAW file to create a proper white balance is considered important. 

Also, when bringing the image back into the Photo Persona he mentions converting it into either an Affinity File or a jpeg. I know that when I take an Affinity image and move it to any other editor, it cannot be opened. Should I just go with the jpeg? I could also change it into a jpeg when I go to Export it.

Using my Firefox browser I can make the Affinity manual put up by ve2cjw usable for additional reference.

Thanks, Walt. Your thoughts please. (If I am becoming too much of a pain in the butt just let me know)

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37 minutes ago, richard gold said:

One question is why there was no mention of manipulating the White Balance in the section on using the RAW image for initial image corrections in the Lynda course

That's something you'd need to ask Lynda.

38 minutes ago, richard gold said:

Also, when bringing the image back into the Photo Persona he mentions converting it into either an Affinity File or a jpeg. I know that when I take an Affinity image and move it to any other editor, it cannot be opened. Should I just go with the jpeg? I could also change it into a jpeg when I go to Export it

Again, I would recommend asking your instructor. However, when you click Develop and move back to the Photo Persona, your only choices to get a File are to Save as a .afphoto file, or Export to some non-native format. I would save the native format for archival purposes, but you may want to also export a  jpg or Tiff for user with other programs. Don't forget that jpg files will lose quality if they are re-editted and saved again. 

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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On 4/17/2020 at 9:23 PM, richard gold said:

I am not sure I am using the @ symbol as you intended.

Clearly not. As you type the name, you should get a list appearing below it. You must click on an item in this list. I suspect that you just completed the name and carried on without clicking on the list.

John

Windows 10, Affinity Photo 1.10.5 Designer 1.10.5 and Publisher 1.10.5 (mainly Photo), now ex-Adobe CC

CPU: AMD A6-3670. RAM: 16 GB DDR3 @ 666MHz, Graphics: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 630

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