Explaining Affinity Photo to Camera Club Members

[Digbydo 2]

(Hopefully I have posted this in the correct slot).  

I've been asked to do a talk / an introduction to Affinity Photo to my Camera Club.  Obviously they'll all want to know what's the differences between it and Photoshop or Lightroom as well as the usual questions ~  Can it do this? Can it do that? I don't think it'd be good to go down a Photoshop 'n Lightroom bashing route and so, I'm left wondering… what is the best way to approach the subject?  Also, I'm wondering if anyone on this forum has done a similar thing or could point me in a direction to go with it (what to include and what to avoid).  I use the Desktop version, I do not have a laptop but I'm pretty sure I could put together a talk with explanatory slides using Publisher, Photo and or Designer to get any message across.

What would you suggest would be the best points to cover if someone is considering moving over to Affinity photo.

[thomaso]

Edit: Sorry, I was misreading, too fast. … What makes you think "to go down a Photoshop 'n Lightroom bashing route" would be a good plan? This might easily turn to backfiring in your foot. Especially if your club has the DAM-like features of LR in mind and doesn't care about APub with its publishing or AD with its illustrating skills.

I'd say a main argument would be the price or politics. – Or: don't compare the apps.

Edited October 5, 2023 by thomaso

[Digbydo 2]

Hi there Tomaso ~ thanks for your comments but… if you re-read my initial topic you'll clearly see that I said that  " I don't think it'd be a good idea to go down the Photoshop Lightroom bashing route. like you suggest it would be pretty pointless and as we both agree it would be pretty pointless.  You see,  all I want to do is give a talk about Affinity Photo; simply because more and more members are asking me what it's like?… is it any good?… Is it similar to photoshop?… what are the differences?  and so on and so forth. So, I'm trying to find a way of running through what the package offers and how to use it.  I hope that makes more sense to you and perhaps you have some constructive ideas. if so I'd love to hear them.  Thanks again. 

[smadell]

@thomaso - the OP specifically said that he didn’t think Photoshop/Lightroom bashing would be a good idea. I tend to agree.

@Digbydo 2 - I have also spoken, mostly informally, about Photoshop/Lightooom and how it compares to Affinity. In Affinity’s favor, obviously, is the monetary factor. Back in 2021, I was able to say “I bought Affinity Photo in 2015, and spent a whopping $49 for it. I haven’t paid a penny more for it since then.” That may not be true anymore, but the gist still holds. I have also compared the two apps to renting an apartment vs owning a home. While the home you own never gets bigger or fancier on its own, you also don’t have a landlord who can raise the rent at his whim. I’ve also compared Affinity favorably by discussing live filters, which are inherently non-destructive and freely moveable in the Layers stack, whereas the Smart Object workaround has always seemed like a clumsy kind of kludge to me. On PS/LR’s side, though, the obvious advantage is AI - from easier sky/subject/object selection to “neural filters” to generative fill and expand. Oh, and there’s also the included DAM.

Both apps have their pluses and minuses, and it would be foolish to pretend otherwise. I’ve found that the average member of  my camera club is more concerned with very basic tasks (cropping, optimizing contrast and tone, sharpening) and less concerned with the more esoteric capabilities of either of these apps. Many of them still shudder at the mere mention of the “M word” - Mask, that is. And don’t even think about saying “Channels” out loud.

I’ve found that the easiest way to talk a out Affinity Photo is to do so with a live demonstration. Borrow someone else’s laptop if you need to, but having people watch you edit a photo in real time, all the while telling them how easy it is, works wonders. I gave a beginner’s talk once titled “The Basics of Photo Editing” and boiled it down to what I conveniently called “the 6 C’s” - Copy (from card to computer), Crop (and straighten), Color (i.e., white balance), Contrast, Candles (exposure and tonal balance - mostly levels and curves), and Clarity (sharpening). I could edit a photo on front of them, using a couple of simple adjustment layers, in 2-3 minutes. People were way more impressed than they should have been!

The truth is that virtually any program can do the simple stuff, and most people want to know about the simple stuff. Showing folks just how easy Affinity Photo can do the simple stuff will get you lots more oohs and ahhs, and lots more appreciation, than trying to demonstrate all the esoterica.

Also, without trying to do this live, you might want to show some before and afters of HDR merging, Panoramas, something you Liquified (the more grotesque, the better!), Frequency Separation (play up the fact that there is a menu command to do this), Focus Stacking, maybe even Astrophotography (if you understand that stuff - I don’t!). Perhaps also a composite photo, a photo with text in it, maybe an image where a photo is clipped to a shape. A lot of this is for the “likes” and the crowd reaction, true, but it will go a long way toward answering the “can Affinity do that?” questions.

[Paul Mc]

Maybe consider the "journey" that might most interest your group. E.g. the RAW conversion journey focusing on the core steps - like cropping and curves and then move on to straightening horizons, verticals, removing lens distortion then perhaps onto sharpening techniques etc. I would consider masking an intermediate use and so it depends somewhat on your audience as to whether this would be a good idea. Another pathway could be recovering poor exposures, framing, colour balance etc. Yet another would be taking scanned images of damaged photos and showing how they may be "repaired". Even if astrophotography doesn't garner much interest, stacking is certainly a useful feature. End each with a before-and-after comparison to show what was achieved. I would agree with doing worked examples, even if they are pre-prepared, as this is likely to be the most convincing way to demonstrate the features/benefits.

And then there is all the artistic stuff you can do too. 😁

My (subjective) take on the comparison with PS and LR is that they have both grown over the years and I've yet to meet anyone I'd consider a fully comprehensive expert. IMHO, most people don't need everything they have to offer and only use a fraction of the features. Affinity products are younger and have some limitations by comparison but it feels like it's possible to learn/know nearly everything they have to offer. The suite integrates well and allows for more work to be performed within a single toolset  should you require that. E.g. doing a product photoshoot and then creating a catalogue that can go online or to print - something I had to do recently - was a breeze. Of course all this is doable in Adobe world - albeit with a slightly longer learning curve. If you already have PS/LR skills then quite a few can be transferred to AP. The cataloguing feature is something you'd have to go elsewhere for. I've not used PS or AI for around four years now. For me and my needs, the Affinity suite is a great fit.

[Digbydo 2]

smadell  this is Brilliant!  ~ This is the sort of stuff that I needed to get me started.  I couldn't see the wood for the trees for quite a while but this has helped a great deal and yes, I do like the '6 C's'  idea because it's something to keep you focused on and something with a path to travel along.  Thanks again for taking the time to type it all up its sometimes an over used phrase but seriously  ~ I really do appreciate it.

[smadell]

Feel free to “steal” the 6 C’s thing if you’d like! Also, I cannot emphasize this too much - borrow a laptop and do it live. Your club will enjoy it, and it’s a much better way to talk about AP than just showing a slideshow.

[Digbydo 2]

Paul Mc ~ Again just like smadell's post it's the journey thing that I was missing.  I totally agree that no one knows all the whistles and bells on any of the software that's out there and starting off with the basics and building up slowly with practical demonstrations is the way to go.  Many thanks for taking the time out and explaining it all it's been an eye opener and it's helped me get outta this rut.  thanks again  

[Paul Mc]

@Digbydo 2 my pleasure.

Like @smadell says, a live demo will be way more impressive - of the software features and your skillset - so do that if it is possible. Don't forget to rehearse it though. 😁 

Good luck with the presentation.

[Digbydo 2]

Thanks Paul Mc ~ I intend to get it all up and running for sometime next year.  The lack of having a Laptop is currently the biggest hiccup at the mo' and I'm wondering if somehow or other I could use my Desktop and get what I'm doing projected up unto a bigger screen.  If I can get hold of a Laptop then there's another learning curve to overcome but hey Ho that's the way things go.  I'll draw it all up on paper first then, rehearse and practice, practice, practice  until I'm sick of it and then it should be good to go.  Thanks again.  

[thomaso]

@Digbydo 2, @smadell, thank you for clarifying and correcting me. Sorry, I misread, too fast!

[Digbydo 2]

That's okay thomaso  speed reading ~ it happens! 😉

[thomaso]

Apart from existing or missing features: An argument pro Affinity might also be an easier app installation procedure.

I experienced the "Creative Cloud" as uncreative and rather disturbing, demanding/compelling from its beginning. In particular when installing these apps after a clean installation of a major macOS upgrade decades ago.

Even in 2020 the installation of the last non-subscription version on a new hardware took me hours to first activate + then deactivate the cloud features (to get rid of repeated offers and "invitations") to finally run the actually non-cloud apps, including a required contact with their telephone support due to activation problems caused either by their server/software, unclear web-based interface problems, or a previous activation on a Mac that has not existed any more for years at this point.

[v_kyr]

10 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Apart from existing or missing features: An argument pro Affinity might also be an easier app installation procedure.

LOL, installation is one step, but having it afterwards correctly startup & running then another. - So as far as you don't run in any Win MSIX vs MSI installer problems, the apps don't core on startup due to possible Win GPU OpenCL (Metal on Macs) issues, or on Win due to possible .Net framework issues, or due to conflicts with previous installments which need app resources resetings ... and so on. - So it's always all relative here too!

[thomaso]

27 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

So it's always all relative here too!

You are right, this could also apply to reported problems with activating the "Studio Link" feature in APub. – Maybe I am "just" lucky not to have experienced your mentioned issues with Affinity installations yet.

Nevertheless, – and apart from the fact that my hint to the "creative cloud" may have the character of that "bashing" I initially wanted to avoid – nowadays I am indeed afraid of any further need to install even my perpetual licenses of those apps. For example, to add an installation of AI to my currently installed applications CS6 ID, PSD and LR without conflicting with or disabling the already installed applications.

[v_kyr]

44 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Maybe I am "just" lucky not to have experienced your mentioned issues with Affinity installations yet.

Those aren't my personal experiences, but instead those of the hundreds of other users over time here in the forum.

46 minutes ago, thomaso said:

and apart from the fact that my hint to the "creative cloud" may have the character of that "bashing" I initially wanted to avoid

The "creative cloud" stuff is also always a nightmare and very resources/process hungry too. Further I'm no friend of net based abo models and also don't want to share possible sensitive data via any cloud computing.