drippy cat Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 Hi everyone, I've just uploaded a 90 page guide covering the absolute basics of Affinity Photo. If you go here https://theeagerlearner.com/ and subscribe you can download it along with the photos used in the chapters so you can follow along. This guide could be described as the written equivalent of my Affinity Photo: 5 steps to Better Photos course over at udemy. Actually it's the first chapters of a larger book I'm writing which will be the broad equivalent of the Affinity Photo: Solid Foundations course, also at Udemy. But it will be slightly different. I may not cover all the topics from the video course but I will be including written material about using the develop persona to process RAW files, for example. So why do this? Well, I'm aiming to sell the final book and I want people to have a clear idea of what to expect. I also think that if you are going to give something for free as a taster, you should give something good that's going to be of real use to people. It also gives you a chance to give any feedback to me here so I can match the final book to peoples hopes and wishes. So I hope it gives you plenty of useful information and I look forward to hearing any comments you may have about it. Cheers, Simon Foster jer, Rusty Arrow, MacGueurle and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjglad Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 Great stuff - thanks. I have a question regarding workflow. Most articles I have read suggest that correcting White Balance should occur prior to tonal adjustments. Just curious as to why correcting White Balance is at the backend of your workflow. Once again, great stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drippy cat Posted August 19, 2017 Author Share Posted August 19, 2017 Hi pjglad. Thanks for getting back to me about that. If you take a look at page 54 I address that issue and acknowledge that some programs like Adobe programs prefer to do things the way round you mentioned under the title 'Confession Time'. To sum up what I say there I prefer to work from large changes to more subtle ones, and I've generally found changing the tonal adjustments to have a more profound impact on the look of pictures than white balance. There's no 'one rule fits all' and I'm aware that sometimes changing the white balance dramatically alters the look of an image. But I've found that altering the tone affects the apparent intensity of the colors and I want to know how intense the colors will be before altering the white balance. That said, I welcome reasons why altering the white balance first is a better idea, and I'm certainly not averse to including those in the book. Cheers, Simon jer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Simon, a great guide and beautifully done. And an INDEX yet... Thanks for that. I had an unusual error msg on unzip of photos03 (Win 10) so I'm wondering if I missed a photo. Here is what I got: I tried several times and continued to get the same error msg so if anything is missing, I will re-download. Anyone else get an unzip error msg on photos03? Quote ♥ WIN 10 AD & AP ♥ Lenovo Legion Y520 15.6" Laptop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drippy cat Posted August 20, 2017 Author Share Posted August 20, 2017 Hi jer and thanks for getting back to me! There should have been another file called Noise01. I've taken a look at it, reduced it's size and resaved the .zip file. Try it now & hopefully all will be well for you. Cheers, Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 On 8/20/2017 at 11:18 AM, drippy cat said: Hi jer and thanks for getting back to me! There should have been another file called Noise01. I've taken a look at it, reduced it's size and resaved the .zip file. Try it now & hopefully all will be well for you. Cheers, Simon Your replaced zip file works good now and the missing image is received. Thanks! Quote ♥ WIN 10 AD & AP ♥ Lenovo Legion Y520 15.6" Laptop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dke Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 Thanks a lot Simon, you do a great job. Regards, dke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 Half way through your guide and really enjoying it and learning more about photos and AP. Really appreciated your tip about sticky notes for remembering keyboard shortcuts. What a simple and effective idea! The content dealing with highlights vs shadows and how the opposite problem occurs in film vs digital cameras was new for me. I didn't know about the opposite-ness and it explains some situations I just attributed to accidents in my photos. Okay, accidents might mean photographer error. Quote ♥ WIN 10 AD & AP ♥ Lenovo Legion Y520 15.6" Laptop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 Deleted Quote ♥ WIN 10 AD & AP ♥ Lenovo Legion Y520 15.6" Laptop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 Deleted Quote ♥ WIN 10 AD & AP ♥ Lenovo Legion Y520 15.6" Laptop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 Deleted Quote ♥ WIN 10 AD & AP ♥ Lenovo Legion Y520 15.6" Laptop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drippy cat Posted August 23, 2017 Author Share Posted August 23, 2017 Thanks very much for this input jer. It really is a help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmstraker Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 Excellent tutorial, DC. Ripples of applause. Good conversational tone with lots of screenshots and 'clickalongs'. The only note I'd make about the tutorial is to keep the text size to about the same as the screenshots and allow more white space. Sampled content is fine. Like you, I taught for a couple of years (Maths and Computing) before drifting off into more lucrative work. Still, once a teacher... I also now write as an indirect teaching outlet. I've published here notes on the 200 Ritson videos and a guide to blend modes. jer 1 Quote Dave Straker Cameras: Sony A7R2, RX100V Computers: Win10: Chillblast i9 Custom + Philips 40in 4K & Benq 23in; Surface Pro 4 i5; iPad Pro 11" Favourite word: Aha. For me and for others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drippy cat Posted August 23, 2017 Author Share Posted August 23, 2017 Thanks for that Dave, much appreciated. Oh, and I just read your details & by coincidence my 3rd Chillblast (a Photo, like yours) is currently on the makers bench. That'll be a week of setting it up... dmstraker 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 On 8/18/2017 at 9:51 AM, drippy cat said: I've just uploaded a 90 page guide covering the absolute basics of Affinity Photo. If you go here https://theeagerlearner.com/ and subscribe you can download it along with the photos used in the chapters so you can follow along. I've just finished reading your guide. At first I thought I would poke at it here and there for tidbits but the content sucked me in because the "why" really hit a nerve. I liked how you included examples of the wrong way to go about using a tool as part of the "why" discussions. Yes, I'm a poster child for all the wrong ways so you're cleaning up my act. Best, though, is that I know why to use a tool. Especially helpful to me was the Noise and Sharpening chapter. Now I can head into that part of the editing with confidence. Thanks! In trying to determine how I might best keep your 90 pages of guide "in front of me," I have decided to print the 5 Summary pages as a quick reference booklet. Then, if I need a refresher, I can bring the PDF up on the screen and revisit the detail. So the Summary pages have become, for me, an important part of your guide. Thanks for sharing your experience and I will be purchasing your completed book. Quote ♥ WIN 10 AD & AP ♥ Lenovo Legion Y520 15.6" Laptop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drippy cat Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 Thanks for that jer! I'm really pleased to hear that the 'why' bit was relevant. I think all to often you get tutorials which explain a tool but you don't get to see how it works with other tools. I've just finished the next two chapters of the main book and one of them is practicing what's been learned from the chapters up until now so people can consolidate the base skills before moving on. Thanks again for the kind words! Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrober Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 Dear Simon, I haver purchased "Affinity Photo 101: The Fundamental Five Steps" (Kindle edition) but the files referred in the last two chapters are not present in the downloadable zip files. I have sent messages to the publisher without any answer. The books is really useful. I would like to have a similar book with the content of "Solid Foundations". Books, for me, are better than Video courses. Regards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drippy cat Posted December 30, 2020 Author Share Posted December 30, 2020 Hi Pedrober. I'm sorry to hear you had problems contacting me. Would you happen to remember which email you used? At any rate, let's try & get you sorted out. I've pm'ed you. Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrober Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 Dear Simon, I have answered your private e-mail. Please confirm that you have received my message. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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