Serif Affinity Photo 2

Serif’s Affinity Photo program has gained popularity as a cost-effective alternative to Adobe Photoshop. While Adobe’s software has been the industry standard for photo editing for decades, it comes with a high subscription cost of around $24.78 per month. Even the stripped-down version for home users, Photoshop Elements, costs $107.78 to purchase. In contrast, Affinity Photo’s second version is a direct competitor to the full version of Photoshop, but is available for a one-time purchase of $74.32 with no subscription fees. Additionally, there is currently a special offer until January 25th where it can be purchased for $44.59.

Affinity Photo 2 offers a user-friendly interface that is divided into five workspaces. The Develop workspace allows users to process and edit their original photo files to their desired outcome, which is similar to Adobe’s Lightroom software, which costs an additional $13.51 a month. The Photo workspace is for basic image adjustments using layers, which is where users will likely spend most of their time. The program also includes a workspace called Liquify, which is specifically designed for manipulating pixels.

The latest version of Affinity Photo 2 offers a variety of new features for users of all skill levels. Among these features is the ability to keep both the original and edited versions of an image within the same file, allowing for easy adjustments and the option to revert to the original version. Additionally, new masking options have been added to help users select specific areas of an image to edit or leave untouched. While Photoshop may have more advanced tools, Affinity Photo 2 offers exceptional value for its price. Users looking for more basic, free options may prefer software such as Paint.net or Photopea. However, for commercial software at an affordable price, Affinity Photo 2 is a great choice. The program also include Tone Mapping for adding special colour effects and Export workspace for saving images to other file types.

The following new features have been announced for Affinity Photo 2:

Non-destructive RAW Develop

The latest version of Affinity Photo allows you to develop RAW files in a non-destructive manner. This means that you can make changes to your develop settings at any time, even after you have added additional layers or adjustments to your file. Additionally, you can choose to embed the developed file within the document or link it externally, which can help to reduce the file size.

Compound Masks

With Affinity Photo 2, it is simple to merge multiple mask layers without altering the original layers, by using the add, intersect, subtract and XOR operations. This allows users to keep the original masks they have created while creating new masks based on these components non-destructively.

Live Mesh Warp

With the new non-destructive warp feature, you can easily distort images or files to match the surface of an underlying template. This feature is perfect for mock-up work, where you can place document files and composite them onto surfaces such as book or magazine pages. The best part is that you can go back and edit the warped image or file whenever you like. It’s a powerful feature that saves time and effort.

Normals Adjustment

The ability to adjust lighting information within existing normal maps is a powerful feature that can be used as a standalone tool for texture artists. Additionally, this function allows for editing of lighting layers that have been generated from 3D rendering software, making it a versatile tool for 3D artists as well.

Live Masks

Create numerous efficient and non-harmful processes using the new Live Masks feature, which automatically updates based on the characteristics of the image it is applied to.

Hue Range

Generate a mask based on a specific color in your image, enabling you to apply adjustments, effects, or simply paint on the automatically created mask for your selected color.

Band-Pass

Band-Pass is a tool that creates a mask that focuses on edges within an image. This feature has many practical applications for retouching work and allows for the manipulation of different frequency layers. Additionally, it can also be used to create unique and artistic effects.

Luminosity

Use masks to selectively adjust specific luminosity ranges, such as highlights, shadows, or any range in between, for precise and controlled editing.

Saved Layer States

A useful feature that enables you to preserve multiple states of your layer stack, allowing for efficient review of various design alternatives or versions of your project.

JPEG XL Import/Export

Affinity Photo is a well-known leader in editing images with a wide color gamut and high dynamic range, fully supporting full HDR displays. The new addition of JPEG XL support allows users to export to a format that is increasingly supported by web browsers, enabling others to view the edited images exactly as they appear in Affinity Photo.