Photo Develop Persona - HSL and Calibration settings

[Ferdinand13]

Hey there,

Coming from Adobe Camera RAW, there are a couple of settings that are still sorely missed inside of Affinity Photo. Namely the ability to make changes to the Hue, Saturation and Luminance via a "HSL" section, as well as a "Camera Calibration" section that would allow to change the way in which the primaries are interpreted before any of the other settings of the Develop Persona are being applied.

This link gives a better idea of what is possible inside ACR: Render Impeccable Skin Tone Easily, Using Camera Raw & A Slider You Didn’t Know Existed

Having this functionality would really make a big difference in how RAW pictures could be developed inside Affinity Photo - at the moment things still feel a bit too basic.

[fde101]

Seems that those options work in RGB space anyway meaning the photo would already be developed by the time they are applied, so the value of having them in the Develop persona as opposed to leaving them for the Photo persona (after development) seems like more of a convenience thing than anything that would actually improve the quality of the results.

 

It makes sense that dedicated development tools would include that as it enables them to be used to complete many photos that don't require the more advanced editing possible in a destructive tool such as Affinity Photo, but in the case of the Develop persona, it is basically to customize the development of the RAW data before the image gets sent to the Photo persona where you would be working in RGB space, so the important tools to have in the Develop persona are the ones that can provide quality benefits during development, and the ones that can impact judgement of the controls that would impact quality of development.  I'm not quite sure that this really falls into that category for its normal usage.

[Ferdinand13]

5 hours ago, fde101 said:

Seems that those options work in RGB space anyway meaning the photo would already be developed by the time they are applied, so the value of having them in the Develop persona as opposed to leaving them for the Photo persona (after development) seems like more of a convenience thing than anything that would actually improve the quality of the results.

 

It makes sense that dedicated development tools would include that as it enables them to be used to complete many photos that don't require the more advanced editing possible in a destructive tool such as Affinity Photo, but in the case of the Develop persona, it is basically to customize the development of the RAW data before the image gets sent to the Photo persona where you would be working in RGB space, so the important tools to have in the Develop persona are the ones that can provide quality benefits during development, and the ones that can impact judgement of the controls that would impact quality of development.  I'm not quite sure that this really falls into that category for its normal usage.

I hear you, but I don’t quite agree, as Adobe Camera RAW is the RAW image gateway into Photoshop, which is like the mother of destructive image editing.
 

They decided to add all of the functionality to ACR for a reason. I’m no technician, but from what I’ve learned from using RAW in my photo and video work is that anything that can be applied to the image at this stage - i.e. made part of the whole debayering-development process will mean no quality is lost. Doing these adjustments after the fact would be destructive. 
 

Talking of the “Calibration” functionality I mentioned earlier, this would even influence the debayering process itself, so would be a huge win to improve quality. 
 

Lastly, this would be a first step in allowing users to save all of these adjustments back to the RAW file and keep them for later use, instead of having to set up an AF Photo project file for every RAW picture they’re working on. With ACR that works like a charm and AF Photo’s Develop Persona should aim to do the same. 
 

Case in point, why would Serif even implement all the Overlay layer functionality to the Develop Persona, if this type of work could easily be done after the fact?

I’m pretty sure that staying inside the Develop Persona for as much as possible would be beneficial - and allow for a more streamlined workflow.  

[Bit Disappointed]

8 hours ago, Ferdinand13 said:

Hey there,

Coming from Adobe Camera RAW, there are a couple of settings that are still sorely missed inside of Affinity Photo. Namely the ability to make changes to the Hue, Saturation and Luminance via a "HSL" section, as well as a "Camera Calibration" section that would allow to change the way in which the primaries are interpreted before any of the other settings of the Develop Persona are being applied.

This link gives a better idea of what is possible inside ACR: Render Impeccable Skin Tone Easily, Using Camera Raw & A Slider You Didn’t Know Existed

Having this functionality would really make a big difference in how RAW pictures could be developed inside Affinity Photo - at the moment things still feel a bit too basic.

The correct way to explain the absence of HSL in Photos RAW developer is that it is not a good RAW developer. It's most likely a mishmash of old algorithms and open source components made without contact with professional photographers. It was the same in Serif's previous image processing program. 

The companies that make good RAW developers also make some of their own advanced algorithms and have clear opinions about their product, not least because they have professional and skilled photographers as their customers. This results in really good products.

HSL modifications are some of the most common changes I make in Adobe Camera RAW and Capture One Professional. They are essential in RAW development either because of the equipment (sensor in particular), light and colour conditions at the time of shooting, small camera misadjustments at the time of shooting or the desired appearance of the output - and especially in connection with batch developments of RAW files.

There is no convinience involved; therefore, options for HSL changes are available in Lightroom, Camera RAW, Capture One Professional, DxO Photolab Professional etc. 

[Ferdinand13]

On 12/29/2023 at 4:15 PM, Bit Arts said:

The correct way to explain the absence of HSL in Photos RAW developer is that it is not a good RAW developer. It's most likely a mishmash of old algorithms and open source components made without contact with professional photographers. It was the same in Serif's previous image processing program. 

The companies that make good RAW developers also make some of their own advanced algorithms and have clear opinions about their product, not least because they have professional and skilled photographers as their customers. This results in really good products.

HSL modifications are some of the most common changes I make in Adobe Camera RAW and Capture One Professional. They are essential in RAW development either because of the equipment (sensor in particular), light and colour conditions at the time of shooting, small camera misadjustments at the time of shooting or the desired appearance of the output - and especially in connection with batch developments of RAW files.

There is no convinience involved; therefore, options for HSL changes are available in Lightroom, Camera RAW, Capture One Professional, DxO Photolab Professional etc. 

Yes, I completely agree with this. Let’s hope they’ve got these updates on their road map!