Welcome to Affinity Photo! In this article, we will cover the top 10 things beginners need to know. Let’s get started! 😊
#1 – Opening a Photo
Go to the File menu, then select Open.
Choose any photo from your computer, then press Open.
#2 – Interface Overview
Affinity Photo’s interface is organized into three main areas: the Tools over on the left, the Context Toolbar at the top, and the Studio Panels on the right.
Affinity Photo has a lot of different tools, including tools for cropping, painting, and adding text. As you select different tools, the options in the Context Toolbar change.
On the right side, there are the Studio Panels. There are around 30 different panels in Affinity Photo, and they offer a wide range of functionality.
You usually don’t need all of the panels, so by default, Affinity hides the less important ones. Most of the time, you only need two of the panels: the Color panel and the Layers panel.
To keep the interface tidy, you can remove all of the panels besides these two. To remove a panel, click and drag on its name to remove it from the right side, then press the X to delete it.
If you want all of your panels to go back to the default, go to Window, then Studio, then Reset Studio.
You can also customize the panels with the hamburger menu at the top right of the panels.
With the Color panel, you can click on the hamburger menu, and select the Wheel option.
With the Layers panel, you can click on the hamburger menu, and select the Large Thumbnails option.
With the Layers panel, you can also click on the hamburger menu, go to Thumbnail Background, and select Checkerboard. This will remove the checkered background, which can be a little distracting.
#3 – Adjustment Layers
Adjustment layers are very important because they allow you to change the color and lighting of images. To find the adjustments, press on the two-colored circle at the bottom of the Layers panel.
There are over 20 different adjustments. To see an example of how they work, apply the White Balance adjustment.
Every adjustment layer has different sliders. For this one, the sliders affect the white balance of the photo. Click and drag to move the sliders. Then press the X to close the dialog box.
Adjustment layers can be turned on and off by pressing on the little circle to the right of the layer. This allows you to experiment with how different changes will look on your photo.
You can add as many adjustment layers as you want. Apply a Brightness and Contrast adjustment.
Using this adjustment, adjust the sliders to change the brightness and contrast. Then close the dialog box.
To open the adjustment sliders again, press on its layer icon in the Layers panel. The sliders will appear again. Then you can continue to change the sliders.
To see how both of the adjustments are affecting the photo, you can select both of their layers. To do this, hold down Shift and click on the layers.
To see the difference, turn the layers off and on.
To delete layers, press Backspace (PC) or Delete (Mac) on your keyboard.
#4 – Brightening an Image
Apply the Curves adjustment. This is the best adjustment layer to brighten an image.
The white line controls all of the lighting in your image.
If you click and drag to raise the line, it will make the photo brighter.
If you lower the line down, it will make your photo darker.
The best part of the Curves adjustment is that the shadows and highlights can be adjusted independently. If you move the right side of the line, you’ll affect the highlights in your image.
If you move the left side of the line, you’ll affect the shadows in your image.
Most of the time, you’ll want to brighten the highlights in your photo and darken the shadows.
#5 – Enhancing the Colors
Apply an HSL adjustment layer.
This adjustment is great for adding more saturation to an image. Click and drag to adjust the Saturation slider.
To reset a slider, double-click on the circle of the slider.
This adjustment also allows you to adjust individual colors in your photo. Press on the color circle to select a color channel.
For example, with the red color channel selected, you can raise the saturation. You can continue selecting the different color channels to adjust the saturation. By targeting each color range separately, you can pick the perfect saturation for all of the colors in the photo.
#6 – Targeted Edits
By default, adjustments affect the entire photo. But you can also affect specific areas.
For example, let’s say you want to darken the edges of the photo without darkening the model. To do this, apply a Curves adjustment.
Bring the center of the line down to darken the photo.
Now the entire photo is darkened, so you need to erase the Curves adjustment from the model. To do this, select the Paint Brush.
Paint in white wherever you want an adjustment to be visible, and paint in black wherever you want it to be invisible.
Because you want the Curves adjustment to be invisible wherever the model is, you need to paint in black. Click on the black circle in the Color panel to change the color.
Paint on the model to remove the darkness. Now the Curves adjustment is only visible on the edges of the photo.
However, this looks harsh because the brush Hardness is set to 100%. This makes the paint strokes very noticeable. To make the painting soft and subtle, lower the Hardness.
Undo the harsh paint strokes by pressing Control + Z (PC) or Command + Z (Mac).
With 0% Hardness, paint on the model to remove the darkness.
You can make the Paint Brush bigger or smaller from the Context Toolbar. Just click and drag on the word Width, or enter an exact number into the Width box.
#7 – Removing Objects
To remove objects, select the Inpainting Brush.
This tool allows you to paint over an area, and Affinity will remove the object that you painted over. Before doing that, add a new Pixel layer.
This is a blank layer that you can paint on. Click and drag on the layer to place it above the photo layer.
In the Context Toolbar, change the setting to Current Layer & Below.
Click and drag to paint over whatever you want to remove.
#8 – Removing Backgrounds
To remove a background, make a selection of whatever you want to keep. In this example, you need to make a selection of the woman.
Select the Selection Brush.
With this tool, click and drag to make a selection. If you ever select too much, just hold down Alt (PC) or Option (Mac) on your keyboard, and anything you paint over will be removed from your selection.
After finishing the selection, press Refine in the Context Toolbar.
This will soften the edges of the selection. Press Apply.
With the selection made, it’s time to apply a mask. A mask will hide everything in the photo except for the area that is selected. To add a mask, click on the button at the bottom of the Layers panel.
To remove the selection, press Control + D (PC) or Command + D (Mac).
Affinity doesn’t always do a perfect job with selections. Luckily, you can paint in white and black on a mask. But first, zoom into the photo to paint more carefully.
Press Control + and – to zoom in and out on a PC.
Press Command + or Command – to zoom in and out on a Mac.
With the Spacebar key held down, you can click and drag to move around.
Select the Paint Brush.
Paint in black to remove the background, and paint in white to add it back in as needed.
A quick way to adjust the size of the brush is to use the left and right bracket keys on your keyboard.
To zoom back out, press Control + 0 (PC) or Command + 0 (Mac).
#9 – Adding a New Background
Go to the File menu, then select Place.
Select the photo that you want to add, then press Open.
Click and drag to place the photo.
This new photo needs to be underneath the subject, so click and drag to move its layer to the bottom of the Layers panel. Then resize the photo to fill the background.
#10 – Saving an Image
To save a photo, go to the File menu, then press Save As. This will save an Affinity file, which you can open later if you want to continue working on your design.
If you’re finished with your project, go to the File menu, then Export.
At the top of the dialog box, you can choose the file type that you want to use. There are a lot of options, but most of the time, you should use JPEG.
Then, press Export. From here, you can save the photo onto your computer.
And that’s it! Now you’re ready to start editing your own photos. Have fun! 😊