Affinity Photo RAW workflow - develop to photo persona

[drfoto28]

Hello all,

I've been working with Affinity Photo 2 for ~2 months now trying to use it as a LR alternative with PS abilities (I don't edit huge batches). The biggest hurdle I've faced so far is that instead of editing a RAW -> JPEG, I feel that it is basically required to go RAW -> AFphoto/PNG -> jpeg. This is fine on paper, but I am having trouble determining what edits should be made in what persona.

Currently my approach has been to correct exposure, Clipping, WB, then muting it a little almost like making a "cine" or "log" still in Develop persona, RAW -> AFphoto , then doing Tone Curves & Colors (CB,ST,HSL,etc) in the Photo persona. This process def works but the Tone curves feel finicky and exposure masking in photo persona looks artificial to me. On the other hand, doing it all in the develop persona does not appear to allow me to do HSL edits or take advantage of the layer functions, which are probably my 2 favorite aspects of the software. 

 

Does anyone have recommended workflow corrections or alternatives to what I am currently doing?

 

Thanks, 

 drfoto28

[NotMyFault]

Do only strictly required steps in Develop, and all other task in Photo Persona.

things working better in Develop:

• initial exposure correction, including highlights and shadows
• white balance
• chromatic aberration 
• lens correction

All the rest can be done non-destructively in Photo.

If you want to use Develop Persona extensively, Affinity is the wrong product.

The Developer Persona is nothing where Affinity can shine, but it is good enough for occasional use where time is more critical than quality or functionality (noise reduction, CA removal, diffraction, Lens correction, white balance, editing multiple images using same recipe, accessing camera brand secret data like picture profiles …)

 

[Old Bruce]

1 hour ago, drfoto28 said:

Does anyone have recommended workflow corrections or alternatives to what I am currently doing?

What I do is save an .afphoto file after developing my raw file. However if all you are wanting to do is export to JPEG then you can open the raw file do as you are doing now in the Develop persona and then develop and do all the stuff you want to do in the Photo persona then export to JPEG. No need to save a large .afphoto file. Of course all your edits will be lost.

One nice thing is we can use the Output: RAW Layer (Linked) feature* to keep the size of the Affinity Photo file small. Basically it links the raw file and re-applies the Develop items each time we open the .afphoto file. Then I have all my edits to the image saved and can output to JPEG, PNG, TIFF, etc.

 

* Note: you need to use the Serif raw developer not the Apple Core Image one.

[drfoto28]

On 11/16/2024 at 1:52 PM, NotMyFault said:

Do only strictly required steps in Develop, and all other task in Photo Persona.

things working better in Develop:

• initial exposure correction, including highlights and shadows
• white balance
• chromatic aberration 
• lens correction

All the rest can be done non-destructively in Photo.

If you want to use Develop Persona extensively, Affinity is the wrong product.

The Developer Persona is nothing where Affinity can shine, but it is good enough for occasional use where time is more critical than quality or functionality (noise reduction, CA removal, diffraction, Lens correction, white balance, editing multiple images using same recipe, accessing camera brand secret data like picture profiles …)

 

Gotcha. When you mask exposure, do you create multiple tone curves and mask each to a specific area? I noticed trying to use the exposure tool in photo persona to be pointless, as it doesn't actually seem to change exposure like how the tone curves do. 

On 11/16/2024 at 2:56 PM, Old Bruce said:

What I do is save an .afphoto file after developing my raw file. However if all you are wanting to do is export to JPEG then you can open the raw file do as you are doing now in the Develop persona and then develop and do all the stuff you want to do in the Photo persona then export to JPEG. No need to save a large .afphoto file. Of course all your edits will be lost.

One nice thing is we can use the Output: RAW Layer (Linked) feature* to keep the size of the Affinity Photo file small. Basically it links the raw file and re-applies the Develop items each time we open the .afphoto file. Then I have all my edits to the image saved and can output to JPEG, PNG, TIFF, etc.

 

* Note: you need to use the Serif raw developer not the Apple Core Image one.

Yes, I actually just figured this out recently and have been very happy using the Linked raw files.

[Ldina]

@drfoto28 I went through the same thing early on, so I did a tutorial on how the various controls work and exactly what they do, in both the Develop and Photo Personas. Check out the later version of the Tutorial in the attached thread, which I updated to include some extra controls.

In the Develop Persona, I usually try to get get Brightness, Contrast, WB reasonably close, and if necessary, I adjust Shadows and Highlights to avoid premature clipping. Sometimes I'll do some noise reduction if shot at high ISO or if there are a lot of dark, underexposed areas that I know I will brighten (can also be done in the Photo Persona). I sometimes use Curves in the Develop Persona too, if my RAW image needs more adjustment. Getting brightness and contrast right first helps in setting a better WB, in my experience. My goal in RAW development is to bring a somewhat conservative image into Photo, with moderate to low contrast and adequate headroom in the whites and blacks for further refining in Photo. And I almost always develop using RAW Layer (Linked), which keeps my AfPhoto file size small, so I always save an AfPhoto file unless it is a very unimportant screenshot or something quick and dirty. 

Hope this helps.

 

[drfoto28]

56 minutes ago, Ldina said:

@drfoto28 I went through the same thing early on, so I did a tutorial on how the various controls work and exactly what they do, in both the Develop and Photo Personas. Check out the later version of the Tutorial in the attached thread, which I updated to include some extra controls.

In the Develop Persona, I usually try to get get Brightness, Contrast, WB reasonably close, and if necessary, I adjust Shadows and Highlights to avoid premature clipping. Sometimes I'll do some noise reduction if shot at high ISO or if there are a lot of dark, underexposed areas that I know I will brighten (can also be done in the Photo Persona). I sometimes use Curves in the Develop Persona too, if my RAW image needs more adjustment. Getting brightness and contrast right first helps in setting a better WB, in my experience. My goal in RAW development is to bring a somewhat conservative image into Photo, with moderate to low contrast and adequate headroom in the whites and blacks for further refining in Photo. And I almost always develop using RAW Layer (Linked), which keeps my AfPhoto file size small, so I always save an AfPhoto file unless it is a very unimportant screenshot or something quick and dirty. 

Hope this helps.

 

I was looking for something just like this to compare to, Thanks for compiling this!

[Ldina]

9 minutes ago, drfoto28 said:

I was looking for something just like this to compare to, Thanks for compiling this!

You're welcome. Hope it is helpful.