Affinity Photo has built a huge reputation as an Adobe Photoshop alternative that offers the same level of professional features as its Adobe rival, but without the subscription. Affinity Photo 2 brings some major new features and upgrades to boost productivity and creative potential, and we’ll go through some of them in this article. It’s a quick tour, but it will give you an idea of what this program can achieve and the depth of its creative tools.
Affinity Photo is a powerful program that inevitably introduces some unfamiliar jargon here and there. Photoshop is the same. And, like Photoshop, Affinity Photo is designed not just for photographers, but designers and illustrators too.
This means that there may be tools here that you simply don’t need right now. In fact, you can do most regular photo editing from the Layers panel, and any settings to tools you need will pop up as and when you need them.
Affinity Photo also has ‘Personas’. These are like workspaces but go rather further to include tools and processes not available in the main ‘Photo’ persona. The Liquify persona is probably going to be most useful to designers and professional retouchers, the Develop persona is where you process raw files and the Tone Mapping persona is for HDR merging and effects. The Export persona (see the box, right) is for outputting processed versions of your images.
One more thing. If you open a JPEG or TIFF image in Affinity Photo, it will open straight into the Photo persona. If you open a raw file, it will open in the Develop persona first, and you must develop it before it can be edited.
This story is from the August 08, 2023 edition of Amateur Photographer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 08, 2023 edition of Amateur Photographer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Calling The Shots: A Queer History of Photography
Offering an unprecedented view of photographic history through a queer lens, this is a wonderful and powerful book, says
Large-aperture standard zoom, too
SONY has also revealed a new premium standard zoom, the FE 28-70mm F2 GM.
Super-fast, high-res Sony Alpha Ai II
SONY has announced its new professional full-frame flagship camera, the Alpha A1 II.
39 awesome accessories
Our round-up of the best accessories we've used and reviewed this year, along with some old favourites. There's something here for every budget, starting from just £7, including tripods, bags, filters and much more
Such a thing as society
This autumn sees the launch of a major new book and exhibition devoted to examining the multiplicities of photography during 1980s Britain. Peter Dench finds out more
Join Club
The sociable Canvey Island Photographic Club is keen to grow its in-person meet ups
Capturing flight
Winners and finalists of Bird Photographer of the Year share their tips for success with Hollie Latham Hucker
140 years of change
AP has become the world’s oldest surviving consumer photo magazine because we have moved with the times, says Nigel Atherton
Preserving history in platinum
A deep dive into the meticulous art of platinum printing, and the collaboration between the Royal Geographical Society and Salto Ulbeek. Mike Crawford explores how they brought historical photographs to life with enduring beauty and precision
Life in the past lane
What was life like for an amateur photographer in 1884? John Wade takes a trip back in time
