Help with Basics

[Russell Carthew]

Hi,

I am a new user of Affinity and find the tutorials very confusing. I just want to be able to do basic alterations to mostly older photos like removing marks, watermarks etc., and enhancing older faded photos, so they are suitable for printing in a family history I am compiling. I would be so grateful if someone could explain these basic operations in a simple straightforward way. I have looked at the YouTube tutorials and find them confusing.

[RichardMH]

Probably not the easiest thing to start with and there's no unique best way. Depends on the condition of the image. Suggest you post a sample image. Topaz Photo AI might also be worth a look. There's a free trial. Also been a few threads on this n the past, so do a search.

[henryanthony]

@Russell Carthew  To get started with restoration of your photos I suggest, as a first step, to open a new file, press F1 (which brings up Help) and select "Retouching".

However, to understand "Retouching" you may need to first learn the basics such as:

• Introduction
• User interface
• Get started
• Sizing, cropping and warping
• Layers
• Selection
• Color
• Workspace
• Tools
• Panels

Be advised that for any of the tools you select, a range of options specific to that tool appears across the menu bar at the top.

Based on personal experience learning new software, you may need to spend something like 40 hours working through "Help" before you can expect to even begin to understand Affinity Photo well enough to accomplish any real work. Maybe less if you have experience with other graphics software.

[thomaso]

Hi @Russell Carthew,
Welcome to the Affinity Forums!

Vor 13 Stunden sagte Russell Carthew:

I just want to be able to do basic (…)
(…) explain these basic operations in a simple straightforward way.

Possibly you can ask a more specific question, e.g. where a basic operation gets confusing and which of the numerous tutorials you tried? – While "just", "basic" and "simple" are indeed appealing words their use hardly has a chance to affect the required workflow which can be in particular for your goal of restoring & retouching rather complex.

For easier access to a wanted result you might alternatively try the various online services that are specialized to the improvement of old photographies. For instance:

https://jpghd.com/

https://vanceai.com/old-photo-restoration/

https://repairit.wondershare.com/online-old-photo-restoration.html

[iconoclast]

What is so confusing about the Help and the tutorials? I suppose the amount of options confuses you. In fact there is a range of opportunities, e.G. to retouch. Depending on what you want to retouch and how, you can use e.G. the Clone, the Heal or the Inpaint Tool (to replace e.G. dust grain or lint), the Dodge or the Burn Tool (to lighten or darken areas), the Sponge (to increase or decrease the saturation of certain areas) and the Sharpness, Median and Smudge Tool (to change the sharpness of certain areas). These tools are only for aimed use. For global actions, you should use the filters.

For the Clon and Heal Tools, hold the Alt key and click on one point on the image to gather the color-informations of point. Then release the Alt key and click on the point, wher you want the color-informations be printed to. This way, you can cover artifacts and whatever you want. But take care that you use a suitable point to gather the color informations. And take care to use suitable a brush preset, brush size, brush hardness etc.

Concerning the other tools: simply test them out. And if you don't understand something certain, ask us.

By the way, it is not very difficult in general, but it is something you must pay a little time to learn it. My apprenticeship took about two years. It contained a little more than this, but I needed more than a few hours to learn retouching. Finally it is also a matter of aspiration.

And another good tip. Talk to your printer before he prints it. Printing is expensive and can't be annulled after it's done. Depending on the print shop you assign, there can be different requirements that must be fullfilled, like e.G. color conversion, printable resolutions, file formats...

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, iconoclast said:

What is so confusing about the Help and the tutorials?

I suspect it's more of a general issue of not being sure what steps are involved in doing digital retouching to begin with, and then not being sure how to begin with any specific photo since there can be many valid approaches. 

The official tutorials and Help aren't designed to teach that.

[iconoclast]

1 minute ago, walt.farrell said:

I suspect it's more of a general issue of not being sure what steps are involved in doing digital retouching to begin with, and then not being sure how to begin with any specific photo since there can be many valid approaches. 

The official tutorials and Help aren't designed to teach that.

OK, that's possible. But if he knows other Windows or MAC apps, it shouldn't be too difficult to understand the structure of the Affinity apps. Otherwise it should be no problem to ask more precise questions. Because we need to know too where we have to start explaining.