Affinity Photo from 10,000 Feet - Free PDF

[smadell]

I am attaching a free PDF called “Affinity Photo from Ten Thousand Feet.” This is a 41 page book that explains many of the concepts and questions that forum members ask frequently.

Much of the information is based on presentations given to my local photography club. Some of it is based on a series of articles written for the club’s newsletter. Much of the book is newly written material, based on years of working to understand digital photography, how color works, and how Affinity Photo fits into that picture.

Please enjoy the book. All I ask in return is that you look it over and leave a comment.

Affinity_Photo_from_Ten_Thousand_Feet.pdf

[Hilltop]

Thank you for making this book available. It will definitely help users 'to ease' into AP or else better understand some of the concepts and tools. It's well written and presented! 

[smadell]

Thank you, @Hilltop I appreciate your comment!

[Alfred]

14 hours ago, smadell said:

Please enjoy the book.

How could we not, Seth? It’s well laid out, well written and very accessible.

I’ve only dipped into it briefly so far, but I can already see that I’ll learn a great deal by reading it more thoroughly. It’s also interesting to glean a little bit about you and your background!

[smadell]

Thanks, @Alfred. I’ve always tried to stay pretty anonymous when it came to the web. But, the book seemed to call for some explanation of who I am, and why I have the audacity to think I could get away with it! I hope you enjoy the book. Let me know what you think when you’re done.

[Alfred]

I’ve spotted this halfway through:

Quote

Affinity Photo uses a proprietary file format denoted .afphoto. (At present, Serif – the company which owns and sells Affinity Photo – offers two other applications, called Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher. These use proprietary formats denoted as .afdesign and .afpub, respectively.) 

I think it’s worth pointing out that only one file format is used for native Affinity files. The different designations merely serve to indicate the origins of the file in question and to dictate which one of the apps will open it by default.

[jmwellborn]

Thank you so much @smadell for a really concise explanation!  “Channels” — specifically —  were previously Greek to me.  Just finished reading the whole book. I can see how describing the symptoms definitely helped you with the medical treatments.  You have done a first-rate job of diagnosing here.  I hope “from 10,000 feet” can stay at the top of the Resources forum for a long time.  It should help so many if they find it.🤗

[smadell]

@Alfred - of course, you're right about that. I will chalk this up to semantics, and hope that it does not cause confusion for anyone.

And, thank you @jmwellborn - Channels was one of the stickiest problems for me as I was learning all of this. I actually wrote a series of 5 articles for my local photo club about image channels (not only for instruction, but to provide myself an opportunity to learn more). Most of the text and the images were taken from those articles. Masks were another difficult thing for me to learn, although masks and channels are really birds of the same feather!

[bumz]

Thank you. How awesome of you to do this. This will come in handy for information and learning.

[Alfred]

24 minutes ago, jmwellborn said:

Thank you so much @smadell for a really concise explanation!  “Channels” — specifically —  were previously Greek to me.  Just finished reading the whole book. I can see how describing the symptoms definitely helped you with the medical treatments.  You have done a first-rate job of diagnosing here.  I hope “from 10,000 feet” can stay at the top of the Resources forum for a long time.  It should help so many if they find it.🤗

What she said!

[John Rostron]

I saw your link and thought that I would have a quick look. I ended up reading the whole lot in one go. I found it very well written and easy to read and understand. Well  done!

John

[smadell]

Thank you, @John Rostron. Even I know it’s a lot to read in one big gulp. I appreciate your thumbs up.

[v_kyr]

Clear and well written, easy understandable, useful especially for non-IT people.

[DM1]

On 3/1/2021 at 11:08 AM, smadell said:

Please enjoy the book. All I ask in return is that you look it over and leave a comment.

An excellent read. Thank you. Your time and effort in producing free resources for others are very much appreciated.

[smadell]

Thanks, @v_kyr and @DM1. I enjoyed putting the book together, and I’m glad you liked it.

[jmwellborn]

On 3/1/2021 at 4:31 PM, v_kyr said:

Clear and well written, easy understandable, useful especially for non-IT people.

Right!

[emmrecs01]

@smadell

Just adding my two cents' worth of deeply heartfelt thanks for the work you have so obviously put in to this.  I've only dipped into one or two pages so far, but I am already looking forward to delving further!

Jeff

[smadell]

Thank you @emmrecs01 (Jeff). Writing it was heartfelt, as well; I sincerely hope you enjoy it. Let me know!

[Ilseke]

Thank you very much for this book and the efforts you put into it, it helps to get a deeper understanding of some rather ‘abstract’ concepts! 

[StudioJason]

Extremely well done! If only I had this so fluidly laid out years..........years ago. Surely needs to be read in depth for all new users, will help them a lot beyond typical manuals and videos.

‘Should make an Alternate...using much of same but for iPad platform UI, as well.

[smadell]

Thank you for your comments, @StudioJason. I appreciate it.

I don't think that I'll be creating an "alternate" version for the iPad, though. The idea of the book was to deal primarily with concepts rather than with the specifics of the interface. I know that there was some UI explanation done, and that it assumed the use of the desktop version; other than a few of the images and an explanation of the menu commands (mostly their location) I don't think that anything significant would be different.

Nevertheless, I'm glad you found the book to be worth reading and worth recommending! Thank you again.

[edwardsson]

Nice work! Thanks!

[PaoloT]

A wonderful gift, with a solid guidance to all the beginners of the graphic arts!

Paolo

 

[smadell]

@edwardsson and @PaoloT - I appreciate your kind words. Thank you for reading the book, and for leaving your feedback.

[dmstraker]

Nicely done, @smadell, and thanks for the InAffinity reference.

For a future version if you like, I keep a parallel web-based index (and resources) here: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/photography/affinity_photo/affinity_photo.htm