Professional Image Editing Made Easy with Affinity Photo: Apply Affinity Photo fundamentals to your workflows to edit, enhance, and create great images

Cover
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Contributors
Table of Contents
Preface
Part 1: Foundational and Navigation Basics for Affinity Photo
Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Vector versus Raster Art and Basics of the Interface
	Technical requirements
	Differentiating between raster (pixel) and vector-based images
	Why you would use one over the other, and how to choose the correct type of art
	Understanding DPI and why it matters
	Understanding the role image size plays in image quality
	Understanding color profile and how it factors into your image
		RGB
		CMYK
		The six areas of the Affinity Photo Interface
	Summary
Chapter 2: Opening Your First Document
	Bringing in an existing photo into Affinity Photo for editing
	Creating a new document for a project
	Placing an image into an existing project
	Resizing the document you just created
		When you want to change the document size
		When you want to change the canvas size
	Creating presets and templates for use in other projects
		Creating presets
		Creating templates
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Chapter 3: Layer Fundamentals – The Heart of Affinity Photo
	Technical requirements
	Understanding layers
		What is rasterizing a layer?
		Working with layers – the demographics
	What are adjustment layers?
	What are live filter layers
	What are text layers?
	Layers – practical editing practice
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Chapter 4: The Basics of Masking in Affinity Photo
	Technical requirements
	Basics of masking and making your first mask
		Masking principles
		Making a simple mask on a Pixel layer
	Masking Adjustment layers or Live Filter layers
		When to use this technique
	Making a gradient mask
		Where is the gradient tool, and how do we read it
	Utilizing a clipping mask – vector
		Shape-based clipping masks
		Curve-based clipping masks
	Practical masking application
		The edit breakdown
		Operational steps
		Professional tips from this edit
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Chapter 5: Selection and How to Achieve It in Affinity Photo
	Technical requirements
	Principles of selection
		What is Affinity Photo doing when it selects?
		How to think of a selection – the three statements
		When do you use selection?
		What does a selection actually look like?
	Types of selection
		Tool-based selection
		Attribute-based selection
	Creating, adding to, and subtracting from a selection
		Universal steps in creating a selection
		Tool-based selection – using Selection Brush
		Attribute-based selection – tonal selection
	Saving a selection as a mask or channel
		What are a channel and a spare channel?
		Creating a spare channel
		When to use this technique
	Tricks for refining a tricky selection
		Example #1 – adding adjustment layers to increase differences and make better-defined edges
		Example #2 – adjusting a selection using the menu (Grow / Shrink...)
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Part 2: Fundamental Concepts Used to Create a Simple Edit
Chapter 6: Cropping and Composition
	Technical requirements
	Cropping fundamentals
		What is cropping?
		The mental model for cropping a photo
		Using presets for cropping
		Reading the presets
		Creating your own presets
		Releasing or resizing a crop
	Using cropping tools to adjust photos
		Overlays
		The straightening tool
	The basics of composition
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Chapter 7: Basics of Workflows and Balancing Dark and Light
	Technical requirements
	What is a workflow?
		Cropping the image to get the focal points right!
		Setting the levels (using curves, levels, or Exposure Adjustment layers) for the entire image
		Applying a sharpen and blur adjustment layer to the image and masking out the areas that you do not want it to apply to
		Apply the color grading you want to your image
		Balance and finishing
	Intermediate concepts in composition – the three pillars of atmospheric perspective
		Pillar 1 – objects in the foreground are brighter
		Pillar 2 – objects in the foreground are more heavily saturated
		Pillar 3 – objects in the foreground have more details
	Applying the pillars
		A practical edit walkthrough for the workflow
	Tools to set exposure (levels of light and dark)
		Exposure Adjustment
		Levels Adjustment
		Curves
		Histogram – an aid in setting exposure
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Chapter 8: Blend Mode Fundamentals
	Technical requirements
	Blend modes and their uses
		The role of colors in blend modes
	Using blend modes in practical editing
		Blend modes and the application of textures
		Blend modes for the addition of elements in compositing
		Using blend modes and opacity together
	Blend modes in Adjustment and Live Filter layers
		Practical example
	Blend modes versus blend ranges
		Where do blend ranges show up?
		How to read the blend ranges
		Practical application of blend ranges
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
		Tips to make your work more dynamic
	Summary
Chapter 9: Basics of Stock Brushes in Affinity Photo
	Technical requirements
	Introduction to the brush studio panel
		Reading the Brushes panel
	Brush management (installing, deleting, and so on)
		Importing and exporting
	Exploring the individual parts of a brush
		The General tab
		The Dynamics tab
	Making your first brush
		Setting up the category
		Setting up your test space
		Building the brush
		Trialing and duplicating the brush
	Adjusting brush settings using the context toolbar
		Reading the context toolbar for brushes
	Applying the basics of brushes in an edit
		Steps in the edit
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Chapter 10: Working with Color in Affinity Photo
	Technical requirements
	Working with the Color panel and the Swatches panel
		Color studio panel
		The Swatches panel
	The three most used color spaces in photo editing
		The three color spaces
		Setting the color profile in the options menu
	Tools and adjustments used in color
		The fill bucket tool
		The gradient tool
	Practical editing using color grading
		Editing sequence
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Part 3 : The Practical Applications of Affinity Photo
Chapter 11: Compositing in Affinity Photo
	Technical requirements
	Fundamentals of compositing
		What is a composite?
		The basics of perspective for compositing multiple images
		Finding images
		Shooting images for your library
	Basic compositing workflow
		The composition workflow
	Filter and layers used in compositing
		The Liquify filter
		The HSL Saturation Adjustment layer
	Practical composition edit
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Chapter 12: Photo Restoration and Portrait Retouching in Affinity Photo
	Technical requirements
	Exploring three common tools for photo retouching and restoration
		Clone stamp tool
		Inpainting brush
		The Blemish Removal tool
	Understanding the photo restoration workflow and its practical application
		Practical application
	What is frequency separation?
		Why would you use frequency separation?
		How to use frequency separation
	Portrait retouching workflow and practical application
		Practical application
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Chapter 13: Advanced Color Concepts and Grading
	Technical requirements
	The basics of color modes
		What is a color mode?
		So, what does 8-bit mean?
		The difference between 16- and 8-bit color modes
		What do I use most of the time and what is the best practice?
		Setting and modifying your color mode in Affinity Photo
	Adjustments and tools used in color grading
		Hue, saturation, and lightness adjustment
		Selective color adjustment layer
		Spilt Toning Adjustment layer
		Channel mixer adjustment
		Gradient maps
		Color balance
		Using curves to color grade
		LUTs
	Color grading practical applications
		Color grading practical edit 1 – teal and orange film look
		Color grading practical edit 2 – dynamic urban
		Color grading practical edit 3 – teal and pink neon
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Chapter 14: Destructive Filters and Tools in Affinity Photo
	Technical requirements
	Common destructive tools used in editing
		The Blur and Sharpen brushes
		The Dodge and Burn brushes
		The Sponge brush
		The Mesh Warp tool
	Destructive filters used in editing
		Motion Blur
		Depth of Field Blur
		Ripple
	Practical destructive edit
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Chapter 15: Creative Effects and Specialty Brushes in Affinity Photo
	Technical requirements
	Advanced brush concepts
		Different types of brushes
		Breaking down the intensity brushes
		Breaking down image brushes
	Working with layer effects
		Applying layer effects to images
		The practical application of layer effects
		Saving layer effects as styles
		Applying styles to new layers
	Specialty brush creation
		Creating a smoke/flame brush
		Creating fog brushes
		Creating particle brushes
	Creating atmospheric layers – the rain overlay
		Setting up the effect
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Part 4: Finishing Your Edit and Building Your Own Artistic Palette
Chapter 16: Working with Text and Shapes in Affinity Photo
	Technical requirements
	Basics of text in Affinity Photo
		The Artistic Text Tool option
		The Frame Text Tool option
	Shapes in Affinity Photo
	Practical application of shapes – making a YouTube thumbnail
		Setting up the project
		Populating the project
		Finishing the image
	Making a personal gallery
		Setting up the gallery
		Adding the frames
		Adding lighting
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Chapter 17: Editing in Other Personas in Affinity Photo
	Technical requirements
	The Develop persona
		What is a RAW image and why shoot in it?
		Editing in the Develop persona
	The Liquify persona
	The Tone Mapping persona
		What does the Tone Mapping persona do?
		Working with the Tone Mapping persona
		The tools
		The studio panels
		Applying Tone Mapping
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Chapter 18: Exporting and Artist Efficiency Tips
	Technical requirements
	Fundamentals of exporting
		Exporting in Affinity Photo
		Reading the export window
		Exporting formats
	The Export persona
		Exploring the interface
		Creating a slice from the flat image
		Creating a slice from a single layer
		Saving a custom preset
	Artist efficiency techniques
		The Assets panel
		Working with macros and the Library panel
	Professional tips, tricks, and important points
	Summary
Index
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