The Power of Frequency Separation with Affinity Photo + Free Project

In this video I use the power of frequency separation with affinity photo to remove severe acne from skin. Leaving the skin looking clean and natural. This is quite an in-depth video, so I have provided timestamps in the description to aid viewing. Also I have provided a link to the Affinity Photo project file for you to download and play with.
0:27 What is frequency separation?
1:29 Setting the parameters
5:07 Remove the first spot
8:47 Removing the redness from the rest of the spots
14:30 Removing the detail from the spots
17:15 A little smoothing to even the skin
20:46 Even out skin tone
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[@jakepaddyfield4767]

This is by far the best Affinity tutorial on skin retouching that I have watched... thank you...

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You're very welcome!

[@francesremo]

All photoshop/affinity tutorial should be presented like this! Not overwhelming, in detail and complete! Not to mention no extra narratives that are not related to the topic! Keep it up!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you vert much Frances. I appreciate the comment. I will do my best to keep up and improve my tutorials 😃

[@samirrouan5731]

@@ScottWilliamsPhotography hello, you know how do that with affinity photo ipad ? i try but the resultat is not same

[@cmonster67]

One of the better tutorials on not just frequency separation but also realistic blemish removal. Now I understand not only how to do it, but also why each of the steps are done.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@manniblaskovits613]

What a great tutorial. I've never really understood "frequency separation". But now I do.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Manfred. Glad to help.

[@Rustyybucket]

You are GREAT. As someone with absolutely no experience with these tools.. your tutorial is a godsend.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Wow, thanks!

[@art_by_adrian2913]

This just blew my mind I'm sold... and this tutorial was incredible start to finish

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Wow, thank you!

[@Boz1836]

First class tutorial. THe recent tool adjustments to the HSL function have really made it a precision tool!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you. You are right about the new tool. It is much better. If they would allow us to make a selection from the colour range I would be very happy.

[@NicuCastravet]

I am so happy I got to learn this! Years of doing it the hard way and the results were never anywhere close to this. I appreciate you, Scott.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tonypmedia]

Yea this was the easeiet tut ever. I FINALLY know how to retouch and even took a few steps further. REALISTC retouch not the made up "high fashion retouch" I here every other video whatever that means but this here is PERFECT for realistic retouches the way it should be and I actually use the Freq sep a hell of a lot more and I can see why it's used. i never used it until now. Thanks for your awesome time put forth in making this video and you def got a sub out of me.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much. I'm glad the video was helpful.

[@Zubair001able]

I was looking for Photoshop tutorials and ended up here. I like the way he is breaking up things and explaining so that most people can understand 👍

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Zubair. I try to make tutorials that I would like to see.

[@housecaldwell]

When you did the patch and aligned the hair so that it all lined up I was just blown away. Thanks for this great tutorial.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are very welcome.

[@tompatton2086]

Couldn't ask for a better explanation and demonstration. Nailed it. Thanks Scott!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

My pleasure!

[@juliandavid780]

Thank you so much Scott. I let my "like" here and i'm now subscribed. I need to practice this. You teach really good and simple, thank you again.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Welcome aboard!

[@WalterRowePhoto]

Very good illustration of frequency separation and skin retouching that looks natural vs plastic / porcelain.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much Walter.

[@tishsmum]

I've just shifted from a very old version of Photoshop and am self taught and these Affinity Tutorials are wonderful for learning new skills, showing the power of the newer software and just how much I have to learn. I can't wait! Thanks, for showing a feature I'm sure I would never have tried without you.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You're very welcome!

[@chrisefc3579]

This has to be one of the best demonstrations I have ever seen. Thankyou for this, clear, concise and informative. You make a really complex process accessible to all. Appreciated.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You're very welcome!

[@geru2000]

I almost skipped by this tutorial because usually long(ish) tutorials are long only because the presenter is unnecessarily long winded, not so in your case. This is the best tutorial I've looked at in the many years I've used KZbin on any subject. It's most definitely the most thorough I've seen on frequency separation in either Affinity Photo or Photoshop. Thank you very much for this tutorial it's the best 25 minutes I've spent learning Affinity Photo. As a new subscriber I look forward to other tutorials you develop and publish.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much for such a nice comment Jack. It really does make my day when someone appreciates what I'm doing. I try to make tutorials that I would find useful. I really don't like waffle. When I watch a tutorial I want information.

[@martinliebel7023]

Scott, you are a great lecturer! Thanks very much for this!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You're very welcome!

[@subhabiswasSB]

Best skin retouching tutorial of Affinity photo👌

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@jihstudios]

Very good tutorial! The first time I understand Frequency Separation. Thank you

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ajayturilay7147]

Super video and nicely explained at a slow pace. Loved it.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@Sir_Grumpalot]

I'm considering moving from LR & PS into Affinity. Demo's like this will convince me and save me money over a year. Having frequency separation built in is a big points score for Affinity. Good video Scott. Now I need to look at luminosity masks, dodging and burning and enhancing detail to see what Affinity is like in those areas.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

I moved from LR/PS about three years ago. No regrets at all. I never need them. Some things are even better in Affinity Photo. Luminosity masks are covered by layer blend ranges (check my videos). The other things are covered too. You can dodge and burn in may ways. Detail enhancement can be done with a number of tools, including the local contrast and detail refinement in the HDR persona. They are giving you a three month trial at the moment so it is a great time to try it. It is also 50% off the very reasonable normal price.

[@Sir_Grumpalot]

@@ScottWilliamsPhotography Although I have not yet installed/bought a copy all the videos I have watched support your view. I do dodge/burn in a particular way in PS using the history brush and fine tuning luminosity masks on the fly in a very intuitive workflow. At the moment I cannot see a way of doing that in Affinity but then again perhaps I don't need to so why I am looking! The biggest issue in moving away from Adobe CC is beginning to look like losing the superb cataloguing of images in LR. I use, keywords, collections, collection sets and smart collections extensively and the thought of losing that and having to convert my existing organisation to a metadata set up is daunting. It also weakens the financial argument as all the DAM software I have looked at so far which meet my requirements are expensive. Anyone have a good solution to this? One way I will look at is a one off standalone copy of LR if such a thing exists.

[@javiervvgarcia9650]

Extremely useful and esay!! I wish we have more tutorials like this.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

👍

[@betteranimevgmsoundtrackri4025]

Dang! I was looking for how to clean up a noisy gradient and didn't think this video was what I needed, but the seeing the thumbnail caught my interest. It did do exactly what I wanted and required very little manual effort. Plus I learned a generally good strategy!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Glad to help.

[@Dav1de]

I' ve seen your video and understood the basis of frequency separation. It's amazing to find that quality and such helpful advice on a free video on KZbin. I tried myself to use that method on one of my picture and the result is incredible! Thank you very much 👍🏻👍🏻

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are very welcome. I'm glad you found the video useful. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

[@eifachdave9701]

Wow thats such a great tool! Thank you so much for showing and explaining!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are so welcome!

[@MarisaFotosensible]

Great teacher! Thanks so much for your time and sharing of your skills! 🙏

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

My pleasure!

[@filmsbykelly]

This is absolutely the best tutorial for affinity I have seen. And I have watched a ton of affinity tutorials on KZbin. Mr. Williams you are an awesome teacher and artist! I have subbed and hit the bell.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much Kelly. Welcome aboard.

[@arilotringer]

Wow, one of the best editing tutorials I've seen. Thank you!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@labsquadmedia176]

Such a clear, informative, and helpful tutorial. The best teaching explains thought process involved in the applications of technique, not just how to use the tools. Four thumbs up!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@nigelf43]

Fantastic tutorial and demonstration. Thank you for this.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are very welcome Nigel.

[@crypt0gurl866]

This was so fun. You single-handedly reinvigorated my passion for editing. Now I want to find out everything else I didn't know before!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much. Your comment has made my day 😀

I'm very thankful with this video, very good explanation and a wonderful technic, thanks

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are welcome!

[@chefmikebenninger481]

amazing work, i subscribed 1/2 way through, every video should be this good

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Welcome aboard Mike.

[@IdahoSAM.]

I enjoyed your nice smooth, slow approach to using this frequency separation filter. I was able to follow along with your project file very well. Your explanations are quite easy to understand.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Stephen 😃

[@siddharthchavan2352]

You are simple awesome!!! I like the way you made it so simple. Keep on making affinity photo tutorials. Cheers!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

More to come!

[@drakeincom]

Thank You so much for this.. I never new what frequency separation was useful for.. Or how powerful it is.. Now I see tons of uses for it.. Keep up the awesome work..

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Tommy. It really makes my day when I know someone has been helped by my tutorials.

[@andersutterstrom6089]

Very calm, yet quick and informative tutorial. Now I know a bit about Frequency Separation. Thanks!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@JoolsParker]

Wow - this is such a good workflow and produces far more natural, detailed results than any other re-touching tutorial I've seen on KZbin - excellent video Scott, one extra sub!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank yo Jools. Welcome aboard.

[@alejmc]

Amazing tutorial, really cool. Many years ago had a bit of exploration with these and Fast Fourier Transform tools to do all sorts of things inside Photoshop but it was so annoying and convoluted that stopped exploring it. This high/low frequency separation is amazing, two nice layers afterwards (interesting that the detail is added back through Lighten blend mode) to play with. Thanks for sharing this.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are very welcome.

[@MorinProductions]

Excellent tutorial, easy to follow. I didn't realize how the patch tool can give excellent results.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Cheers Bruce 👍

[@anneburke2405]

That was amazing Scott. Thank you so much

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Anne. You are very welcome 😃

[@annewatman677]

I had no problem watching you remove all those spots and discoloration. Great video, and thanks!!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Anne.

[@kabeeca]

Thanks for this! I understood the frequency separation but got a little lost on the rest of the video. Will keep it handy for future reference.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You're very welcome!

[@stephenhunt7655]

So much useful information! I have been struggling with Frequency Separation for a while. Using the patch tool was an eye opener. I was so happy to learn this then the bonus of the HSL….so that’s how you use it properly. Thanks again Great tutorial Scott.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Cheers Stephen. Frequency separation does take a little practice to get used to. Once you do it is very powerful.

[@turkhanaliabdulmanap6860]

Couldn't agree more. This is such an excellent tutorial. Thank you very much for bringing this to all of us.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

My pleasure!

[@brandymurray2158]

Thank you so much ! I have watched so many videos about affinity photo and learned more tonight than the last 9 months! You are very easy to follow and easy to learn from. I cant wait to find more of your videos.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are very welcome. Thanks for the comment 😃

[@dbxtekkie]

Thank You Scott! absolutely straightforward and very concise tuts. you've just earned another subs. keep it up.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much. Welcome aboard.

[@dbxtekkie]

thanks mate, looking forward to hone more skills with Affinity.. cheers!

[@lucienr]

Good instructor! The tutorial was useful for me. Thank you. :)

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much Lucien 😃

[@benbarling3790]

A superb tutorial. Slow and explained without being mind-numbingly boring. Thank you.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Ben.

[@anishpyne]

Absolutely amazing tutorial. Crisp to the point and very helpful for beginners like me. If I may, can I request two topics if you can cover in future - a) Color Grading using LUT b) Sharpening (using a fashion / urban portrait as subject)

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Anish.

[@imzaazmi]

Amazing master 🙏🏼👍 thank you so much for this tutorial

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are very welcome.

[@CaptainCreosoteRN]

Having just ditched Adobe CC photo plan and invested in AP to try a while back, I'm going hard into learning how things are done in AP. Have a sub and be assured I'll be back often for your really well done tutorials. Cheers.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Graham. Photoshop is a superb piece of software but for most photographers it is overkill. I have yet to find something in my photography work that I cannot do with Capture One and Affinity Photo.

[@JMJWill]

Excellently presented and easy to follow your tutorial.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much Cecil.

[@veronica0406]

Brilliantly done! Great tutorial.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@adamwhittingham86]

when starting out with new software it is often so overwhelming. Thank you for making it feally calm and easy to follow. It really helps the learning process. I look forward to watching and following along with all of your C1/Affinity photo tutorials.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Adam. I'm glad you are getting something from my videos.

[@Domine31064]

Excellent!! Now I understand! Thank You!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are welcome Bob. The trick with frequency separation is to get the radius right for the image. It just takes a little practice.

[@larryra]

Amazing video, extremely easy to follow and understand. Sold me on Affinity photo, subscribed!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Larry. Affinity Photo and their other products are superb. Amazing value for money.

[@davidevalentiphotographer2985]

Amazing tutorial, very clear and pleasant! Thank you sir!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are very welcome. Thank you for the great comment 😃

[@sanhunter1874]

Game changer! Thank you!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you San. Affinity Photo is the game changer. Such power at such a low price.

[@MrsRijnvis]

fantastic video with super good explanation.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@sbarrak]

Great tutorial!!! Thank you for your time! You were very didatic and thorough!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Glad it was helpful!

[@robbinkelly2565]

Thank you! I never understood frequency separation...so much to learn about Affinity Photo!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are welcome. Frequency separation does look daunting at first. The trick is learning to set the correct radius for the job. It just takes a little practice.

[@brendangoodenough173]

Hi Scott, great improvement on delivery mate, much better, you're getting the hang of it. On earlier ones you spoke as if we were either 4 year olds or 94 year olds..🤣 Anyway sorry mate, great tut, I'm converted. As a power user since the 80's, the writing is on the wall for Adobe.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Cheers Brendan. I was quite nervous when doing the first few videos so I think I over compensated. I think I'm slowly getting the hang of it😃. I used Photoshop for years, mainly creating graphics for video games. I can honestly say that I think Affinity Photo is a superb replacement for Photoshop for 99% of users. I use it for all editing that Capture One can't handle.

[@ScottyMedina]

Excellent video and instruction. Glad I found your channel.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Scott. I'm glad you found my channel too 😃

[@SonicStates]

Incredibly helpful. Much appreciated!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are welcome. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

[@thwaitey]

Wow, I found so much useful information in this video. I'd never used the patch tool or frequency separation before. Oh the possibilities! Thank you.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are very welcome Nicola.

[@hermannschmidt9788]

Great stuff. Affinity Photo is still a box of wonders for me.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Cheers Hermann. Same here. It is an amazing program.

[@okaymotion]

Best Affinity PHoto FS tutorial on KZbin

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much 😃

[@martinr5362]

Excellent tutorial. Thank you.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are welcome Martin 😀

[@videogamesare1]

Incredible work

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@petrstefek4438]

Perfect instructions, great work Scott !!! Thanks from the Czech Republic!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Petr. And thank you for taking the time to comment. It really is cool to think that there are people all over the world finding my videos useful 😃

[@vancamerawoman7399]

I think she would be very happy with the result. I’m happy too as I understand it now Thank you 🙏

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are very welcome Clare.

[@janus5177]

Great work

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@garyyeo9220]

I love your work... Please keep doing these for Affinity Photo. I would love to see one on Color Grading In Affinity

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thanks Gary. I may just do that.

[@YoungSunTeh]

Amazing tutorial

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@shayuppim]

Thank you sir great tutorial and very well explained, I have learned a lot from this tutorial, Thanks.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@rickyperez2066]

Excellent tutorial - very informative, and presented well.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much Ricky.

[@jo-annvalentine1910]

I learned so much today, thank you!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Glad it was helpful!

[@markhoffman7530]

Extraordinary video. Thanks, yet again.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you mark. And thanks for taking the time to comment.

[@stevehallam0850]

Very useful demo, thanks!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are welcome Steve.

[@lanariz.comrinoplastia6191]

Easy, thanks to your clear explanation

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@Pankaj-Verma-]

Thank you so much for your kind help!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are very welcome.

[@70dega31]

Very well done, thank you!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@steveatesh]

Yet another excellent tutorial Scott, clear and good pace too. The results were amazing! What do you suggest is the best way to deal with skin with lots of detail (in my models case, she has a lot of very visible pores) but good skin colour? I've tried various techniques to tone down the pores along with frequency separation but up to now I've ended up with unsatisfactory results. As the pores are consistent across her skin it makes the Patch tool on the detail layer difficult to use as you did here - any tips you can suggest please?

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You could try adding a mask to the high frequency layer and using a 20% black brush on the skin areas of the mask to reduce the detail of the pores.

[@febeleven]

Very good instructions

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Glad you liked it

[@WaldirBorbaJunior]

Thank you so much for sharing this amazing technic

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Waldir 😃👍

[@murderhill1947]

Ha! I came here, watched the video, appreciated your work, remembered that I had watched a similar video on the same topic, went to click the like button and saw that I had already liked this.... Yikes! This and the previous one are one and the same! Memory is a vanishing ability in this head of mine.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

It happens to me all the time. Being over 50 I have noticed it more in the last few years 😀

[@linda1541]

Amazing tutorial!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much 😃

[@MikeStevens]

This was great, thank you. I was following along with the iPad version, and I could do everything except invert the bilateral blur mask -- couldn't find the option for that -- but otherwise this was a supremely helpful tutorial. Thank you!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Glad it helped!

[@ruzicmedia5226]

Thanks for this. I am on the trial of Affinity photo but plan on purchasing their whole sweet during black friday. I am hoping it goes on sale. If not I will still be purchasing either way. I am quite blown away that you do not need to use actions like in photoshop for this. Curious what else is much more simple to take care of.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are welcome. One of the best things I did was to dump Adobe and switch to Affinity. They are superb applications.

[@saksi_mata]

it is on sale NOW !!

[@eduardoantoniotimanaladine6890]

Thank you for sharing this tutorial

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You’re welcome 😊

[@rodsilva80]

great tutorial, thank you!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Rodrigo.

[@tlight901]

Marvelous. Thank you.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@crs_]

What a brilliant video. Thank you!

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much 😃

[@bh4885]

Very good tutorial. Thank you.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much.

[@arnold.schmidt]

you are the greatest! thank you so much.

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you Arnold. I appreciate the comment 😃

[@YOJIMMIE]

very good detailed tutorial, thanks

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are very welcome Hugh. Thank you for the comment.

[@KremsonKhan]

wow those tut has saved me hours of work! :D thanksss

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

You are welcome.

[@jfiosi]

This was brilliant! I have watched many videos on frequency separation but you actually explained exactly the what, the how and the why of FS. The other videos just show or tell you what to do but then you can't do it on your own photos because you don't really understand FS and your images are not the same as their tutorial images. Can't thank you enough, Scott. Subscribed! Another person who explains things in detail is Unmesh Dinda, but he works with Photoshop. I have switched to the Affinity Suite but I still watch him because of the explanations. One more comment and a question for you. Please continue this style of tutorial (replete with detailed explanations). Do you think Affinity Photo should call the high frequency layer "Detail" and the low frequency layer "Color"? As you explained, that's what they are, right?

[@ScottWilliamsPhotography]

Thank you very much. I am not planning to change my style. I try to make tutorials that I would want to watch myself. As far as the layers names in concerned, I think that it really doesn't matter. They are called all sorts of things. I think they are trying to be as technically accurate as they can be.