Hi Robin, just wanted to say you’re filling a large education gap for Affinity, specifically landscape art. I like to use Affinity, but you are producing the best tutorials that provide the most help. The big plus is that viewers can apply many of these techniques to other photo editors. Hopefully Affinity is seeing these and recommend your work to their users. PS: learned several things today I didn’t realize, especially the focus on opacity.
Thanks for the great feedback. It’s also good to know that I’m helping you. Sometimes I feel like I end up making these videos in a vacuum so feedback is always welcome.
I had some huge difficulties with layers and your lessons just enlightened me by a huge extent, thank you so much! 🙏🏻 One thing I apparently did wrong all along was after opening an image to tap cmd + J to work on that new layer and not as you suggest shift + cmd + N for a new empty pixel layer. Was cmd + J all wrong? Thanks for elaborating... Your lessons are extremely helpful, not only that you're eloquent, precise and enjoyable to listen to, it's also how everything is structured! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I'm glad to hear that the video helped. Regarding Cmd + J, it's the default shortcut (assuming you haven't changed it) to duplicate the currently selected layer. What my shortcut does is add a new empty pixel layer to the image. If your copy of Affinity Photo doesn't use these shortcut keys like this then it may have been changed from the default shortcut keys (ua-cam.com/video/DqOKrwgVdFs/v-deo.html).
@@RobinWhalley thanks for elaborating! I haven't changed the short cuts! If I understood correctly it makes more sense to add new empty pixel layers instead of duplicating the background image. My intention was to have several layers for different retouching elements: one for the sky, one for a disturbing group of people and so forth. But for the the sky I would like to be able to change the opacity afterwards. What I definitely learned from your lessons that the top layer overrules all layers below. Correct? Thanks 🙏🏻
Things are acting differently because the developers of this program are inept. 😂 ... I can't believe the cluttered, ridiculously convoluted methods it handles layers. It's pure idiocy. "Non destructive editing" just makes things confusing and just seems like a gimmick to set it apart from photoshop. It's a pain in the ass. ... and also .. Why the hell do I have to 'rasterize' layers before I can mess with them? What is that all about? "Non Destructive Editing" seems like the mantra on Affinity forums etc .. It's hilarious ... Did they ever hear of the 'undo' command? I don't like this program.
I am moving over to a Mac after many years of Windows. To add to the learning curve, I have bought Affinity after many years of Photoshop. I do some help and your videos will be most usful.
Keep in mind that there are a lot of similarities between Affinity and Photoshop but there are enough differences to frustrate you. Keep going and it all falls into place. I hope you find my other videos helpful in making the switch.
Hi Robin, I'm enjoying watching the content of your Affinity Photo videos but the background music is driving me crazy! I'd much prefer to just hear your voice especially when you're explaining something complex where I need to concentrate!
I only did a few videos with music to try it out. After that I decided I didn't like it and dropped it. I like to keep trying things on UA-cam or my style won't develop.
Regards, Robin a query. In the future you could like to eliminate banding, since there are videos to solve it but not in affinity photo. I think it has to do with whether they are 8 or 16 bits. Thanks in advance for all your instructional videos.
Hi, Robin. I've been an Affinity Photo user for about 2 years now. Is there any way to set the sampling "current layer & below" as the default? I found that in my workflow, I'm only using that instead of the first option anyway.
@@RobinWhalley - Oh Thankyou for answering this Robin! I’ll watch the video again, as I can’t specifically remember it as I probably watched 25 different videos yesterday, trying to make the background of a painting I did transparent, all without success…. Newbie here.
@@RobinWhalley - PS…. What technique would you recommend to make the background transparent in a scan of my painting that is a tif? There are multiple flowers of varying over the page , so the negative space is very complicated, unlike landscape photos. New Subscriber here….. ( :
@@reefprayerresin You will need to select the flowers and then delete the background. I'm doing a video about this at the moment. It will be out in the next few days.
@@RobinWhalley - Yes, I realised that yesterday… All the videos I’d watched up til then, had the background selected, but when they hit delete (?), their foreground remained, whereas when I did it, my foreground was deleted, and the background stayed! It wasn’t til you actually said the words “trace around what you want to keep” (paraphrased), that I realised that’s where I was going wrong! - I’ll be working on this again today, and hopefully work it out. As you can see, I’m a complete newbie lol…. You’re making a video about this now!? - What awesome timing! Oh, I’m so looking forward to that!!! Perfect!
Yes and no. If I have a layer containing some text which I've applied the drop shadow layer effect to, I can mask out part of the text to hide it. The Layer Effect is then applied to the remaining text. What I can't do is use a mask so that the Layer Effect is only applied to part of the text. I hope that makes sense.
Lost @10:27, you added a curves layer but nothing happened, all the changes will surly be on the top layer selected not the adjustment and yet your opacity slider is not changing image why is this, this is so confusing. @ 11:24 you did'nt select any layers to merge ?, does this get more confusing ?. Why @ 11:57 does the opacity slider not dim the image ??. Totally confused here, do you know of any other tutorial for beginners that fully explained layer basics in this program as am really having a hard time understanding these layers. Checking all the comments below everyone seem to experts already so not sure where this vid is targeted, Any help will be gratefully received as it would good to do something useful, King Rgds.
Please watch again carefully. The section where you say nothing happens @10:27 does show changes to the image. They aren't dramatic but it does change. The consolidated layer feature @11:24 doesn't require you to select any layers. When you use that feature it consolidates all the layers into a new one and places that as the top layer. Again, the section @11:57 does reduce the strength of the layers effect but it's subtle. Have you checked your monitor calibration recently? If the Contrast level is too high it may be why you are having problems seeing this. It's also made harder by the video compression used by UA-cam.
It's probably not a good fit for you, then. When you feel this strongly, I usually find it's better to pick something else rather than trying to persevere.
Thanks, Robin. I find I can do a few more things with time and practice. Affinity is very powerful and versatile and that is no doubt why it can be difficult to use. I will persevere and practice.
Hi Robin, just wanted to say you’re filling a large education gap for Affinity, specifically landscape art. I like to use Affinity, but you are producing the best tutorials that provide the most help. The big plus is that viewers can apply many of these techniques to other photo editors. Hopefully Affinity is seeing these and recommend your work to their users. PS: learned several things today I didn’t realize, especially the focus on opacity.
Thanks for the great feedback. It’s also good to know that I’m helping you. Sometimes I feel like I end up making these videos in a vacuum so feedback is always welcome.
and i had thought "this is too basic should i really watch this i probably know everything already". i am glad that i did! thank you!
You're welcome. I'm very pleased that I was able to surprise you with the video content.
I never thought of reducing the opacity of curves before using them. Great idea. Could do that with blending modes as well.
Thanks. I don’t know about using it with blending modes but I can think that it could work with blend ranges.
Thank you Robin, love your content. Layers are confusing but you have explained how they work so very well.
You are so welcome. Thank you
I had some huge difficulties with layers and your lessons just enlightened me by a huge extent, thank you so much! 🙏🏻
One thing I apparently did wrong all along was after opening an image to tap cmd + J to work on that new layer and not as you suggest shift + cmd + N for a new empty pixel layer.
Was cmd + J all wrong? Thanks for elaborating...
Your lessons are extremely helpful, not only that you're eloquent, precise and enjoyable to listen to, it's also how everything is structured! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I'm glad to hear that the video helped.
Regarding Cmd + J, it's the default shortcut (assuming you haven't changed it) to duplicate the currently selected layer. What my shortcut does is add a new empty pixel layer to the image. If your copy of Affinity Photo doesn't use these shortcut keys like this then it may have been changed from the default shortcut keys (ua-cam.com/video/DqOKrwgVdFs/v-deo.html).
@@RobinWhalley thanks for elaborating! I haven't changed the short cuts!
If I understood correctly it makes more sense to add new empty pixel layers instead of duplicating the background image. My intention was to have several layers for different retouching elements: one for the sky, one for a disturbing group of people and so forth. But for the the sky I would like to be able to change the opacity afterwards. What I definitely learned from your lessons that the top layer overrules all layers below. Correct? Thanks 🙏🏻
@@neglectedloves Yes, it's usually better to work with empty layers as they then don't block the rest of the image. That way you build up the effect.
@@RobinWhalley thank you very much 🙏🏻
Thank you for making this easy to understand. I was totally lost moving over from photoshop and didnt realize why some things were acting differently.
I'm glad it helped. Thank you.
Things are acting differently because the developers of this program are inept. 😂 ... I can't believe the cluttered, ridiculously convoluted methods it handles layers. It's pure idiocy. "Non destructive editing" just makes things confusing and just seems like a gimmick to set it apart from photoshop. It's a pain in the ass. ... and also .. Why the hell do I have to 'rasterize' layers before I can mess with them? What is that all about? "Non Destructive Editing" seems like the mantra on Affinity forums etc .. It's hilarious ... Did they ever hear of the 'undo' command? I don't like this program.
Music makes this a bit strenuous to listen too
Yes, I stopped using it. Some people love it and others hate it.
Thank you for bringing this up. For neuro-divergent people, music is an added layer of challenge to follow and learn the subject.
I am moving over to a Mac after many years of Windows. To add to the learning curve, I have bought Affinity after many years of Photoshop. I do some help and your videos will be most usful.
Keep in mind that there are a lot of similarities between Affinity and Photoshop but there are enough differences to frustrate you. Keep going and it all falls into place. I hope you find my other videos helpful in making the switch.
@@RobinWhalley I have bought two of your books on my Kindle ready to go. I just need a few rainy days.
Thank you. Don’t forget there are a lot of articles on my website as well once you feel you have the basic in place.
very helpful video, thank you!
Glad it was helpful. Thank you
Excellent as always thank you
Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you
Thank you Robin
You're welcome
Very helpful video!
Glad you think so. Thank you.
THANK YOU
You're welcome.
Hi Robin, I'm enjoying watching the content of your Affinity Photo videos but the background music is driving me crazy! I'd much prefer to just hear your voice especially when you're explaining something complex where I need to concentrate!
I only did a few videos with music to try it out. After that I decided I didn't like it and dropped it. I like to keep trying things on UA-cam or my style won't develop.
Regards, Robin a query. In the future you could like to eliminate banding, since there are videos to solve it but not in affinity photo. I think it has to do with whether they are 8 or 16 bits. Thanks in advance for all your instructional videos.
Thanks. I will add this to the list of possible future videos.
Hi, Robin. I've been an Affinity Photo user for about 2 years now. Is there any way to set the sampling "current layer & below" as the default? I found that in my workflow, I'm only using that instead of the first option anyway.
I don’t think there is or at least not that I’ve noticed.
Tqvm sir❤️
You are welcome
I don’t have Studio in my View! I’m using Photo 2. Would it be somewhere else?
No, it's moved. It's now under the Window menu.
@@RobinWhalley - Oh Thankyou for answering this Robin! I’ll watch the video again, as I can’t specifically remember it as I probably watched 25 different videos yesterday, trying to make the background of a painting I did transparent, all without success…. Newbie here.
@@RobinWhalley - PS…. What technique would you recommend to make the background transparent in a scan of my painting that is a tif? There are multiple flowers of varying over the page , so the negative space is very complicated, unlike landscape photos. New Subscriber here….. ( :
@@reefprayerresin You will need to select the flowers and then delete the background. I'm doing a video about this at the moment. It will be out in the next few days.
@@RobinWhalley - Yes, I realised that yesterday… All the videos I’d watched up til then, had the background selected, but when they hit delete (?), their foreground remained, whereas when I did it, my foreground was deleted, and the background stayed! It wasn’t til you actually said the words “trace around what you want to keep” (paraphrased), that I realised that’s where I was going wrong! - I’ll be working on this again today, and hopefully work it out. As you can see, I’m a complete newbie lol…. You’re making a video about this now!? - What awesome timing! Oh, I’m so looking forward to that!!! Perfect!
Hello thank you for the video. Is it possible to apply a mask to layer effects?
Yes and no. If I have a layer containing some text which I've applied the drop shadow layer effect to, I can mask out part of the text to hide it. The Layer Effect is then applied to the remaining text. What I can't do is use a mask so that the Layer Effect is only applied to part of the text. I hope that makes sense.
Thank you
🙏🙏🙏
Thank you
If I need to take a sip for every "layer" mentioned I'll be dead 50 layers deep.
Probably because it's a lesson about layers. Best not watch the one on masks then.
@@RobinWhalley Just kidding Robin I appreciate a lot of your tutorials, cheers!
@@elliotyip9844 No problem and thank you
Lost @10:27, you added a curves layer but nothing happened, all the changes will surly be on the top layer selected not the adjustment and yet your opacity slider is not changing image why is this, this is so confusing. @ 11:24 you did'nt select any layers to merge ?, does this get more confusing ?. Why @ 11:57 does the opacity slider not dim the image ??. Totally confused here, do you know of any other tutorial for beginners that fully explained layer basics in this program as am really having a hard time understanding these layers. Checking all the comments below everyone seem to experts already so not sure where this vid is targeted, Any help will be gratefully received as it would good to do something useful, King Rgds.
Please watch again carefully. The section where you say nothing happens @10:27 does show changes to the image. They aren't dramatic but it does change. The consolidated layer feature @11:24 doesn't require you to select any layers. When you use that feature it consolidates all the layers into a new one and places that as the top layer. Again, the section @11:57 does reduce the strength of the layers effect but it's subtle. Have you checked your monitor calibration recently? If the Contrast level is too high it may be why you are having problems seeing this. It's also made harder by the video compression used by UA-cam.
I've been using Photoshop for 20 years and I can tell you the way Affinity handles layers is complete crap. I wish I never bought this program. 😂
This is the most difficult and non-intuitive software I have ever used in my life.
It's probably not a good fit for you, then. When you feel this strongly, I usually find it's better to pick something else rather than trying to persevere.
Thanks, Robin. I find I can do a few more things with time and practice. Affinity is very powerful and versatile and that is no doubt why it can be difficult to use. I will persevere and practice.