Affinity Photo for Beginners | Updated for Version 2

Develop foundational skills to use Affinity Photo, starting from the very beginning and progressing to editing a simple photo.

Open photos in Affinity Photo, work across multiple tabs, save with save as, and export as jpeg or png with a quality slider to optimize size.

Compare Mac and PC experiences in Affinity Photo, noting UI differences like the close button and red dot and cross-platform shortcuts (command/control and option/alt). Learn navigation tools in next video.

Learn to navigate affinity photo with trackpad or mouse, zoom with cmd/ctrl plus or minus, and fit to screen with cmd/ctrl zero; use the spacebar for the hand tool.

Move, toggle, and rearrange layers in affinity photo to edit each image independently within a document, then learn how a top layer can affect all underneath.

discover updates to the layers panel in Affinity Photo, where the layer checkboxes may appear as circles or eyes; press the button to turn layers on and off.

Discover adjustment layers in Affinity Photo, the bread and butter for color and lighting across underlying layers. Learn how to apply, reorder, and toggle adjustments to control your image globally.

Practice makes perfect as you open a photo, apply brightness, contrast, and vibrance adjustments, tweak saturation, compare before and after, then save and export a jpeg.

Master the most important adjustments in Affinity Photo with simple, powerful edits that offer the best bang for your buck and avoid overlap.

Learn how to apply white balance in Affinity Photo, fix color cast with the yellow-blue slider, and fine-tune tint to achieve more natural skin tones and overall atmosphere.

Master the hsl adjustment to independently edit hue, saturation, and luminosity for each color channel, boosting reds, greens, and blues, while controlling opacity and re-opening the dialog box for refinements.

Apply a black and white adjustment in Affinity Photo using color sliders to control darkness of reds, greens, blues, and more; brighten the barn and darken surroundings to create contrast.

Balance shadows, highlights, and midtones in Affinity Photo using the levels adjustment, guided by the histogram and five sliders (black level, white level, gamma, output black, output white).

Apply a black and white adjustment to brighten the rabbit against a darker background, then use a levels adjustment to refine highlights and shadows for a clear before and after.

Brighten a photo with levels and gamma, then refine color using white balance, saturation, and hue shifts to emphasize the subject.

Learn to selectively apply adjustments to specific areas in Affinity Photo, brightening the model while keeping the rest of the image unchanged, using a simple trick.

Learn to selectively erase and restore parts of an adjustment in Affinity Photo. Use the paintbrush with white and black paint to reveal or conceal the recolor adjustment.

Learn to use the paintbrush in affinity photo: create a pixel layer, pick colors from the color panel, switch between black and white with X, and adjust size and flow.

Learn to brighten a photo's subject with a levels adjustment in Affinity Photo, masking with a brush to isolate the girl from the background and compare before and after.

Apply an HSL adjustment to boost saturation and reveal it only on the skirt by painting with a white mask using a brush, inverting the mask to control visibility.

Darken the edges with a levels adjustment, using gamma and white level to boost contrast. Erase center with a brush to keep the subject bright and make it stand out.

Add gradual light with a low flow brush and an extreme levels adjustment (gamma, white level, black level), painting light selectively on hair and facial areas for detail.

Explore a range of unique and important tools in Affinity Photo, from shapes to adding text, in a fun and different chapter introduction.

Learn to create a blank new document in Affinity Photo, selecting presets by category (print, web, device sizes, architectural), adjusting size, color, and background to suit your project.

Learn to work with layers using move, resize, and rotate with snapping and locking to arrange shapes precisely. Explore layer options, including duplicating, deleting, and adjusting thumbnails and transparency backgrounds.

Learn to use shape tools in Affinity Photo, create rectangles and circles with proportional scaling, customize corners and arrow parts, and adjust colors via the color wheel on shape layers.

Learn to use the text tool in Affinity Photo: create, type, and resize text with the move tool, change fonts and colors in real time, and edit text across layers.

Apply layer effects with the f x dialog to add Gaussian blur and outlines to shapes and text, tweaking radius, offset, color, and angle, and combine multiple effects.

Learn how to organize your artwork in Affinity Photo by using layer groups, duplicating layers with shortcuts, and moving grouped layers together for efficient editing.

Explore child layers in Affinity Photo, creating parent–child relationships to crop photos into circle and heart shapes, control visibility, and apply selective edits like HSL to specific layers only.

Learn to crop non-destructively in Affinity Photo, unlock layers, move and resize, and straighten images. Lock crops to custom ratios with overlays like thirds or golden spiral.

Create an ice cream shop flyer in Affinity Photo by designing an A4 document, building a layout with text, rounded rectangles, and circular image placeholders, and centering elements with snapping.

Create an ice cream shop flyer in Affinity Photo by placing and cropping images into shapes. Adjust brightness and color with levels and HSL, then apply borders and layer effects.

Explore how Affinity Photo uses personas to organize tools and panels into separate workspaces, switchable with a click, to keep tools available yet uncluttered.

Learn to use the Liquify persona to smooth bumps and adjust volume with push forward, pinch, and punch tools, duplicating the layer for non-destructive edits and comparing before and after.

Explore the export persona in Affinity Photo, focusing on creating and exporting slices, renaming them, and using auto updates to keep exports current.

learn how the tone mapping persona edits high dynamic range photos by merging multiple exposures, aligning images, and applying local contrast and levels adjustments to create a balanced final image.

Explore raw photos and how they differ from jpegs, revealing unedited image data with more detail in shadows and highlights and greater editing flexibility for images from smartphones or cameras.

Develop persona teaches you how to enhance raw photos by adjusting exposure, shadows and highlights, contrast, color, and selective painting to recover detail.

Learn to use the develop persona with jpeg images to fix lens distortion using sliders, adjust horizontal and vertical shift, scale, and compare before/after with split view and side-by-side views.

Practice transforming a raw image from capture to export using the develop and photo personas, adjusting exposure, contrast, color, and lighting.

Learn retouching techniques for photos, adjust lighting and colors, and remove blemishes or objects to bring out your photos' natural beauty.

Shape light to draw attention to the subject with levels adjustments, masking, and careful painting, brightening the subject while darkening the background for a focused portrait.

Explore how to use multiple hsl adjustments, masking, and selective color edits to intensify greens, reds, and skin tones for a vibrant landscape photograph.

Learn to remove unwanted elements in Affinity Photo with the painting brush tool on a blank pixel layer, enabling non-destructive edits, sampling from surrounding areas, and layer order under adjustments.

Learn how filters, like adjustment layers, apply effects such as Gaussian blur to a selected layer, creating a child filter layer you can paint on to remove or restore.

Master the Gaussian blur filter in Affinity Photo by adjusting the radius and preserving alpha, then create focused blur effects such as a vignette and smooth out unwanted areas.

Plan a retouching workflow: crop to improve rule of thirds, clean up wires and branches, apply lighting and color adjustments with adjustment layers, and add blur to emphasize the subject.

Crop the image to align the subject with the line, then clean up wires and branches by painting on a new pixel layer, preparing for lighting and color edits.

Apply global lighting and color corrections to the photo using levels, white balance, and an HSL adjustment. Desaturate the background to bring more focus to the subject and refine contrast.

Darken the edges using levels and gamma, brighten the subject, and refine with black or white painting and an optional HSL saturation to create a subtle spotlight.

brighten the subject with levels and gamma, then selectively paint to brighten the face, arm, and branch; enhance color with hsl saturation and organize layers into a targeted lighting group.

Add a gaussian blur as a top child layer, then paint with white at low flow to smooth splotchy areas, invert the layer, and blur edges for a subtle vignette.

Apply finishing touches by refining brightness and shadows with levels, and use black and white painting to adjust areas, enhancing skin tone and hair detail.

Learn about selections and masks to target edits to specific parts of photos, building on painting black and white on layers to gain more control.

Learn how to use masks in Affinity Photo to remove backgrounds, paint with black to erase and white to reveal, and why you must select the mask layer before painting.

Remove a background with a mask in affinity photo, adjust brush flow and hardness, refine edges with X and alt to view black and white mask, then export transparent png.

Explore masking in Affinity Photo by applying masks to layers, shapes, text, and groups; use high pass sharpening with soft light and white painting to selectively sharpen eyes.

Use a mask to remove the background of a dog drawing, paint with black for a crisp edge and white to restore, and learn about selections in the next video.

Discover how selections and masks let you keep the dog and remove the background in Affinity Photo, using the selection brush and flood select tools.

Master the flood select tool to quickly select large uniform-color areas, refine selections with contiguous and add mode, apply hsl adjustments, invert masks, and export transparent backgrounds.

Learn to use the selection brush tool to create a color splash, with snap to edges, soft feathered edges, and refine by inverting, deselecting, and masking with black paint.

Use multiple selections and masks to selectively adjust color and brightness, enhancing the sky and foreground with HSL, white balance, and levels while learning selection techniques.

Explore compositing in Affinity Photo for beginners by combining multiple images into a single photograph. Learn three simple steps—apply a mask, add the new photo, and match the two photos.

Apply a mask to replace the sky in Affinity Photo using flood select with contiguous and 20% tolerance, then invert to remove the sky and reveal a new background.

learn how to replace the sky by inserting a new photo, resizing and positioning it behind the cutout, using stock images from Pixabay, Unsplash, and Pexels.

Learn to match two photos by adjusting levels, white balance, and hue/saturation, applying changes to the sky layer to align lighting and color for a cohesive result.

Apply levels to boost contrast with black and white levels. Enhance colors with hsl adjustment, adjust hue and saturation, then blur the sky with gaussian blur for a natural look.

Apply a mask to separate the subject from the background with the selection brush, refine hair with white and black paint on a soft feathered edge, then clean up edges.

Place a new photo, choose a city background with soft lighting. Resize and align layers, or fix masking borders by painting the mask black before matching two photos.

Match the model and background by applying levels adjustments, masking, and hsl adjustments to harmonize lighting, color, and contrast.

Apply a levels adjustment across the full image to boost contrast. Adjust white balance toward cooler tones for a moody city scene and compare before and after.

In this chapter, bring together what you’ve learned into two final projects to show how concepts fit together and prepare you to edit your own photos after the course.

Plan a winter portrait edit by adding a pixel layer, cleaning up debris with the brush tool, brightening the subject, saturating greens, and applying subtle blur to emphasize the subject.

Clean up the winter portrait by painting on a new pixel layer with the painting brush, starting from the outside edges to remove debris and restore focus.

Apply global lighting and color edits to a winter portrait using levels, gamma, white balance, and HSL adjustments to balance tones, boost the subject's saturation, and adjust the trees.

Paint with light in Affinity Photo by darkening edges and brightening the subject through levels, gamma adjustments, and masking with a brush for subtle contrast.

Select the lips and apply an HSL adjustment to desaturate and warm the color, then sharpen the eyes with a high pass filter and masked layers.

Learn to create a stylized blur in Affinity Photo with Gaussian blur on a mask, preserve alpha, reveal with white brush, and fade blur toward background to emphasize the subject.

Refine a winter portrait with hsl adjustments to lips, boost face contrast via levels and gamma, and selectively paint the effect on the face and hair for a focused result.

Plan the final project, add a pixel layer, replace the sky, and enhance color, lighting, saturation, while brightening the subject and darkening edges.

Learn to replace the sky in Affinity Photo for beginners by selecting and masking the sky, placing a new sky, and adjusting white balance, levels, and gamma.

Use a new pixel layer and inner painting brush to clean imperfections on the portrait, painting over flaws. Preview a before-and-after and note upcoming global edits for lighting and color.

Apply global lighting with a levels adjustment to boost contrast above the cleanup layer, then use an hsl adjustment to fine-tune skin, grass, and sky.

Organize layers, select the dress with a brush, and change its color using an hsl adjustment and levels adjustments while refining a mask for a realistic summer portrait.

darken the edges with a levels adjustment, invert, and paint with white to reveal the adjustment, then boost skin contrast while darkening the background to make the subject pop.

Refine a summer portrait by adjusting white balance toward blue, boosting saturation, and fine-tuning levels, then blur the sky and sharpen facial features using high-pass masking.

Finish this course with confidence and celebrate your progress, then start editing your own photos using Affinity Photo and look forward to the next Affinity Revolution tutorial.