ESSENTIAL USER GUIDE ONLY WITH THE FREE UK’S BEST-SELLING PHOTO MAGAZINE AFFINITY PHOTO EDITING GUIDE 32 EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO GET STARTED RIGHT NOW! PAGES OF EXPERT ADVICE

SIX COMPLETE GUIDES TO ALL THE AFFINITY CORE SKILLS

PAGE 02 PAGE 06 PAGE 12 GET TO GRIPS WITH ENHANCE LANDSCAPES DISCOVER THE POWER AFFINITY’S PERSONAS WITH TONE MAPPING OF BLACK & WHITE PAGE 16 PAGE 20 PAGE 26 USE BLENDING MODES GET FLAWLESS SKIN CREATING STUNNING FOR AMAZING ASTRO WITH AFFINITY’S TOOLS IMAGE COMPOSITES GETTING STARTED AFFINITY PHOTO PART 1 GETTING STARTED WITH AFFINITY PHOTO KNOWHOW FOUR THINGS THAT WE LOVE ABOUT AFFINITY Here are the features which we think make Affinity the best new editing software on the market.

LIVE FILTERS If you’re the creative type who always adds Radial Blurs or likes to Liquify, you’ll love the ability to see your effects in real-time. This aspect really takes the guesswork out of complicated edits, meaning everybody has the power to create stunning results.

AFTER TONE MAPPING HDR is an area which many still consider a LANDSCAPES MAKE YOUR BEFORE WORK SHINE IN ONE CLICK complicated process. However, Affinity has a number of thanks to the dedicated Persona, powerful tools for landscape merging multiple shots couldn’t photographers, including a be more simple. It offers a series dedicated Tone Map Persona. of one-click presets, as well as Affinity Photo Opening your images in this sliders to create the perfect shot. Persona allows you to merge ONE-TIME a series of photos together to FULL CUSTOMISATION The new king of editing PAYMENT create an HDR image, which Affinity is set up in such you can fine-tune with a series a way that nearly all n Affinity Photo is yours for of dedicated sliders. aspects can be customised to the one-off cost of £48.99, or your liking. Through a simple only £19.99 for the iPad app process, you can add tools and Kirk Schwarz takes an in-depth look at Affinity n Visit affinity.serif.com/ tabs, ensuring that your favourites Photo, an award-winning photo editing suite that photo are always close to hand, and best offers powerful features at an unbeatable price. AFTER BEFORE suited to your needs. AFFINITY FOR IPAD Not content with creating N THE WORLD OF Affinity, truly meaning the catalogue of Adobe work identical experience to the I an amazing desktop image editing, plenty only limit to your creativity when you switch over. desktop version. experience, Affinity is also of software packages claim to is your imagination. With such impressive responsible for the best image offer the ultimate experience. As well as allowing you specs, it’s little wonder that What you can expect editing app on any mobile device. But none of these have excited access to such essentials as Affinity has claimed both our We’ll be running through It’s so good, you can follow along us as much as Serif’s Affinity Layers and Masks, you also own five-star Highly Rated all aspects of photo editing, with these tutorials without Photo editing suite. have excellent Live Filters, and Best in Test awards on starting out in this issue leaving the sofa. This fully-featured editing which allow you to see the every appearance, as well as with a look at the Develop software manages to create effects as you apply them – an Apple award for App of Persona, where we’ll show a perfect balance between a must for the perfectionist the Year 2017. you how to get the best out familiarity and innovation in us all. It also offers a huge Therefore, throughout this of your RAW files. thanks to its use of industry degree of customisation, special supplement, we’re We’ll also be looking at standard tools, as well as an non-destructive adjustments going to explore the key Affinity’s ability to create PORTRAITS EASILY CREATE ethos of creative freedom. and the amazing ability to aspects of this amazing stunning landscapes, HIGH-END RESULTS Few packages share such work with PSD files, meaning software, taking an in-depth thanks to the Tone Mapping When it comes to editing an incredible feature list as you won’t lose your back look at exactly what Affinity Persona, as well as how to portraits, the more advanced Photo can really do, including make the most of the brilliant skin retouching techniques a peek at the amazing iPad portrait features, which used to be a difficult trick to AFFINITY HAS CLAIMED OUR version, which is hands down includes one-click frequency master. Luckily, Affinity makes VERY OWN COVETED FIVE- the best fully featured mobile separation, taking all of the everything so simple, even image editing software hard work and effort out of including a one-click Frequency STAR BEST IN TEST AWARD available, offering a near- this advanced technique. Separation mode.

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PHOTO PERSONA HOME TO TOOLS, LAYERS A quick look AND ADJUSTMENTS Packed with industry standard tools, adjustments and creative filters, the Photo Persona is into the power PERSONA PANEL CUSTOMISABLE TOOLBAR where the majority of your Changing between the different Affinity allows you to add your editing will take place. Whether Personas is really as simple as most used tools, making it’s working on your colours, clicking their dedicated icons at complex editing even easier. adding selective Dodging of Personas the top of the screen. and Burning or even creating sprawling complex photo composites, this is where A FFINITY PHOTO using these alongside the raft the magic happens. has been designed of industry standard tools from the ground up to offer and adjustments on offer, SO MANY OPTIONS an unbeatably smooth and you’ll see why Affinity Photo Affinity houses a wide range of intuitive experience. It’s has been winning awards and features to aid in your editing. powerful enough to impress earning widespread acclaim Everything from an infinite any professional looking for since its initial release. History slider to a powerful a fully-functioning editing integrated suite, while also allowing Personas explained panel is waiting for you to take first-time users to create Here, we’ll be taking a quick NEVER BLAME full advantage of. fantastic results. It achieves look at what each Persona is YOUR TOOLS this by dividing tasks into capable of, offering you a brief Everything you ADJUSTMENTS GALORE Personas. These tabs house overview and pointing out need to edit your With so many Adjustment various editing setups, and do some of our favourite key photos is right Layers available, non- an excellent job of keeping features, many of which may at your fingertips destructive editing gives you your workflow intuitive. be surprisingly familiar to in this handy the freedom to edit without With just a single click, you. Over the course of this toolbar. You can fear of ruining your shots. you have access to a wealth of complete guide, we’ll also be even customise UNOBTRUSIVE EDITING abilities, including powerful going in-depth to show you it to make sure The large canvas area makes it Tone Mapping to create HDR some simple ways to achieve you have quick simple to keep your eyes on your MULTIPLE LAYERS work, with Affinity blending images, the most intuitive excellent results, covering access to your Affinity supports Layers, which seamlessly into the background. Liquify tool available and an genres from landscapes to favourite tools. means you can create complex excellent RAW conversion portraits, and everything composite images, really letting

experience. When you start in-between. ADAM BURTON your imagination run wild.

LIQUIFY PERSONA DEVELOP PERSONA TONE MAPPING PERSONA EXPORT PERSONA RESHAPE YOUR SHOTS A POWERFUL RAW CREATE BREATH-TAKING HAVE PRECISE CONTROL WITH THIS AMAZING TOOL CONVERSION MODULE HDRS IN MERE SECONDS WHEN SAVING YOUR WORK Liquify is an impressive RAW conversion is an Tone Mapping maximises a While you can easily save your image reshaping feature, essential, and Affinity’s shot’s dynamic range, which it work without utilising the including tools such as Push Develop Persona is achieves by merging data from might of the Export Persona, Forward, Pinch and Punch. outstanding, allowing you full multiple bracketed images. those who have the same However, Affinity takes it one control over fundamentals such However, Affinity’s Tone Mapping exacting standards as us will be step further by showing the effects as , Contrast and White Persona works just as well with a delighted at the power this module in real-time, including any underlying Balance. You also have an advanced single image, giving you instant results. offers. Allowing full control over saving Layers, as well as adding a customisable grid, allowing lens distortion correction tab, as well as the excellent Before You have access to a large library of one-click effects, including your images makes sure the world sees them as you intended. for precise control, and a Reconstruct Mesh, which can and After tools, which allow you to make sure you’re happy with the excellent James Ritson custom creations, and a wide array Affinity Photo even lets you save as PSD files, meaning working automatically lessen the effect by any degree – amazing. changes before you jump to the other Personas to finish the job. of sliders allow you to craft the effect that best suits your vision. with cross-platform clients becomes incredibly simple.

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AFFINITYPHOTO PERSONA Giving you the ability to TONE MAPPING

No landscape editing No complete be would comes strength Affinity’s in its variety. Instead of brilliantThe app iPad offers everything the DEVELOP PERSONA DEVELOP ALL THE TOOLS EDIT AS SHOOT YOU about constraints. about PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 7 PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM top-end professional tools, tools, professional top-end KNOWHOW create instantaneous HDR results results HDR instantaneous create from multiple or single images, Mappingthe Tone Persona is as simple as it is powerful. even You have access to the brilliant James profiles. custom Ritson WHY AFFINITY IS PERFECT FOR LANDSCAPES without the ability to tweak your RAW files. The Develop Persona gives you the flexibility to recover edits selective highlights, create colours. perfect and your hand-holding, it allows you true freedom, you meaning creative can create the edit you have in your mind, without having to worry desktop including does, version RAW editing. This means you can transfer your shots to your iPad as you shoot, and have them edited before you even get in thecar. Affinity is a fully-featured editing editing a fully-featured Affinity is package, which offers you all the allowing you to create truly results.stunning LANDSCAPES REVEAL SHOTS YOUR IN THE DETAIL HIDDEN AFTER BEFORE LANDSCAPES Affinity Photo has a tool or adjustment for every occasion. These include Dodge, Burn and Curves – ideal to add the perfect contrast.

CREATIVE TRAVEL PROJECTS EDIT YOUR SHOTS YOUR EDIT ON THE MOVE THE AMAZING AFFINITY APP IPAD When you’re out shooting landscapes and you want to get started with the editing process straight the away, Affinity Photo app is a boon. It offers an identical level of functionality as the desktop app, so you can even follow along with this tutorial on the go.

that’s the after. look you’re is choice entirelyThe yours. Which photo? using from a shot We’re Blyde Canyon in South Africa, but areyou free to use any photo like, thoughyou’d the technique will best work if you make sure have you witha shot plenty contrast, of and with details captured in both the shadows and the highlights. This will ensure Mappingthe has Tone enough data with to work as processesit the initial image. Of course, even though this is a landscape masterclass, freeyou’re to try with it any yourof shots, even wildlife or portraits. The joy of having of joy The so much Whenyou’ve finished in control is that really it allows toyou make each your shot own and actually gives you the freedom of level to be as subtle as or crazy as want you in your final edit. Mappingthe Persona Tone and applied an HDR look to your image, then you’ll be placed back into the Photo Persona, which means you can carry editing, on using tools such as the Stamp Clone to tidy anyTool up little imperfections, or even throw Adjustments, of in a couple meaning can you change the Colour Balance, some add ToningSplit even convert or your to shot & white black if Using a RAW landscapeUsing a RAW five differentPersonas, taking a brief look at what this very powerful photo editing software could offer. going we’re Now more much in-depth with a longer look at Mappingthe Persona. Tone image, which we’ll show to convertyou how in the Develop Persona first,we’re going to choose a custom Mapping presetTone from the many offer on walkand throughyou the huge range customisationof options.

walks you through you Kirk getting walks Schwarz the most Affinity’s using RAW landscape photos your of out Mapping Persona. and powerful the Tone editor

ITH SO MANY stunning landscapes

THE JOY OF HAVING SO SO OF HAVING THE JOY

MUCH CONTROL IS THAT IT IT THAT CONTROL IS MUCH OWN YOUR A SHOT MAKES

Of course, even thebest AMAZING

PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHY PRACTICAL W

PART 2

ENHANCING shot inshot can the world benefit from a touch editing, of and that’s the where excellent AffinityPhoto comes into On the previousplay. pages, journeyedwe through the around us, ripe for capture, they’re a staple our of photography portfolios. Whether sunrise, it’s sunset justor an interesting location we’ve stumbled across, we’re never without our . 6

LANDSCAPES

Landscape masterclass Affinity Photo DISCOVERAFFINITY... LANDSCAPES AFFINITY PHOTO TIP RE-DEVELOP This tutorial refers to RAW conversion, but Affinity lets you use the same tools on your JPEGs. Simply click the Develop Persona at any time.

Get your exposure spot on Add some contrast to make it pop 1 Open your Basic Tab and increase the Exposure and 2 Set the Contrast and Clarity sliders to bring out the Brightness sliders to lighten or darken the image, but details – to 12% and 10% respectively in our shot. If your don’t blow your highlights. You can also increase your Blackpoint colour isn’t jumping out, you can increase Vibrance to bring out to 5% to deepen the blacks, which really makes the shot pop. rich tones – we’ve gone to 50% and the result is subtle.

AFTER Give yourself a head-start with Recover your shadows and highlights Use a gradient to edit your sky 3 Click on Shadows & Highlights and slide Shadows right 4 Click the Overlay Gradient Tool and select Linear. Now to increase the brightness in the darker areas – we’ve drag from mid-sky to your horizon. The red mask is the Affinity’s Develop Persona gone to 15%. Slide the Highlights slider left to recover details in only area that editing will affect, so use the previous three steps the brighter parts, preventing the sky from being too bright. to perfect your sky. Click Develop when you’re finished. W E ALL KNOW Once you’ve explored the that RAW files tools on offer and created capture a phenomenal your very own magnum opus, KNOWHOW THREE TOOLS FOR PRECISION EDITING amount of data in comparison you’ll be taking it into the to JPEGs. However, to make Tone Mapping Persona to add the most of this data, you the final touches and bring need the software to read it out all the hidden details. – which is where the Develop With Affinity Photo’s Persona really shines. ethos of creative freedom, In this first step you’ll see you are always able to jump how to make the most out of back into the Develop your RAW landscape image, Persona to touch up your recovering highlights and work if you’ve missed BEFORE shadows, as well as adding something in the edit, as Above & top This RAW image doesn’t do the scene any justice. some vibrancy, perfecting the well as moving seamlessly With just a few tweaks, you can completely change your shot. colours and using gradient between the Develop and OVERLAY GRADIENT TOOL OVERLAY PAINT TOOL OVERLAY ERASE TOOL tools to add selective edits. Photo Persona, which gives This allows you to mask off Similar to the Gradient Tool, This handy erase tool allows This will allow you to make you access to tools such as AFFINITY PHOTO ALLOWS an area, meaning only your but this actually allows you to you to remove any area of skies look moody without the Clone Stamp Tool, Colour YOU TO MOVE SEAMLESSLY chosen area will be affected by any create your mask with a brush tool for your mask by simply brushing, which affecting your perfectly- Balance or the powerful editing, perfect for bright skies. pin-point precision. is great for detailed fine-tuning. exposed foregrounds. Dodge and Burn. BETWEEN THE PERSONAS

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AFTER KNOWHOW THREE OF THE BEST ONE-CLICK EFFECTS With so many on offer, we thought we’d give you a helping hand by showing you our three favourite presets, ranging from a calm and natural look, to something more extreme.

DRAMATIC Found under the Default tab, this punchy preset gives you an BEFORE instant colour boost without giving you too much clarity. Above & left We’ve turned our RAW It’s ideal for bright images image into a great starting point, making with a wide range of sure we have plenty of tones. In just five Adjust your tonal compression colours, and is perfectly steps, you can really ramp up the visual For this scene, the instant effect is a little too powerful. 3 suited to bring out the best impact of your shot. Sliding the Tonal Compression slider left will reduce the details in your favourite overall effect, while dragging the Local Contrast slider left will summery blue-sky shots. decrease the clarity in the image, making it a touch more natural.

TIP MAXIMUM GRIT EXPERIMENT Found under the Extreme tab, this With such a wide range of preset is unashamedly HDR. presets available, don’t be Packing in a huge amount of afraid to experiment. Use Tone Mapping Local Compression and an The menu even offers increase in sharpening, it is Crazy and Extreme perfect for gritty black & options. white portraits, especially to create instant impact on those subjects who have one or two wrinkles or furrowed brows. C REATING HDR Tone Mapping Persona to stunning HDR image at the usual exposure, contrast and photos can be an take on some of this work. click of a button. The best colour tools, as well as Tonal in-depth and advanced While this Persona does thing about this technique is Compression, Local Contrast technique, often requiring allow you to import multiple that you have a wide range of and even an excellent you to shoot a series of images and create your final one-click presets designed to Overlay Paint Tool to create Edit the exposure to suit your scene exposure bracketed images shot, it can also create the cover nearly every type of a custom mask, allowing for You’ll recognise the same tool layout as the Develop (meaning they’re shot at effect using a single shot you can envisage. You a truly mind-blowing level of 4 Persona, which keeps this step simple. Drag the different exposures). Affinity exposure, which it will can even see the results in selective editing possibilities Exposure, Blackpoint and Brightness sliders to fix your Exposure, Photo includes a dedicated automatically turn into a real-time. You also have the for your landscape images. and use the Shadows & Highlights to bring back any lost details.

Select your Preset ARCTIC CHAMBER 2 In the Tone Mapping This James Ritson Custom is ideal for enhancing Open the Tone Mapping Persona Persona, on the left you’ll Fix the colours with a mask those tones. Bringing the colour temperature 1 Once you’ve finished the Develop process, you’ll be sent see the presets. Open the drop-down 5 Click the Overlay Paint Tool, and simply brush over down and increasing the Local Contrast, it’s perfectly to the Photo Persona. This is great for getting in-depth, menu and click James Ritson Customs. the saturated areas to create a mask. Now reduce the suited for bringiong the most out of your foreground, but Affinity has an easier path to amazing results – simply click For this tutorial, we’ve used the ‘Lift Shadows, Saturation and Vibrance sliders. If you’ve made a mistake, click making it ideal for long-exposure winter waterfalls. the Tone Mapping Persona to carry on. Max Punch’ preset, though feel free to experiment. the Overlay Erase Tool to erase the mask. Now click Apply.

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AFFINITYPHOTO Designed to representDesigned to spaces, print different SOFT PROOFING

Starting with an obvious Black powerful the one, Affinityoffers both, fine-tune to you allowing personal favourite, Our adding a Black & White BLACKWHITE & CURVES AND LEVELS MAP GRADIENT your tones exactly. This This exactly. tones your PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 13 PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM KNOWHOW Soft Proof can also be used to add an artistic effect. Cycling between options can give you a washed-out is subtle which look, ideal for adding a sense of filmic whites. & black your to depth WHY AFFINITY IS PERFECT FOR B&W EDITING & White Adjustment allows you to colour individual each fine-tune sliders. you simple lets This with make micro changes that are otherwise near-impossible. nth the to highlights and shadows perfect is degree, those which for eye-catching black & white ultra-bright with conversions blacks. smooth and whites Gradient Mask allows you to place is perfect for taking control over all-importantthe transitions in images. monochromatic your Affinity’s brilliant non-destructive brilliant Affinity’s adjustments allow a huge range of creative freedom. These come into colour converting when own their white. & black stunning to

URBAN MONO URBAN STANDARD CONTRAST STANDARD ENHANCED CONTRAST ENHANCED USING LEVELS BLACK INSTANT & WHITE EXCELLENCE Simply add a Levels Adjustment and increase the Black Level to 10% and decrease the WhiteLevel to 90% for an instant contrast pop.

ORIGINOO IMAGE TECHNOLOGIES EDIT IN YOUR LUNCH YOUR IN EDIT BREAK WITH THE AMAZING AFFINITY APP IPAD previouslyWe’ve explored the massive power of Affinity’s iPad app, and once again you can use it to follow along with this entire tutorial. The best part is that you can take it anywhere, so grab a sandwich and sit down to create your mono masterpieces.

Finding this perfect mix you canyou your re-jig edit as andmuch as often as you like. To really harness the & white, black power of it’s important that have you a thatshot translates well. The best mono are often those which have plenty contrast, of and a strong amount of dominant shadows and highlights. You can often find the right mix in shots taken in directional light, early morning late or afternoon, the when sun is at its lowest point. increases the depth, so try and make this to your work advantage by having side one in constant light, and the other bathed in deep shadows. detail for your viewers to marvel at. Taking step one it further, adding a Soft Proof Adjustment will allow to you instantly create a beautiful washed-out look, adding an extra depth to your tones with a traditional film appearance. can also You Mappingexplore the Tone Persona, using HDR to ramp yourup street portraits. Keep ultimateKeep control All these of techniques are non-destructive, so can you go back and fine-tuneyour individual Layers to ensure haveyou the perfect results. And forget don’t that Affinity will save these Layers, as well as your full History, meaning Of course, taking the shot buildings and purpose-built purpose-built and buildings steel monoliths provide the perfect playground for adventurous architectural photography enthusiasts. is only the first stepon the way to greatness. A small amount natural of editing can help to really uncover the hidden potential in even your best work. Adding simple edits, such as contrast and clarity, will give your shots a gritty look, while managing to emphasise every little

shows you how to get the most from most the get to how you Kirk shows Schwarz abstractyour architecture and gritty black & white tutorial. follow to easy this in street photos

ITIES ARE GREAT for so many reasons.

NATURAL EDITING CAN CAN EDITING NATURAL UNCOVER HIDDEN POTENTIAL WORK BEST IN EVEN YOUR

If you prefer your subjects Exploring busy shopping PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHY PRACTICAL

C PART 3 EXPLORING MONO URBANMONO to be silent and static, the often eclectic mix stone old of precincts and secluded more back alleys will reveal a whole host intriguing of characters, just begging to be framed up by your . Not onlyNot they do often have the best and shops a vibrant night-life, they but also offer incredible architecture and loads creative of potential.

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Creative city scenes Affinity Photo ENVIRONMENTS DISCOVERAFFINITY... URBAN MONO AFFINITY PHOTO

AFTER KNOWHOW THREE WAYS TO GO BLACK & WHITE Black & white is a harsh mistress. Going mono is never as simple as desaturating an image, which is where Affinity’s range of powerful tools come in super handy.

GRADIENT MAP You set custom colour BEFORE values to shadows, Above & left Adding a black & white midtones and conversion, as well as increasing noise highlights, such as and clarity, has given us a completely Increase your global Clarity black, grey and different feel to our starting image, really 3 Click your Background Layer and Duplicate it with white, to create your helping to bring this character to life. Ctrl+J. Open the Live Filters menu – the hourglass icon mono. However, you below your Layers Panel – and select Clarity Filter. Add a radius can add additional shades and alter their placement to of 5-10px for local contrast to bring out your subject’s character. affect the image in real-time, which is perfect for bringing TIP your precise vision to life. EXPERIMENT BLACK WITH GRADIENTS & WHITE By The Gradient Map allows simply clicking on you to add multiple points. Learn how to add a gritty this Adjustment, Experiment with different Black & White tones for great instantly gives results. feel to your street photos you a flat monochromatic image. However, A S FAR AS GENRES recognition posthumously. Of course, packing in a that gritty look. The great using the go, there are few as Whatever your inspiration, massive amount of flexibility, thing about Affinity is that assigned colour classic and inspirational as the subtle art of capturing Affinity gives you more than we can do this entire process sliders allows , harking candid moments has moved one way to create stunning non-destructively. Simply you the freedom to alter the back to the days of pioneers on relatively little since the black & whites, and the put, this means your original Add a touch of noise for that film look such as legendary Magnum days of film, and nowhere is powerful Filters, such as image remains 100% intact, underlying Again in the Live Filters menu, click Add Noise Filter. co-founder Henri Cartier- this more obvious than the Noise, will allow you to add allowing you to alter any of 4 colours, which is perfect for selective editing, especially Make sure you’re set to Gaussian and not Uniform, and Bresson and Vivian Maier, wide-spread use of black & a hint of vintage grain to your changes at any point when you have a busy scene. also have Monochromatic ticked. Set intensity to 15% to add who tragically only achieved white in modern street shots. your work, really adding to throughout your edit. grain. Right click and select Merge Visible to create a Layer. HSL Simply setting your Saturation slider to -100% is a very quick way to create a flat black & white image. However, changing Master to Red, Yellow or one of the other colours and increasing your saturation to +100% can give you some interesting, yet easy to create, selective colouring.

Add a subtle 5 hint of HDR Open the new Layer Adjust contrast in Tone Mapping Persona. 2 Double-click halfway between Select Maximum Grit from the Create a black & white Gradient Map the left and middle circles to Extreme presets tab. Set Tone 1 Open the Adjustment Panel and choose Gradient Map. add a new point and choose a very dark Compression to 25%, Local Click the left-hand circle, which will be red, click colour grey. You can slide this to change your Contrast to 15% and increase and select black. Do the same for the right circle, changing blue shadow strength. Repeat on the right-hand your Blackpoint. Click Apply and to white, and then the middle circle, choosing a mid-grey tone. side, choosing a very light grey. adjust Opacity to suit your shot.

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AFFINITYPHOTO Exposure Merging can can Merging Exposure be used on Image Exposure Merging Exposure

This handy filter increases local the One of the most features underutilised With so much of the information in hiding CLARITY MODES BLENDING PERSONA DEVELOP PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 17 PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM KNOWHOW image editing, Blending image Modes stars, the retaining the while Stacks to take an average metering of the individual Layers and create the perfect exposure. This is ideal for star trails, but also shooting anyone for very handy landscape shots. bracketed contrast, which can often be incredibly overpowering. However, in small doses, you’ll find your stars really pop against the blackness of the sky. IS PERFECT WHY AFFINITY FOR ASTRO of allow you to alter the behaviour of a Layer in relation to the Layers colour adding makes which below, amazinglypops simple. plain sight, the ability to convert a essential.Develop is The file RAW allow will tools powerful Persona’s brightness increase the to you of darkness of your sky. Offering the ultimate freedom Offering ultimate the allows you to craft your star shots from the ground up, perfect for details. hidden revealing ASTRO

BOBAK BOHDAN AFTER BEFORE BLENDING MODESBLENDING SCREEN VS SOFT LIGHT Screen hides the darkness in the Layer, whereas Soft Light lightens anything over 50% grey, and darkens anything that’s darker.

ZDENEK BARDON CREATE YOUR OWN YOUR CREATE EPIC ASTRO SHOTS WITH THE AMAZING AFFINITY APP IPAD Affinity award-winning Photo’s software is also available as an iPad app, and is perfect for editing on the move. If you want to work on your astro images while still under the night sky, the app is a perfect companion to check you’ve nailed the shot. Don’t just take our word

well as a can-do attitude and creative freedom, Affinity revels in creating the impossible. even It features an amazing Exposure Merging function, which, as you’ll see, allows toyou create star trails, such as in Zdenek’s, a single click. This is something that was previously a laborious task, having to change Blending Modes multiple Layers on at a time.one – getfor it there out and shoot your own astro images, and you’ve captured once masterpiece,a RAW come back and follow our step-by- step tutorial to really make them shine. With such a wide range of the unseen information, as well as correcting the colour and adding those touches. finishing What the pros use imageThe above was shot and edited by leading astrophotographer – and keen Affinity –user Zdenek Bardon. talented The Czech photographer has edited countless shots in Affinity, and has even had some the of resulting shots published by NASA, which must surely count as one the of highest commendations either Affinity orZdenek could receive. of industry-leading tools, as

With a little luck, of bit these mysteries. Shooting exposureslong allows far lightmore to hit the sensor than the human eye can perceive, revealing a myriad amazingof details. a and some jiggery pokery with your settings, canyou easily wind with up a stunning dark sky-scape. takingHowever, the photo is only the first step in the process, and the real magic post-processing, in happens can you where bring all out

delves into the vast mystery space vast the of into Kirk delves Schwarz most the get you help to techniques two these with amazing astro and your star of out trail shots.

TARS – POSSIBLY the greatest

THE REAL MAGIC HAPPENS HAPPENS REALTHE MAGIC

IN POST-PROCESSING, WHERE IN POST-PROCESSING, ADD FINISHING TOUCHES YOU

PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHY PRACTICAL

S PART 4 THE ART OF inspiration the human race has ever known. Whether gazeyou in up amazement dark,on a clear night, you or purposely study the outer reaches our of galaxy with a chances powerful telescope, are blown away you’re by what see. you Of course, the beauty of is that what see you is only an infinitely small portionof what’s to be found, and your camera can to uncover help

16 Explore the night sky Affinity Photo SHOOTING STARS SHOOTING DISCOVERAFFINITY... ASTRO AFFINITY PHOTO DAN MOLD DAN BEFORE KNOWHOW THREE WAYS TO USE BLENDING MODES Blending modes change the way individual Layers interact with each other. This can create some unique results, and these three are must-haves in your editing arsenal.

SOFT LIGHT The Soft Light Blending Mode changes the values of the current Layer based on its relation to 50% grey. Anything which is lighter Merge your Layers to add finishing touches becomes brighter, and 3 Once you’ve created your amazing star trails, click on anything which is less bright the Live Stack Group, the top Layer, and make sure it’s becomes darker. It’s great active. Right click and select Merge Visible. This will create a new for adding subtle contrast Above & left In just two steps, you can import all of Pixel Layer above the group, which you can edit further. to your image. your individual shots and merge them together to TIP create the final star trail image. AFTER EXPOSURE MERGING While Maximum works well Use Blending Modes to for us, you can also try Range or Mid Range, which may work create amazing star trails better.

S TAR TRAILS ARE incredibly simple to shoot, The individual shots will document as a series of one of the most and even easier to create in have a slight trail to them, Layers. You’ll also be creative avenues of Affinity Photo. but with a little Affinity exploring the Exposure astrophotography, blurring To craft your shots, magic, you can blend them Merging function, which SCREEN Screen is an essential Blending Mode, and one the lines between fact and you’ll need to set your all together seamlessly to allows you to get the best Perfect your contrast with Curves fiction to create a shot with speed to at least create one mega star trail. exposure from multiple you simply must know for creating composites. Create a Curves Adjustment Layer. Now lower the left a massive amount of visual 30 seconds, and take a series You’ll learn how to use shots with a single click. 4 It makes blacks turn invisible, which is incredibly useful side of the Tone Curve to darken the shadows, and raise impact. The great news of continuous shots over the Layer Stacks, bringing It’s so simple, you’ll have if you have an image with a subject you want to use, and the right side to boost the highlights. Don’t worry if details get is that they are actually course of 20 to 30 minutes. multiple photos into a single a masterpiece in minutes. a black background, such as fireworks or stars. blown out, we will fix that in the next step.

Use Exposure Merge Mask off the EXCLUSION 2 Now you’ll have a Group 5 unwanted areas Add a new Layer and use the Paint Bucket tool Import as a New Stack called Live Stack. To merge Click the Brush Tool and to fill the Layer with a navy blue. Now set the 1 To open all of your star shots as a single multi-Layered your star trails, simply click the set the colour to black. Now brush Blending Mode to Exclusion and you’ll notice the shadows document, go to File>New Stack. Click Add on the Exposure Merge icon to the right of the any area where you don’t want the curves to be visible, and the are blue, and the highlights are yellow. Reduce the Opacity dialogue box and select your shots. Click Open, then Click OK stack Layer and change to Maximum. Layer Mask will hide them. To bring any area back, simply repeat, to 5% for a quick and easy cross-processing effect. to add them to your Layers panel – this will take a minute. This will instantly create epic star trails. but change your foreground colour to white.

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KNOWHOW WHY AFFINITY IS PERFECT FOR PORTRAITS Affinity Photo includes industry leading tools, but manages to improve on them, especially in the case of blemish removal and skin retouching – a must for portraits.

FREQUENCY BEFORE SEPARATION The ability to create a complicated frequency separation with a single click is amazing, PART 5 allowing you to master this very MASTERING powerful skin retouching PERFECT technique from day one. PORTRAITS HEAL ALL ILLS Affinity features a full complement of skin retouching tools, including a Healing Brush and Blemish Removal Tool. Using these, you can quickly and easily tidy up Affinity Photo any little imperfections. AFTER AFFINITY KNOWS PORTRAITS NOT SURE? ASK AFFINITY TO HAVE A GO If you’re new to editing, Go to Filter>Colours>Auto Levels and watch in amazement as Affinity Affinity Photo offers Create powerful portraits automatic tools. The Filters menu decides what level of contrast and toning best suits your image. houses Auto Colours, Contrast Kirk Schwarz shows you how to use Affinity Photo and Levels, all of which are ideal to give you an instant boost and to get professional looking skin, as well as adding lead you in the right direction. an autumnal twist with a very simple colour edit. COLOUR THE WAY YOU WANT IT Colour is one of the most HE CONSTANT how to use this to your full separation filter. This makes you’re separating the texture T important tools you have at your throughout all the advantage by shooting in professional skin retouching from the colours, which gives disposal, and Affinity Photo has seasons is stunning light, and that fragile in-between time, an absolute doddle, allowing it that polished look. a great selection. Whether Colour we can take full advantage of when the leaves are firmly you to create outstanding To get the most out of this Balance, Selective Colour or even this when shooting portraits attached and the rich hues results, which would be a lot effect, you’ll want to use a the powerful Channel Mixer, you whatever the time of year. haven’t quite started to make more difficult to achieve in shot with plenty of clean and have all the tools you’ll ever need. We’ve themed our shoot with their appearance yet. many other editing packages. contrasting colours, since autumn in mind, but there’s To achieve this warm and you’ll be targeting specific inspiration to be found in welcoming look, we’re going What will you need? hues to create your own every season. to use some of Affinity All you need to create your colour scheme. If you have a While the later autumn Photo’s powerful colour tools. own autumnal wonderland is model in a forest, make sure months may be dominated by This will allow us to subtly a nice portrait taken in an area their face isn’t picking up the a magical show of changing change the colour palette to with plenty of lush foliage. green hue which is often colours and falling foliage, suit our scene. We’ll also Don’t delay, as the seasons reflected from the trees or the earlier months change show you how to use the tend to disappear before our grass. Once you’ve selected very little. We’ll show you brilliant one-click frequency very eyes. When composing, your perfect shot, simply you’ll want your subject to be follow the next steps and perfectly in focus, as well as you’ll not only master the art THIS MONTH WE’RE USING pretty large in the frame. of powerful and advanced FOLLOW ALONG WHEREVER YOU ARE WITH THE POWERFUL AFFINITY IPAD APP THE TONE MAPPING PERSONA This ensures the frequency skin retouching, but you’ll The Affinity Photo iPad app is great for the busy portrait photographer. Thanks to its Above Colour Balance allows you separation will have the also be an ace when it comes fully-featured approach, offering an identical level of functionality as the desktop app, to create dramatic colour grading. FOR STUNNING RESULTS maximum impact when to colour grading. you can even follow along to this whole tutorial.

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Create a Frequency Separation Remove the blemishes and imperfections 1 Go to Filters>Frequency Separation. Slide the Radius 2 Click the High Frequency in the Layers Panel. Now until the texture on the colour half of the image has just choose the Blemish Removal Tool and click on a become too blurred to make out. Click Apply and it will create two blemish. While holding down your mouse button, move the cursor Layers. High Frequency is your texture, and Low is your colour. to an area of clean skin and let go. Repeat until you’re happy. TIP BRUSH IT IN If there isn’t enough clear skin to clone from, select AFTER the Brush Tool and set the Opacity to 15%. Holding Alt lets you pick a Create easy frequency close colour. separation in just one click

IMAGE AS SHOT FREQUENCY SEPARATION H AVE YOU EVER pro photographer’s editing Use the Clone Stamp Tool to even tones Use Gaussian Blur to smooth the skin picked up one of arsenal. It splits your image 3 Click on the Low Frequency Layer and choose the Clone 4 Choose the Free Hand Selection Tool and set Feather those ultra-glossy magazines into two entirely different Stamp Tool. Set Opacity to 20% and while holding Alt, to 40px. Draw around any area where the texture needs and seen models whose Layers. The first is a blurred click a source point. Now brush in over any area where the skin smoothing. Go to Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set a Radius perfectly flawless skin looks Layer, which controls your tone looks unnatural. This is great for bringing back highlights. that smooths the skin, but be subtle – 7.2px worked here. too good to be true? Then it colour, and the second is a probably is! Even top models texture Layer, which is set don’t turn up to the studio to a Linear Light Blending looking that great. It’s a Mode. This allows you to KNOWHOW THREE STEPS TO INNER HEALING combination of make-up work on your skin tones and artistry and some savvy skin texture individually. HEALING BRUSH TOOL post-processing. While we That may sound overly This allows you to set your own source point, like can’t recommend make-up complicated, but Affinity the Clone Stamp, but automatically blends in artists enough, they’re Photo’s Frequency Separation based on the surroundings – ideal for texture work. probably overkill if all you’re is automated. That’s right, doing is taking some nice with a single click, Affinity BLEMISH BRUSH TOOL shots of your friend. This just creates your split Layers This tool allows you to click on any area, and drag leaves the retouching option. as required, while also to a new area where you prefer the texture. It then Frequency separation is allowing you to fine-tune DETAIL BEFORE DETAIL AFTER blends it in seamlessly by calculating the texture and one of the most popular, and each individual aspect for the colour in the area around your selection. successful techniques in any best possible looking results. INPAINTING TOOL This brilliant tool lets you paint over an area, and AFFINITY PHOTO MAKES Affinity will work out what to fill it with, based on COMPLEX RETOUCHING the surrounding areas. This makes it ideal for removing Above The heat and direct light makes the skin look a little blown unwanted distractions from your scenes. INCREDIBLY SIMPLE out. In four steps, the skin looks smooth and natural.

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BEFORE AFTER KNOWHOW THREE GREAT WAYS TO CREATE COLOUR Adjustment Layers are the backbone of any good editing software, and Affinity Photo has them in spades. These are three amazing ways to alter your images’ colour.

Use Layer Masks to erase the colours 3 Altering the Hue may have changed other areas of your shot. To undo this, click on the HSL Layer and use a Soft Edged Paint Brush Tool to brush black over any areas you don’t want this to be visible, such as the skin or grass.

TIP FEELING BLUE If you want to make this feel Use colour to change more wintry, shift your Colour Balance to blue instead of warmer summer into autumn tones.

COLOUR BALANCE C OLOURS ARE AN we see it. RAW files retain file which has been edited by it’s the small things that can Colour Balance is a much-used tool. It’s intrinsic part of our basic data about the scene, your camera, so it’s still not make the biggest difference. responsible for values of colour in a particular daily lives, and they dominate but it’s up to you to bring that guaranteed to show the Everyday tools, such as image, and can be used to subtly grade you work, or even our world. In photography, information out as you want viewer that epic scene you Colour Balance and Selective create a dramatic mood by cooling down the scene, or they are one of the most to show it. Similarly, JPEGS, want to convey. Colour, can be used to make Add a global Colour Balance using it to mimic soft warm summer light. important tools you have to which don’t capture the subtle tweaks, or even to 4 Create a Colour Balance Adjustment and drag the Cyan/ connect with your viewers. same level of detail, look a lot Take control of colour completely change the look Red slider right to introduce a warmer, more autumnal HSL However, cameras don’t more vibrant out of camera. We’ve already learned how and mood of your scene, as light. Now drag the Magenta/Green and the Yellow/Blue sliders HSL stands for always capture the vista as However, a JPEG is an image powerful Affinity can be, but we’ll find out now. left. You should have a warm tint but with natural skin tones. Hue, Saturation and Luminance. It allows you to choose specific colour channels, and alter the value of each hue, meaning you can change all of your original colours. You can also control the saturation and brightness.

SPLIT TONING Split Toning assigns different colour values to the highlights and shadows. You can then choose a bias to decide which colour dominates. This simple technique can create a wild Warm the colour balance Use HSL to alter the leaves Apply an autumnal Gradient Map effect, or just introduce 1 Open the Adjustments tab and choose White Balance. 2 Create an HSL Adjustment and change Master to Yellow. 5 Create a Gradient Map Adjustment and choose the complementary colours into Sliding right towards orange will warm your image, Drag the Hue slider right to 0.8, depending on your green default. Click the middle circle and delete it. Now your work, which really whereas sliding left will make it more blue, or cool. You want to scene, to change the yellow to autumnal browns. Change Yellow click the right most circle and change the colour to green. Set the draws in the viewer’s eye. slide right, until your shot looks as though it was taken at sunset. to Green and repeat this to even out the tones. Blending mode to Screen and Opacity to 10% and you’re done.

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KNOWHOW WHY AFFINITY IS PERFECT FOR COMPOSITES Affinity Photo boasts powerful features, such as selection tools, Layers and Masks, all of which are essential for digital mash-ups.

MAKE YOUR SELECTION Affinity offers a handful of tools which allow you to create selections, ranging from quick and easy, to extremely precise and complex. This is a key area when it comes to creating intricate composites.

THE MIGHTY PEN The Pen Tool allows PART 6 for the most precise SUPERHERO selections, letting you fine-tune the direction of travel, as well as SHOWDOWN create pixel-perfect curves and spot-on cut-outs.

LAYER MASKS Layer Masks allow you to hide an individual Layer’s effects from the rest of the image, while retaining the information Affinity Photo should you change your mind at a later date – an essential for Composite creatively complex composites. LEARN TO REFINE AFTER Refine allows you to alter your selections after the fact, going as far as offering

Kirk Schwarz takes you on a journey to create KEVIN a Matte Brush, which makes the next protector of the human species in this Affinity do the hard work on tough selections, such as flyaway hair. impressive superhero composite tutorial. This makes the whole selection process incredibly powerful and very professional. L OOK, IN THE SKY. behind our final Affinity you’ve mastered the art of in this case, is a hero. We’ve Is it a bird? Is it a Photo instalment. black & white conversions. posed him in a dynamic way plane? No, it’s a billboard Throughout the guide so One thing we’ve yet to cover, and we can still cut him out for the latest Hollywood far, you’ve learned how to which Affinity Photo does precisely. You’ll also need a superhero flick. Watching edit landscapes with the incredibly well, is the art of gritty background, such as fully-grown men being flung Develop and Tone Mapping creating selections. Powerful this city shot we’re using. BACKGROUND MODEL through skyscrapers, or Personas, you’ve gone features such as the Pen, Lastly, we’ve added some going toe-to-toe against through complex colour Selection Brush and Flood fiery wings for that extra SELECTING IMAGES ALWAYS gigantic aliens is just good grading using some of the Select Tools are perfect for final wow factor. THINK OF THE BIGGER PICTURE fun, and the inspiration best tools on the market, and making complex cut-outs – With all of your individual Find your background first, then create essential for creating our components shot or sourced, the scene around this. We had a gritty composite superhero image. it’s just a case of jumping background, which would allow us to AFFINITY’S SET OF NIFTY into Affinity to cut them out compose our flying effect. We shot the PRATHER LEIGH SELECTION TOOLS IS IDEAL TO Where do I start? and put them all together to model in a dynamic hovering pose and The most important shot create your epic cinematic thought the addition of flames as wings FLAMES CREATE EPIC COMPOSITES you’ll need is the hero, which masterpiece. would help to sell the whole effect.

26 PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHY PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 27 DISCOVERAFFINITY... COMPOSITES AFFINITY PHOTO Make your selections wisely

T HE KEY TO ANY Brush or Flood Select Tools, photo composite both of which offer a simple is being able to have your one-click approach, and individual elements interact both of which do an excellent seamlessly. This means being job. You also have the Pen able to have hard edges, or Tool, which allows you the even soft edges, appear as ultimate freedom and control. they should. It’s also essential Simply clicking from one that you don’t include the point to another will create a background when you’re line. You can then add natural cutting out a model, or curves to these lines, as well accidentally cut off parts of as move them or change the Tell the Pen Tool where to go next Turn your outline into a selection them. Thankfully, Affinity effect at any point, all of 5 Still holding down your mouse button, hold down the 6 Once finished, head to the toolbar at the top and press has three great tools for this. which make those precise Alt key and drag the mouse to move the line that was Selection to create a path of marching ants. Now hit You’ll be able to take selections very easy to master Above The powerful selection tools in Affinity make cutting out responsible for the curve. Point it in the direction of your next Ctrl+J to duplicate this Layer and delete the original. Use the advantage of the Selection – ideal for our superhero shot. your characters simple, while also giving you ultimate control. point and the transition will be much more natural. Move Tool to resize and place your model.

Open your background shot Cut out your superhero Create a realistic shadow Place the shadow and add some blur 1 To give yourself bearings, open the background shot 2 You now need to remove your hero from the background. 7 Duplicate your model Layer and open a Levels 8 Move the shadow to the street below and grab the top first, by clicking File>Open. Once imported, you have If the background is pure white, you can use the Flood Adjustment. Set Black Level to 100%, right-click the of the movement box. Drag this down to squash the a reference point to work with. Next, select your superhero model Select or Selection Brush Tools. However, if you have a busy Layer and select Mask to Below. Now right-click on the model shadow Layer. Click Live Filters and choose Gaussian Blur. Move shot and import it by going to File>Place. background like ours, select the Pen Tool for precision. and choose Transform>Flip Vertical. the slider right until the shadow’s edges are more natural. a KNOWHOW LEARN TO USE THE BEST TOOL FOR THE JOB

SELECTION BRUSH TOOL FLOOD SELECT TOOL THE PEN TOOL Trace the outline with the Pen Tool Create natural curved selections This tool allows you to paint With a single click, you can The most powerful and 3 Zoom in and click on the edge of your model, where you 4 Click once more but don’t let go. Drag the mouse in any your selection in, making it select an entire tone or precise tool, this allows you intend to start the selection. Now click a little further up. direction. You’ll see a line come out of the central anchor ideal for large areas with high contrast colour. You can even change the unlimited freedom to make curved and You should see a straight line appear, which isn’t good for cutting point, which will create a curve in the Pen Tool’s line. Drag until or strong geometric shapes. Tolerance, giving you a lot of control. pixel-perfect selections. out rounded shapes, so we need to learn how to create a curve... this fits the outline of your model but don’t let go.

28 PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHY PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 29 DISCOVERAFFINITY... COMPOSITES AFFINITY PHOTO TIP TAKE STOCK Stock sites can get expensive, but there are Blend images to 100% free alternatives such as unsplash.com where you can find create a story useful images.

A FLOATING MAN can be accomplished with a may be pretty stock photo and the Screen impressive in real life, but it Blending mode. While you takes quite a bit more than may not have a lot of images basic levitation to pass for a of fireballs at your disposal, superhero these days. With you can easily shoot fireworks Repeat for the this in mind, we’re going to or sparklers against a dark 5 other wing add some fiery wings to make sky to get the same effect, Take the flame Layer we Paint in the flames’ reflection our model really look the then you can use this simple hid earlier and make it visible. Now 6 Flames will create a colour cast, so we need to add that. part. Although it may sound technique to give your hero repeat the process, but when you’re using the Move Tool to place Create a new Pixel Layer and use the Paint Brush Tool. extremely difficult to achieve, some fiery abilities of their Above The ability to use multiple Layers and Masks is a must it, right-click and choose Transform>Flip Horizontal. Now put it in Set Flow to 10% and the Foreground Colour to Orange. Paint it’s a very simple effect, and very own. for anybody who is creating composite images. place and mask it out, as per the previous step. where the light should fall and set the Blending Mode to Soft Light.

Import your ‘special effects’ shot Add your fiery wings Add some movement to your model Mask off the Motion Blur effect 1 We have this shot of three fireballs, which we’re bringing 2 Use the Eraser Tool ‘E’ to delete all but one fireball. Once 7 Click back to your model Layer and create a Live Filter 8 Click on the Motion Blur Layer, which includes its own into the document by clicking File>Place. Once in, you have your single flame, use the Move Tool to put it Motion Blur. Set the rotation to 90% (or to suit your Layer Mask. Now use a black Paint Brush Tool to brush duplicate the Layer and hide the original by de-clicking the tick into place, and change the Blending Mode to Screen, which will pose) and Radius to 30px, which should create a sense of motion. out the blur effect over the model’s face and torso. You can to the right of its Layer. We will need this Layer later on. hide any black in the image making it invisible. Unfortunately, it’s blurred the whole model Layer... always paint it back in by switching from black to white.

HOW TO GET AFFINITY PHOTO ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW Affinity Photo is yours for the one-off cost of £48.99, or only £19.99 for the iPad app. It’s available on both Windows and Mac operating systems. To find out more about the desktop and iPad versions of Affinity Make the effect even brighter Mask out the front of the flames Add your final adjustments Photo, visit affinity.serif.com/photo where you’ll also find a 3 The Screen Blending Mode can cause transparency. To 4 Create a Layer mask for the new Group. Choose the 9 Click on your top Layer and create a Curves Adjustment. selection of video tutorials helping you get the best out of get around this, duplicate your Layer for a better effect. Paint Brush Tool ‘B’ and set hardness to 50%. Select Add an ‘S’ curve, which looks like the example above, the editing software to make the most of your images. Once you’re happy, hold Ctrl and click every fire Layer to select black as the foreground colour and brush where you don’t want to add additional contrast. You can now also add any additional them. Press Ctrl+G to put them all into a single group. the flames visible, which is the chest and arms. adjustments that you may have learned from previous tutorials.

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