Saving

[ColinSmi]

I am brand new to this so it is probable that my answer is shown elsewhere. I have been using Photoshop CS6 for a while now and when I was finished editing a photograph I used to go to the 'Levels' window on the bottom right and click on 'Merge' before saving to JPEG.

When I have completed my editing in Affinity Photo, do I do a similar thing, and if so how do I do it please?

In doing so, am I still saving the original photo, or just exporting/saving to a different file name?

Many thanks for any help.

[MEB]

Hi ColinSmi,

Welcome to Affinity Forums

If you want to keep all the edits (adjustments, live filters, layers etc) editable save the file in our native file format: .afphoto

If you want to export to a non-native file format go to File ▸ Export and select the format you want. In the case of the JPG there's no need to flatten/merge the layers because this format doesn't support them and will merge everything for you when you export the file.

[toltec]

 

46 minutes ago, ColinSmi said:

I am brand new to this so it is probable that my answer is shown elsewhere. I have been using Photoshop CS6 for a while now and when I was finished editing a photograph I used to go to the 'Levels' window on the bottom right and click on 'Merge' before saving to JPEG.

When I have completed my editing in Affinity Photo, do I do a similar thing, and if so how do I do it please?

In doing so, am I still saving the original photo, or just exporting/saving to a different file name?

Many thanks for any help.

It kind of depends what edits you make.

 

If you do simple stuff, like cropping and adjusting levels, then merge everything (like the levels adjustment) and press "Save", it will save back to the original JPEG.

 

To merge, you can click merge as you apply the adjustment

 

Then just File > Save (Ctrl + S)  and it save to, and overwrites, the original.

 

However, that does rather commit you to a destructive workflow. If it all goes wrong, your original file is wrong too, now you have saved it.

 

Better to "Save as" with all the adjustment layers intact. That will create a .afphoto file with all the adjustment layers and more importantly, will leave the original JPEG untouched, just in case you ever need it again. Just go File > Save (Ctrl + S) again and because the layers are now in the file, Photo will ask you to "Save as" and create a .afphoto file, asking you where to save it and what to name it. 

 

After all your edits, if you then want a JPEG file, as MEB says, just go File > Export and select JPEG and that will create a new (flattened and merged) file for you.

 

[ColinSmi]

Many thanks for all your replies. It certainly makes more sense now.