Affinity Photo review
[ad_1]
Affinity Photo is a standalone image editing software developed by Serif. It’s a subscription-free, one-time purchase for an astonishingly low cost considering what’s on offer. By operating on a subscription-free model, the software is incredibly competitive against even the biggest image editing giants such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. Capable of editing photographs, creating works of art, or combining graphics and text for graphic design, Affinity Photo really can do it all.
What’s new in 2021?
Update 1.10 applies to the whole range of Affinity products from Serif. It gives Affinity Photo a performance upgrade by tweaking how the software handles layers, making it more efficient at blending them together for a faster and smoother workflow – even when working non-destructively.
Affinity Photo splits itself into fifths in the form of Personas. Each Persona has a specific job. For example, the Photo Persona is responsible for photo editing and can do things such as crop, brush, retouch, erase, and more. The Liquify Persona distorts image areas on a pixel level, allowing warping and neat retouching. The Develop Persona is perfect for raw processing, and for HDR development the Tone Mapping Persona is the place to be as it can also affect single, non-HDR images. Aptly named, the Export Persona takes charge of the export options for images to save in JPEG, PNG, PSD, and other common file formats.
Affinity Photo runs well on Windows and macOS (even with an iPad version) and has had a performance boost with the latest update. Photographers can use the 32-bit raw processing to their advantage by developing images, creating multi-layered compositions, or liquifying and retouching images.
Affinity Photo review: Features
- Good selection of basic image editing tools
- Liquify is powerful
- Tone mapping is excellent
For those in a hurry, automatic levels, contrast, colors, and white balance are in easy reach at the top of the Photo Persona window. Each button does a good job at attaining a balance between highlights and shadows with realistic colors. However, for a little more custom control, head to the Adjustment tab on the right-hand side of the window. From there, users can make changes to their images in a simple, thumbnail-based layout.
For example, level adjustments fall under default, darken, or lighten, with thumbnail previews displaying what each change will do to the image. Click on a thumbnail to reveal slider adjustments which will affect tool intensity among other parameters. This is brilliant for users that are more visual and struggle with the technical aspect of image editing, but it seems a little backward for power users. A sliders menu devoid of thumbnails would cut out the middle person and make workflow faster, but this is covered in the Develop Persona for those requiring it.
More akin to Lightroom and other batch processors, the Develop Persona is capable of making those refined changes to levels, tones, colors, and more, but also includes a set of lens correction tools (including automatic lens-lookup) to remove optical aberrations. The Details tab opens up the ability to sharpen and remove or add noise to clean up images.
The Liquify Persona opens up a world of image area manipulation. Push, twirl, bloat, and punch photos with a custom brush to literally reshape any part of your scene. Leave sections unchanged with the freeze brush shown in the image below with a red overlay, or thaw sections after freezing to continue to liquefy the image. Edits can be saved as a mesh and later recalled for quick liquifying.
Mobile version Mini Review
The mobile version of Affinity Photo is only available on the iPad and supports iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, 3 & 4, iPad Mini 5, and iPad (early 2017 onwards) – earlier models are not compatible. However, rather than a stripped-back version, Affinity Photo on iPad offers the full whack of features and tools you’d find in the desktop version. Redesigned for the touch-sensitive screen, the software is clutter-free and neatly organized, making it easy to use with fingers or a stylus. Opening up the ability to carry the software around when shooting makes on-location edits a breeze, especially when wanting to edit the following day after staying up all night shooting the stars.
Affinity Photo has a strong advantage over the competition in the form of its Tone Mapping Persona. This in-built High Dynamic Range feature can combine multiple bracketed images into one to create scenes with intact highlights and shadows no matter how harsh the lighting conditions. HDR does feature in other image editing software that compete with Affinity Photo but Serif has made some good inclusions in the form of Tone Mapping controls. Tone Compression, Local Contrast, Exposure, and Saturation/Vibrance sliders are just a few of the many options available to make changes to the HDR creation, far superior to other software which give just basic options, if anything. This is a great addition to the software.
Unfortunately, there’s no option for sharing images to social media or via email directly from the Windows-based version of Affinity Photo, with users restricted to using the Export Persona to save images. However, it is fully compatible with Photoshop Documents (whether importing or exporting) and maintains layer structure for fluid working across platforms. This is great for photographers, designers, and artists alike.
Affinity Photo review: Compatibility and plugins
Affinity Photo is available for both Windows and macOS, and there’s even a cheaper version for iPad which is less than half the cost of the desktop-based versions. Third-party Photoshop-compatible plugins can be used with Affinity Photo, and in most cases are automatically present when installed. However, for plugins that don’t automatically install to the software, there’s a manual process to ensure users don’t miss out.
Affinity review: Price and subscription options
Affinity Photo is available for both Windows and macOS for just $54.99/£47.99, with the iPad version coming in at less than half that for just $21.99/£19.49. It’s a one-off purchase with a perpetual license and does not require a subscription.
Should you buy Affinity Photo?
Astonishingly affordable, powerful, flexible, and packed full of features, it’s hard not to recommend Affinity Photo to anyone who wants a comprehensive image editor but hasn’t yet committed to a specific brand. Even so, we’d still recommend it for users that are looking for a switch or want to leave the subscription life behind.
There’s a couple of things it could do better, such as online publishing integration, and it doesn’t have the extensive back catalog of tools that bigger companies have (creating a contact sheet for one). But for most users, even professionals, it’s an incredible package that allows you to own and keep your editor, and it’s only getting better with every update.
[ad_2]
Original Post
I am also commenting to make you be aware of what a outstanding encounter my cousin’s child developed browsing your web page. She learned lots of issues, with the inclusion of what it is like to possess an amazing helping style to have many others with no trouble have an understanding of a number of tricky things. You actually did more than my expected results. Many thanks for imparting the productive, trustworthy, educational and as well as cool tips on that topic to Jane.
It’s really a cool and useful piece of information. I’m satisfied that you simply shared this helpful information with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.
You made various fine points there. I did a search on the topic and found nearly all folks will have the same opinion with your blog.
Good write-up, I am regular visitor of one¦s website, maintain up the nice operate, and It is going to be a regular visitor for a long time.
Nice read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch as I found it for him smile Thus let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
Thanks for ones marvelous posting! I truly enjoyed reading it, you happen to be a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog and definitely will come back later on. I want to encourage you continue your great work, have a nice afternoon!
I think other site proprietors should take this site as an model, very clean and great user genial style and design, as well as the content. You are an expert in this topic!
As a Newbie, I am always exploring online for articles that can help me. Thank you
Its fantastic as your other content : D, regards for posting. “A lost battle is a battle one thinks one has lost.” by Ferdinand Foch.
I really appreciate this post. I¦ve been looking all over for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thank you again
Hi, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, fantastic blog!
You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be actually something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I’m looking forward for your next post, I’ll try to get the hang of it!
Its good as your other blog posts : D, appreciate it for posting.
The next time I learn a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I do know it was my choice to learn, however I truly thought youd have one thing interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix in case you werent too busy looking for attention.
Very interesting info !Perfect just what I was looking for!
I have been checking out some of your articles and i can state pretty clever stuff. I will make sure to bookmark your website.
It is perfect time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you few interesting things or tips. Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article. I wish to read even more things about it!
I have been exploring for a little for any high quality articles or blog posts on this sort of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this web site. Reading this information So i’m happy to convey that I have a very good uncanny feeling I discovered just what I needed. I most certainly will make certain to do not forget this web site and give it a glance on a constant basis.
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was curious what all is needed to get set up? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very internet smart so I’m not 100 positive. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers
Hello there! Quick question that’s completely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My site looks weird when browsing from my iphone. I’m trying to find a template or plugin that might be able to correct this issue. If you have any recommendations, please share. Thank you!
Its such as you learn my mind! You seem to grasp a lot approximately this, like you wrote the e book in it or something. I feel that you just can do with a few to force the message home a bit, but other than that, that is wonderful blog. A fantastic read. I will certainly be back.
I just couldn’t depart your site before suggesting that I extremely loved the standard information an individual provide on your guests? Is gonna be back incessantly to inspect new posts
Have you ever thought about adding a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and everything. But imagine if you added some great images or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with images and videos, this site could definitely be one of the best in its field. Amazing blog!
I have been exploring for a bit for any high quality articles or blog posts in this sort of area . Exploring in Yahoo I eventually stumbled upon this website. Reading this information So i’m satisfied to convey that I’ve an incredibly excellent uncanny feeling I discovered just what I needed. I most without a doubt will make sure to don’t overlook this web site and give it a look regularly.
I like what you guys are up too. Such smart work and reporting! Carry on the superb works guys I have incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it’ll improve the value of my website 🙂
I’ve been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this web site. Thank you, I’ll try and check back more often. How frequently you update your web site?
You are my intake, I own few web logs and often run out from to post .
What is Alpha Tonic? Alpha Tonic stands as a natural health supplement designed to comprehensively address men’s overall well-being.
hey there and thanks for your information – I have definitely picked up something new from proper here. I did however experience several technical issues using this website, since I skilled to reload the website many occasions prior to I may just get it to load correctly. I have been brooding about if your hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but slow loading cases occasions will very frequently impact your placement in google and can damage your high-quality score if ads and ***********|advertising|advertising|advertising and *********** with Adwords. Anyway I’m adding this RSS to my e-mail and can glance out for much more of your respective exciting content. Make sure you replace this once more soon..
You are a very smart individual!