Looking for an alternative photo editing software that’s not Photoshop? Then, look no further. Affinity Photo just might be the alternative for you. In this article, I’ll show you 7 amazing features of Affinity Photo. Affinity Photo is a photo editing software created by Serif. It’s part of the Affinity Suite which also consists of Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher.
One of the first amazing features of Affinity Photo is its price. For Mac and Window users, Affinity Photo cost $49.99 (the same as Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher). If you want to buy Affinity Photo for your iPad, it’ll cost $19.99. The best part of both prices is that they are a one-time payment! This means there’s no yearly or monthly subscription you must pay to use the software. In addition, whenever Serif Labs makes any updates to Affinity Photo, you can automatically download the updates at no additional costs.
Inside of Affinity Photo, there are 5 personas (the different editing roles inside of Affinity Photo): Photo Persona, Liquify Persona, Develop Persona, Tone Mapping Persona, and Export Persona.
The Adjustment Panel is easy to access, and you can undock it and place it where you want. There are 22 different adjustments within this panel. The adjustments that I find myself using the most are the Curves, HSL, Gradient Map, and Levels.
Affinity Photo has its own Stock Panel. Within this panel, you can search for images from Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay. This is a neat feature because you can look for an image to use without leaving Affinity Photo. Plus, all the images are free to use and don’t require attribution.
Inside of Affinity Photo, you’ll find Live Filters (in the Filter menu). Live Filters let you nondestructively apply filters to your images. This means that the filter you choose will be placed on a different layer instead of being applied directly to the image. Some of the live filters in Affinity Photo are Blur, Sharpen, Noise, and Lighting. However, there are many more filters that you can choose from.
Affinity Photo can import PSD (Photoshop) files, and it can import smart objects as embedded documents because it has PSD Editing Support. If you use mockups, then this feature will be great to use. Since some mockup files you find online are PSD files, the PSD editing support would allow you to edit the mockups and add your own designs to them. You can access this feature by going to the Edit menu, then select Preferences. After that, go to General and check the box that says, “Import PSD smart objects where possible”.
Macros is one of my favorite features of Affinity Photo. In Affinity Photo, Macros allow you to record and save multiple steps that you’ve previously used. Then, those steps are played back as a single action. Macros are like Photoshop’s actions. This is an excellent feature because it helps you to optimize your workflow. To locate the Macros panel, go to the View menu. Then, go to Studio and check Macro and Library (to view other macros you created).
If you want to learn more about Affinity Photo and to start editing your photos, check out the two courses in this article on how to master Affinity Photo.
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