3 Things You May Not Know About the Affinity Photo Develop Persona

Here are three things you may not know about the Affinity Photo Develop Persona. It’s a bit of a guess, but I bet one of these is a problem for quite a few Affinity Photo users who see this video.
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[@fotografia_ml89]

Hi, that was very helpful. You’ve saved me from spending a lot of money on other software, because I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the settings. EDIT: Thank you! 😀

[@RobinWhalley]

You're welcome. I'm glad it helped you.

[@xzenor-art]

Thank you for that Tone Curve tip! I was struggling with this today. Now I know how to fix it. Thanks!

[@RobinWhalley]

Happy to help! Thank you

[@bkthompson877]

After fiddling around for months not really knowing how everything works your vids have really helped. Thank you.

[@RobinWhalley]

That's great to hear. Thank you.

[@bhovis]

I’ve switched from PS to Affinity Photo, so I really appreciate this .

[@RobinWhalley]

You're welcome

[@petermaddern6653]

Brilliant.It was all news to me Robin. Lovely and simple and very useful. Never did work what that little "waiter" was. I always thought it looked like a handheld old fashioned microphone for some reason!

[@johnsagar9255]

Just found your channel after dumping lightroom and pick up with Affinity .... This is one of the most helpful Videos I've watched in long while... Don't think anyone has explained the issues related to colour profiles as well and as clear as you Robin.. Especially when using Nik software @ well... Well done and keep delivering the useful information here on your channel. Thank you JMS

[@RobinWhalley]

Thank you and I'm glad you found my channel and like the content. Hopefully you will find some of my other videos helpful as well.

[@alanthompson3851]

Great tips Robin the first one especially as I had been struggling with this flat image when opening a raw image in the develop module.

[@RobinWhalley]

Thanks. I knew the first one would be affecting someone.

[@johnchilver536]

Thanks Robin this is brilliant which should improve my improve. Probably the best advice video for Affinity Photo so far.

[@RobinWhalley]

You're very welcome! Thank you

[@danbuchman7497]

Hi Robin, probably your best tutorial. Very well done.

[@RobinWhalley]

Glad you think so. Thank you.

[@martinr5362]

A great help. Especially the tone curve and colour space.

[@RobinWhalley]

Great to hear. Thanks

[@bobsanders3439]

Very helpful and clearly explained Robin. Thanks for posting.

[@RobinWhalley]

You're very welcome. I'm glad it was helpful.

[@davidellinsworth22]

Very nice tips. I guess another related tip relates to another of the drop menus within the assistant options>develop assistant. If you change the raw output format from 16bit to 32bit HDR then you can also edit in the main Photo Persona with the same bit depth as you did in Develop.

[@RobinWhalley]

Yes, that's also another helpful tip. Thanks

[@tayloriginals999]

I use presets in Develop Persona, as well as have the take no action set in the tone curve. Great video!

[@RobinWhalley]

Thank you

[@carsten.a]

It would be more than helpful if it would be possible to export the presets, is there any way to do so?

[@RobinWhalley]

Not that I know of in the Develop Personal currently.

[@chrisbusby4395]

I recently discovered turning off tone curve to produce a more natural look to my images,I didn’t like what it did to my initial image,I’m glad to hear your take on this. Also I was unsure on colour space so I find your take on using pro photo when editing very helpful. Thanks

[@RobinWhalley]

Thank you. I've seen a few people lately start to discuss linear tone curves and say that they can produce more natural results with them. It's starnge how we seem to have gone full circle to return to linear curves.

[@msandersen]

I personally don’t use the Develop persona, as I start out in my Raw editor (Capture One), and only open up in Affinity Photo when I need more touch ups, be it patching or skin retouching, and then always as Tiff in AdobeRGB. Personally I think sRGB is just a hangover from the 90s when colour across the Macs where images were edited to cheap PCs with generic non-calibrated CRTs and equally cheap printers were a problem. Nowadays we all use either smartphones with wide-gamut screens or LCDs on both desktop and laptops that has colour managed operating systems. It isn’t worth degrading your image for the few who might still have an old PC with a legacy CRT screen. I’m pretty sure your average all-in-one Canon printer can handle AdobeRGB as well, at least I haven’t found it an issue for casual use. If I was to be serious about printing out photos, I’d get a better-quality A3 inkjet, and use quality coated paper and not generic inks as I do now. I do need to learn more about AP to break from Photoshop, some things are still easier for me in Photoshop than AP, and sometimes I find Adobe’s heal brush or auto fill works better, but it depends on the image and the area. This is something that can benefit AI, the tool having a sense of what we want to see patched. Another area I sometimes struggle with Affinity is their layer and masking, it is just easier and less buggy in Photoshop. There have been times when what Affinity is doing is making no sense to me, I decide to shut it down and reopen it, and it works as I expect again. Being able to take an existing mask and make a Quick Mask and back is sorely needed too, so you can edit a Ruby layer while seeing the underlying image. But that’s a different subject from the Develop persona in particular. Good to know what to watch out for if I do use it.

[@RobinWhalley]

I also don't tend to use the Develop Persona in Affinity. I prefer Capture One for Fuji or PhotoLab for my micro 43. Despite this I still think that it's a good tool and I've seen it ptoduce nice results for images where my other RAW tools have had problems. I can't explain why but it's another tool to have in the bag.

[@BenkArtist]

Thanks for the preset advice. I am aware of it, but you've convinced me to give it a try for some of the repetitive white balance/curves work I do with studio photography.

[@RobinWhalley]

It's always worth trying something new.

[@accentontheoff]

Hi Robin, beginner here, if I may… would you say Affinity Photo can (more or less) do what an app like Lightroom does. (In addition to what Photoshop does I guess?) Looking to commit to an app and start learning. Thanks!

[@RobinWhalley]

It can do similar things to Lightroom in terms of RAW processing but it’s more limited and basic. It can’t do many of the other things Lightroom can do like managing photos and it’s printing capabilities are more difficult to use well. When it comes to comparing with Photoshop the abilities of the two are very similar.

[@accentontheoff]

@@RobinWhalley Thanks so much for replying. Not worried about printing or photo management. Was talking primarily about editing. I presume you are saying even for that I’d ideally need a separate app like Lightroom? Or perhaps Darkroom? Thanks again.

[@stevehallam0850]

Good tips. I did know about the tone curve!

[@RobinWhalley]

Thanks

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

Hello. Just one question : My screen is sRGB, my printer is sRGB, my camera can shoot sRGB or Adobe RGB (it's a Fuji X-T20). Why would I shoot and retouch in Adobe RGB ?

[@RobinWhalley]

Whilst your screen may display the sRGB colour space, it will have its own colour space which may be larger (or in some cases smaller) than the sRGB space. The same will also apply to your printer. Most printers can handle a wider gammut than sRGB, but this also depends on the paper and ink you are using. It's one reason to make sure you use the correct profile when printing. As for your camera, the sRGB and Adobe RGB settings only apply to the JPEG files. If you are shooting in RAW it's colour space independent and the colour space is only applied when you export an image file from the RAW converter. When it comes to editing your photos, it's best to use the widest colour space possible. It's only when you come to produce the finished image that you would assign the best colour space for your purpose. That's also the time to handle any out of gamut colours rather than during the editing process. It's why applications like Lightroom use the ProPhoto RGB space for the editing. This provents colours from becoming clipped as you manipulate the image. I hope this helps.

[@jamesoliver6625]

Why would you apply a universal tone curve? And if you are going to get anything printed, make sure the firm doing the printing can handle print rasterization beyond 8-bit. Even today (2022) it's not that common.

[@RobinWhalley]

My best understanding of the Tone Curve in this example determines how the RAW information is converted to the image colour channels. When you choose not to apply it, you are in effect selecting a linear profile. Some photo editors swear by linear profiles but for many people they take too much effort to arrive at a good result.

[@jamesoliver6625]

@@RobinWhalley Half a lifetime ago I worked for a color separation house in print work. We'd see from half a dozen, to half a dozen hundred unique images drum scanned for a job ($250K 30'x40" output if needed) and some clients were incredibly picking about color (class ring companies in particular, Texas Highways and Texas Monthly a close second) and everything was proofed to a CMYK color accurate hard proof and corrected from that. We always used curves as the most accurate and definable and each image was individual. The thought of applying a universal curve adjustment smacks of when we were bought out and quality ceased to be an objective. It simply never occurred to me since it generally doesn't take hardly any time to do and I only do it for images I'm going to print. Also I never use LR. I use PS some but mostly Affinity Photo since I prefer to own the software.

[@RobinWhalley]

@@jamesoliver6625 In that case, if you are happy to do the additional work, turn off the option to apply the automatic tone curve. I've often been able to extract more from the RAW file starting with a linear profile. More effort but you can achieve better results. The reason I point it out in the video is that many people have the software set to the linear option but then struggle with the editing.

[@sergioquirosv]

Thank you, Robin. This was SO helpful!

[@RobinWhalley]

You are welcome

[@jango71]

Thanks!

[@RobinWhalley]

No problem!

[@louismolino8674]

I wasn't aware of the issue with Viveza when using the prophoto (ROMM RGB) color space. Good to know. I wonder what your thoughts are on editing in prophoto with a monitor which can't utilize the full extent of that color space.

[@RobinWhalley]

To my knowledge there isn't a monitor that can utilise the full ProPhoto space and probably never will be. This means your monitor always shows an estimation until you convert the image to a space it can handle. But this is fine. Get the image looking the way you want it to before converting. Personally I tend to use Adobe RGB a lot because my Mac screen makes quite a good job of displaying it (but still falls some way short).

[@warrennelson5190]

Thank you great tips

[@RobinWhalley]

Glad it was helpful! Thank you

[@mullysr1]

Always great information Robin. Thanks!!!

[@RobinWhalley]

Glad it was helpful! Thank you

[@JohnCollins-iy1pw]

I had a problem with sharpening in the develop persona (it would not transfer over to the photo persona) until I realised that you have to be at 100% zoom when applying sharpening,and you must export to the photo persona at 100%.Or is it just my Windows PC?

[@RobinWhalley]

No. I've see the same thing on the Mac. You need to zoom to 100% or you don't see the sharpening properly. From memory I think the same thing happens when using the Unsharp fitler in the Photo Persona. I think I may have mentioned it in my book.

[@stuartbraithwaite1297]

Thanks Robin, very helpful tips

[@RobinWhalley]

Glad it was helpful!

[@davidwright8920]

I've just started using Affinity and found this very helpful thanks. When I look at my colour profiles though I only have 10 profiles which does not include ProPhoto RGB it does have however both Adobe RGB (1998) and sRGB. How do I install the larger range of profile particularly ProPhoto RGB

[@RobinWhalley]

I don't know what installed the ProPhoto RGB color space to my system. I think the Affinity version is called something like ROMM RGB .

[@davidwright8920]

@@RobinWhalley Thanks Robin. Yes I do have ROMM RGB profile

[@selenitafm]

Very interesting subject i learn something new and useful

[@RobinWhalley]

Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you

[@behramcooper3691]

Very instructive. Thank you.

[@RobinWhalley]

You are welcome!

[@alandyer910]

But there seems to be no way to save a single preset that includes everything done to a raw image, to allow copying and pasting settings from one image to many images with a single Copy Settings then Paste Settings command or Sync settings command. Developing lots of raw files from a shoot with all the same settings seems tedious, or have I missed something with Affinity?

[@RobinWhalley]

No I don't think there is but then this isn't Lighroom.

[@phlotographer]

@@RobinWhalley would creation of a Macro not be of help? I don't know if it can be synced but at least it should be able to be applied one at a time which would assist the process. Maybe I have missed something so please advise.

[@cerenademe9433]

@@RobinWhalley Thank you. I am on day 3 of a 7-day trial of LR and have been trying to figure out what, if any, reason I would really need to keep it. I think that (global saving of all adjustments as a single preset) is def. one of the advantages (still not sure I need it, but it helps to know what I'm giving up/missing). Beyond that, though - is there really anything else LR does that you can't do in AP? For the organizing/cataloging aspect, one could get Adobe Bridge, which is free, and then one wouldn't need LR at all? (guessing)

[@RobinWhalley]

@@cerenademe9433 LR i a great editing environment even though the quality of the RAW conversion with some cameras is a bit suspect. If you were to switch to bridge, all it would really give you is a way to manage your photos. It doesn't have editing capability. Yes you can edit them in Affinity Photo and it produces good results but it isn't as slik as a dedicated RAW converter.

[@cerenademe9433]

@@RobinWhalley Thanks for the reply! I'm shooting with a Sony A6400... Is there a dedicated RAW converter that you prefer to use (preferably free, or at least pay once - really want to avoid subscriptions)? And which steps would you absolutely do in that vs. in Affinity Photo?

[@rickfuggle8355]

Very interesting, however adobe bridge CS6 does not open new Canon Raw files.

[@RobinWhalley]

???

[@rickfuggle8355]

@@RobinWhalley hi just downloaded latest bridge it works Should have looked first Enjoyed your video

[@RobinWhalley]

@@rickfuggle8355 Goog to know it's working. I was just a little confused by your comment that was all.

[@demonhinatu]

For some reason I don’t have the option to add presets. When I select the preset drop-down menu it only say default. I’m on windows.

[@RobinWhalley]

Try clicking the little menu icon to the top right of the panel. That will probably have an option to save the preset. Sorry it's hard for me to know what the differences might be as I use the Mac version.

[@derekbarkham2314]

Insightful and helpful 🙏

[@RobinWhalley]

Thank you

[@stefanmarch]

Hi Robin, would you recommend processing in a Raw processor before going into Affinity or doing all the processing in Affinity. Fairly recent Affinity user, I mostly Raw process in Photolab Elite and only take a small number of photos into Affinity. For most images I find the Photolab workflow easier and I'm able to come back and reprocess the raw file which I can't do in Affinity.

[@RobinWhalley]

Personally I don't find the Affinity tools as easy to use as something like PhotoLab. That said, the Affinity Develop persona produces good results. I would recommend using the tool that you find easiest to work with and that provides acceptable results. You will only produce your best work when using tools you find easy to work with.

[@TheOneBalance]

Really useful video, thank you.

[@RobinWhalley]

Glad it was helpful!

[@susanlynn5290]

Omg thank you for this !

[@RobinWhalley]

No problem! You're very welcome.

[@D0209962]

Very good. Thanks for sharing!

[@RobinWhalley]

Thank you

[@SplitSniper7]

If the color profiles don't appear on the majority of monitors out there why do it in the first place? When you export it to a Tiff or JPEG you won't see those colors, right? I'm not entirely sure I understood its purpose.

[@RobinWhalley]

I'm very sorry but I don't understand the question. What do you mean by the Color Profiles don't appear on the majority of monitors? A colour profile sets the limits of the colours that can be represented in the image file. If those limits are bigger than what the monitor can handle then the computer makes a decision about how to try to represent any colours that fall outside the monitor limits. To ensure they display on the monitor it changes the colours.

[@SplitSniper7]

@@RobinWhalley I appreciate the response, I may not entirely understand its purpose but in the video you mentioned that the sRGB is what most monitors can use, the Adobe RGB color profile allows for more colors but if a monitor can't see those colors (like potentially the one I use when editing photos) is there a point in using that larger color profile? If my monitor can't take advantage of it why use it and how do I know it's being used the way I want if the colors are represented differently on another monitor? I hope that makes more sense.

[@RobinWhalley]

@@SplitSniper7 Yes I understand now thank you. Your question is a good one but to answer it accurately would take quite a long article. The simple answer is yes, use a larger colour space, even if your manitor can't handle it. Colours that it can't handle will then be managed into something that it can display by the computer. If you were to print the image you would then likely be able to take advantage of the printers colour space which is probably larger than the sRGB space. The sRGB space is a sort of unofficial standard for the internet because it's small. Even then, there are quite a few devices and monitors that won't display 100%.

[@SplitSniper7]

@@RobinWhalley Thanks for clarifying. I'm working to becoming a virtual tour photographer so I don't really have a need for printing. Would this method still be viable if I'm just uploading these photos to a virtual tour website after editing them? So I should make this a regular practice?

[@javiernavio6066]

Hi Robin, I have a question with the developer person. How can I get my image to default to 300dpi after development? By default it is 72dpi, and I would like to know if there is a method to avoid having to resize the document later. Thanks for your videos

[@RobinWhalley]

I was going to say that it was a settign in the Develop Assistant or Basic Panel but I can't see it. I'm sure I have seen it in the past but then I use so much software it's easy to get confused. What I do know is that 72dpi isn't a fixed default. By that I mean you might find differenttypes of RAW file produce different resolution. My Panasonic G9 is 180dpi, my EM5 is 360dpi and my Fuji is 72dpi. I did wonder if there was a setting in the camera RAW file but I can't find one. So sorry, I'm no help.

[@alangauld6079]

To be fair the dpi only really matters when you are printing. Otherwise, the pixel numbers are controlled by the image size in megapixels and provided the develop process doesn't change the pixel count the dpi is irrelevant, just choose what you want when it's time to print. (Of course, if you define the image size in terms of linear measures(inches or cm) then dpi will have an effect, but that is usually a bad idea except for printing!)

[@johndc7446]

Hello. Im new to photo editing. Are there effects that makes it less ideal to edit further after clicking the develop button in develop persona? My main concern is maybe it will turn the image into jpeg quality and make it more difficult to edit further using the photo persona?

[@RobinWhalley]

It may seem counter intuitive but it's often better to leave many adjustments until you have the image in the Photo Persona. The problem with the Develop Persona is that your adjustments become locked in to the image when you hit the Develop button. Take the example of doing a Black and White conversion. If you apply this in the Develop Persona you can't later adjust how the conversion responded to colour. Instead if you applied the Black and White Adjustment Layer you can tweak your adjustments as well as use blending modes, masks and other features. The same is also true of sharpening where you can apply the effect as a live filter. Don't worry so much about the image quality and instead focus on flexibility and non destructive editing.

[@cerenademe9433]

@@RobinWhalley I have been thinking about that, too, being new to Affinity and RAW files (or at least 20 yrs removed from photo editing in general) - I don't remember having to "develop" the image as a separate, first, and permanent process. What would you say would be the absolute must do things in the Develop persona - what is there that you cannot do in the Photo persona, or that is easier/better to do in the Develop persona? What would happen if you didn't many adjustments at all in the Develop persona? Would you still be able to make any and all adjustments/corrections in the Photo Persona? PS. Loving your videos. You are the most clear & concise instructor on Affinity on KZbin and you cover things that others miss. I've learned a ton from just a few of your videos. Thank you!

[@caimac]

Thanks you.

[@RobinWhalley]

You're welcome

[@DAVE211147]

Interesting, Some great tips Robin

[@RobinWhalley]

Glad you think so! Thanks

[@ahmaddwianta2212]

Affinity software often crashes, exits by itself, what is the solution?

[@RobinWhalley]

It could be caused by a lot of things but its usually very stable and I can't remember the last time it crashed. You need to report this on the Affinity Photo website by raising a ticket for support.

[@sakilimr531]

Nice

[@RobinWhalley]

Thank you

[@dmystify1381]

....unblvbl.....can not thankyou enough for this....has reduced my time by half.

[@RobinWhalley]

Great to hear. Thank you

[@MarkBowenPiano]

My guess is a butler and not a waiter 😉

[@RobinWhalley]

Thanks, that makes more sense 👍

[@selkie630]

Great tips .. I found out my tone curve was set to "take no action". I do have a question about the colour profiles. Do you know what Affinity does when Colour Profiles is not checked ?

[@RobinWhalley]

I think it goes with the sRGB profile but you should be able to test it.

[@hauke3644]

Having overlooked some of these things for 3 years now... So, thank you! However, I prefer developing in PhotoLab and handing over a tiff to Affinity Photo.

[@RobinWhalley]

You're very welcome!

[@ahmaddwianta2212]

Okay