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Workflow from camera to Affinity Photo (Mac)?


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Hello all. New here and relatively new to Affinity.

I've had an £8 p.m. subscription to Lightroom and Photoshop which I really want to cancel now and it looks like this is the way to go.

 

My question is, what are the suggestions for getting from raw files on the card as far as Affinity? Should I import with Photos and manually decide where to keep files, then open them for editing?

 

If I let Photos make the storage decisions, can I easily open the files in Affinity Photo?

 

Lightroom always seemed to be a good intermediate step but it always has annoyed me that you have to export (with all the associated decision making in the process) in order to use pictures.

 

How do people manage the process from the camera, to Affinity, then into store? Ideas gratefully received.

Thanks

Andrew

 

 

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I use Lightroom (stand alone, not subscription). Right click>edit in Affinity, no need to export.
When you click save and then close, the edited picture show up in Lightroom.

 

I'll stick with Lightroom until Affinity's DAM app is developed/released.

- Affinity Photo 2.3.0
- Affinity Designer 2.3.0
-Affinity Publisher 2.3.0

 

MacBook Pro 16 GB
MacOS Sonoma 14.1.2

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Hey Andrew, on the Mac side I just tend to keep it simple and use Finder!

 

I keep a top level Photographs folder on an external drive, and within that folder I have many subfolders with a naming convention of Date - Description. So for example, I might have:

 

2012-08-22 Whitby

2013-02-12 Elizabeth Nature shoot

2014-05-05 London visit

2015-12-23 Winter visit

 

And so on. I just plug my SD card into a card reader (or the back of the iMac) and copy the images across into one of these newly created subfolders. Because Apple's Core Image support for raw images is really good and kept up to date, you can just preview all of the raw files within Finder and quickly hit the space bar for a larger preview if required. Once I find an image I want to take further I just drag-drop it into Affinity Photo.

 

Also, if you're trying to organise several photos, say for HDR bracketed shots or panoramas etc, you can just select multiple files, right click and choose Create new folder with selection - really simple and efficient.

 

I've never actually investigated, but I believe you can also tag/rate photos within Finder? So you could colour code good photos, rejected ones etc. I might be talking nonsense with that though!

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I've never actually investigated, but I believe you can also tag/rate photos within Finder? So you could colour code good photos, rejected ones etc. I might be talking nonsense with that though!

 

Yes, you're right, you can use labels. 

- Affinity Photo 2.3.0
- Affinity Designer 2.3.0
-Affinity Publisher 2.3.0

 

MacBook Pro 16 GB
MacOS Sonoma 14.1.2

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Have you thought about using Adobe Bridge? It is free these days, I believe, so you can keep using it even if you cancel CC

That's a good idea. I always used to use Bridge, until I started using LR. I believe you can use the latest raw converters too.

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I use Lightroom (stand alone, not subscription). Right click>edit in Affinity, no need to export.

When you click save and then close, the edited picture show up in Lightroom.

 

I'll stick with Lightroom until Affinity's DAM app is developed/released.

That's good too. I believe I have a paid for old version somewhere. Any idea when Affinity's DAM is coming out?

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That's good too. I believe I have a paid for old version somewhere. Any idea when Affinity's DAM is coming out?

 

No one knows. Your guess is as good as mine.  My plan is to purchase Lightroom 7 if it comes in a stand alone version in the near future and work with that until I see what Affinity's DAM is good for.

By the looks of Photo and Designer, I'm sure it will be excellent. ;)

- Affinity Photo 2.3.0
- Affinity Designer 2.3.0
-Affinity Publisher 2.3.0

 

MacBook Pro 16 GB
MacOS Sonoma 14.1.2

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Ash, there are just two things that matter here:  Firstly at present AP is an editing program (and a very, very good one) but does not have a library/Digital Asset Manager function; secondly there are many other programs that do work (and work well) in regard to the library function and can call AP as an external editor.

 

Bottom line is if you have Apple Photos or any version of Lightroom (as examples - I don't use either of these, but this is a Mac site and if you have a Mac you have Photos free of charge and it seems you may have an older non-subscription version of LR) then go ahead and use that as your DAM and call AP for editing.

Retina iMac (4K display, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM) OS X 10.11.6  Capture One 10.

 

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Hey Andrew, on the Mac side I just tend to keep it simple and use Finder!

 

I keep a top level Photographs folder on an external drive, and within that folder I have many subfolders with a naming convention of Date - Description. So for example, I might have:

 

2012-08-22 Whitby

2013-02-12 Elizabeth Nature shoot

2014-05-05 London visit

2015-12-23 Winter visit

 

And so on. I just plug my SD card into a card reader (or the back of the iMac) and copy the images across into one of these newly created subfolders. Because Apple's Core Image support for raw images is really good and kept up to date, you can just preview all of the raw files within Finder and quickly hit the space bar for a larger preview if required. Once I find an image I want to take further I just drag-drop it into Affinity Photo.

 

Also, if you're trying to organise several photos, say for HDR bracketed shots or panoramas etc, you can just select multiple files, right click and choose Create new folder with selection - really simple and efficient.

 

I've never actually investigated, but I believe you can also tag/rate photos within Finder? So you could colour code good photos, rejected ones etc. I might be talking nonsense with that though!

I guess that's the simplest way. Trouble is, not being very organised, I would often have a memory card with several dates and different subject matter. I don't like the idea of separating them out into different folders first.

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@billtils

A minor point but this is not a Mac only site. There are both Mac & Windows versions of both Affinity products & the Affinity Support > Questions & Feedback forum is intended for all users of any of the four retail products. The only forums that are product-specific are the four beta forums at Affinity Beta Support.

 

@Andrew

You can use Apple Photos for organizational purposes but it is not an ideal companion for Affinity Photo for RAW file work because you will probably frequently run into the 16 MB limit Apple imposes on saving back to Photos, which only allows you to save the file edited in AP flattened or not to save the edit at all.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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@billtils

A minor point but this is not a Mac only site. There are both Mac & Windows versions of both Affinity products & the Affinity Support > Questions & Feedback forum is intended for all users of any of the four retail products. The only forums that are product-specific are the four beta forums at Affinity Beta Support.

 

@Andrew

You can use Apple Photos for organizational purposes but it is not an ideal companion for Affinity Photo for RAW file work because you will probably frequently run into the 16 MB limit Apple imposes on saving back to Photos, which only allows you to save the file edited in AP flattened or not to save the edit at all.

That's useful to know. I didn't realise there was a size limits. Thanks.

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I have just been working out a process for this and put some thoughts in another post on using Photos and Affinity in tandem. My conclusion has been as follows (should note that I am a keen amateur rather than a pro and am not into huge playing with photos to fundamentally change the way they look - I am merely into improving the image to correct issues with exposure, cast etc and cropping)

 

I use Photos as the library system. I import via a card reader after each shoot and then have a range of folders etc that I store images on for easier access. However, I have a simple process to follow on the import before I fully file them.

 

1. Delete rubbish (burst mode duplicates, clearly beyond help shots - I do a lot of birds in flight)

2. Edit the best images

3. Refile into final folder

 

For editing, I am just getting into Affinity as a better option than DPP, Photos native or Elements (which needs a £60 new version to support the RAW file on my EOS 80D). After a lot of playing around, I have decided on the following workflow

 

1. Basic tweaks on good basic pictures - use Photos native editor on RAW files to create a good JPEG, also using the option sometimes to export the edited RAW outside Photos

2. For more extensive work - use Affinity as follows:

a) Start with RAW file & Open to Edit in Photos

c) Use External Editors extension to call up Affinity which keeps the RAW file as the one being edited

d) Do appropriate work

e) Share tweaked file to Photos which creates a JPEG of a good quality - albeit with the 16MB limit and then refile in appropriate folder

f) For really special images - export as TIFF etc outside Photos

 

Hope that helps.

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@R C-R

 

Actually this is a Mac site (Affinity Photo on Mac Beta).   It is AP that is now not Mac only, but there is a separate forum for the Windows version. I suppose if we go up a level, you would be correct that Affinity Beta Support in itself is not platform specific.  However, there would not be much point in posting advice that involved the possible use of Apple Photos on the other Forum  ;) . 

Retina iMac (4K display, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM) OS X 10.11.6  Capture One 10.

 

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Actually this is a Mac site (Affinity Photo on Mac Beta).

Look at the "bread crumb" trail at the top of this page. Do you not see Affinity | Forum → Affinity Support → Questions & Feedback?

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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I have just been working out a process for this and put some thoughts in another post on using Photos and Affinity in tandem. My conclusion has been as follows (should note that I am a keen amateur rather than a pro and am not into huge playing with photos to fundamentally change the way they look - I am merely into improving the image to correct issues with exposure, cast etc and cropping)

 

I use Photos as the library system. I import via a card reader after each shoot and then have a range of folders etc that I store images on for easier access. However, I have a simple process to follow on the import before I fully file them.

 

1. Delete rubbish (burst mode duplicates, clearly beyond help shots - I do a lot of birds in flight)

2. Edit the best images

3. Refile into final folder

 

For editing, I am just getting into Affinity as a better option than DPP, Photos native or Elements (which needs a £60 new version to support the RAW file on my EOS 80D). After a lot of playing around, I have decided on the following workflow

 

1. Basic tweaks on good basic pictures - use Photos native editor on RAW files to create a good JPEG, also using the option sometimes to export the edited RAW outside Photos

2. For more extensive work - use Affinity as follows:

a) Start with RAW file & Open to Edit in Photos

c) Use External Editors extension to call up Affinity which keeps the RAW file as the one being edited

d) Do appropriate work

e) Share tweaked file to Photos which creates a JPEG of a good quality - albeit with the 16MB limit and then refile in appropriate folder

f) For really special images - export as TIFF etc outside Photos

 

Hope that helps.

Yes that does help, thank you. I will start playing around with Photos, as yet I haven't used it. I also have some "birds in flight" shots that didn't quite make it!

Cheers.

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Yes that does help, thank you. I will start playing around with Photos, as yet I haven't used it. I also have some "birds in flight" shots that didn't quite make it!

Cheers.

One  additional comment - you can only import the ORIGINAL RAW file into Affinity from Photos. If you have played around with the RAW image in Photos and then open it for editing in Affinity, it defaults back to JPEG/Apple Photo Format. To get to the RAW image you need to revert to original in Photos

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