Last week, I showed you some images that I did in Photoshop of clouds or smog around buildings. It wasn’t that hard to do, but I also wanted to see if I could do the same thing with Affinity Photo 2 as well.
I think I have said how I have Affinity Photo 2 because I wanted to try it out and see if it would be a good replacement for Adobe Photoshop. So far, I’m impressed.
Here is that image.
I think I will also post the one I did in Photoshop again.
There are differences because I didn’t do them exactly the same. I think the Affinity one is perhaps warmer. I obviously used different clouds as well.
Affinity Photo 2.
It is very similar to Photoshop, but there are some things that work very differently, and I wouldn’t use it right now if I didn’t have the internet close by. Unlike ON1 that have lots of videos and information for you to help you learn how to use it, Affinity, from what I can tell, basically leaves you on your own.
Thankfully, all you seem to have to do is Google what you want to do, and then you will find the answer. So far, I have managed to be able to do that.
I think I said in another post that it crashing can be a problem. Thankfully, it has only done that to me once. I did lose all my work, but I have changed some of the settings to make it autosave more often. I’m trying to make myself save it more frequently as well. Then, if it does crash, I’m not losing as much.
It seems to be quite a comprehensive program like Photoshop. This is really the only image I’ve done so far, and I will do a lot more. However, considering I pay almost $200 a year for Photoshop and Lightroom, the $95 I paid for this, which I now own, is very appealing. Even if I pay to update it when there are newer versions, I will probably still be ahead.
I don’t use Lightroom very much. I like it for importing and renaming my images, but after that, I tend to use Photoshop. My husband is a programmer, so I asked him to write me a program that would do those things for me, whether he does or not is a different thing. lol.
I will keep you updated with how I find Affinity Photo 2. I am also going to be doing some Live videos on YouTube on using Affinity and ON1. You will need to look at my YouTube channel to find them.
Here are the images in a gallery so you can get a better view of them.
cinematographic!
⬻𓂀✧ ✬ღ☆ ∞ ♡ ∞ ☆ღ✬ ✧𓂀⤖
Thanks Graham.
🙇♂️
Very good article
Thank you
Beautiful and profound
Thank you.
Great images! I’m personally on the fence about getting Affinity and switching from Adobe, so it’d be nice if you do more comparisons of it and PS. I’m pretty sure DxO’s Nik Collection plugins work in Affinity too.
…also I hate Lightroom except for, as you mentioned, importing/sorting images and do all my editing in PS.
Thank you Adam. I have to admit I’m feeling the same, I’m reluctant to give up PS as well, but I don’t make money and I think they are going to keep putting it up, and I don’t want to pay $30+ a month for it. So I really want to give Affinity a go, and ON1. We will see how I go and for sure I will keep doing posts on it. I am going to do some live videos on my YouTube channel as well.
Good to hear I’m not the only one that uses LR that way. lol
You are not alone with how you use LR, trust me. And yeah I don’t make money doing photography but it’s somehow still worth it I think…either that or I’m insane, which is possible too. As for Adobe plans, I really hope Adobe doesn’t hike prices again, my plan is the cheapest one and it’s been grandfathered out of their plans recently so….yeah. Didn’t know you had a YouTube channel but I did just find it. Oh well, thanks again for comparing the software!
I’ve never minded paying for PS with the subscription, that is until they put it up almost 100% and if I couldn’t have got the price I had by paying for a yearly subscription not sure I could have afforded to keep it. Paying $25 a month is a lot. My plan runs out in May and if they put it up again, then I’m out. My husband does not want me to keep using it. Yeah, I don’t do a lot on my YouTube channel, it is a bit pathetic, lol.
It was fine when it was $10 in USD a month but…it’s gone up to like $20 minimum soon enough I think. I can totally get that not wanting to pay it though. I may actually be paying the 25 in australian dollar equivalent at 15 USD right now I think, that’s about as much as I can justify right now. Oh well, hopefully Affinity works well enough, I may become an Adobe refugee too soon.
I agree, if they put it up anymore then I’m out. I am still paying the $15AUD a month because I paid for a whole year, but not sure that will be an option in May when that year is up. I see on the subscription page that just PS is $35 a month and LR is $19, however the combo, no idea why you wouldn’t do the combo is $30 a month. So not sure what is happening. I have decided to really give these other programs a go and then in May next year I can decide what I want to do. Time will tell, all I know is that if it goes up anymore I don’t think I will be willing or be able to pay for it. Watch this space I suppose.
Nice
Thanks.
Both are great photographs. I will definitely have to check out Affinity.
Thank you Danice, yeah take a look at it. They have a 7 day free trial.
I love Affinity Photo — I even managed to get it on an offer where I think I paid like $40 or something ridiculous like that. The frequent updates and the buy-once-own-forever nature of the application means they have an avid fan/user.
Glad you’re liking it, too.
You were lucky I had to pay $95 for it, but I’m okay with that. Good to hear, I think I like it too and really need to learn how to use it so it becomes second nature. Thank you Matt.
Affinity has their own site for help, plus you can find lots on YouTube. I bought the entire PS suite in 2005, and got rid oof it when they started the subscription bs. Affinity photo cost $50 at the time so I bought it. No regrets. I love it.
I will have to check out their site more, thanks for letting me know. I have found lots on YouTube which has been really helpful too. I have done the subscription since they started it, but they recently put it up so much and I think it will probably go up again too, so I need to plan for leaving.
I sort of refuse to use Adobe stuff. The only thing I don’t like about Affinity is they don’t have a Linux version. But I’m used to that; so it’s not a big deal — I do my photo stuff on my laptop, which is a far less powerful machine, but ‘Them’s the Breaks’.
I paid a lot for DXO and ON1, and while DXO is my “quick edits” choice, I’ve stopped using ON1 pretty much entirely for Affinity. The layering and RAW tools that I know to use just work for me.
For tutorials, I think this is the YouTube channel I used to get familiar with Affinity:
https://www.youtube.com/@AffinityRevolution
I’m trying hard not to use them too. I have to agree about the Linux version, my husband loves Linux and every time I tell him I found some new software the first thing he asks is does it run on Linux. I’m used to it too, but boy I would love to ditch Windows.
I quite like ON1, and have been using it when I want to do quick posts with quick edits. I think I will use Affinity for more detailed edits, I really want to explore it so much.
Thank you for the link Matt, I will definitely check it out.
If I had to pick one, I’d choose the PS image. I just like the cooler tones for that type of photo.
I think the mistake I made with this was not processing them the same, I used different cloud images and added the colour to the Affinity one to see what it looked it. I wanted to show that what you can do in PS you can do in Affinity. I might have to try another image and do exactly the same to both and see how they come out. Thanks Anne.
Catching up with Sandy on Friday.
I think the photoshop version is sharper, at least on my screen. Affinity has a much greener hue and it’s very silky, but “differently” sharp, if that makes any sense.
I probably should have processed them the same way, but I didn’t, maybe I should do that with one image. I used different cloud images for both and then tried some stuff with one and not the other. There is something I want to try, so I might give it a go. Thank you Marilyn.
I’ve installed and am using ON-1. It’s obvious I need to use a lighter touch, but overall, it’s not difficult — just a lot of new options to ponder. I also have (I follow your software selections 🙂 ) Affinity 2, the basic model (very on sale) but their format seems incompatible with EVERYTHING. Have you found a way to change the format to something easier to use — like jpeg? I did notice that you can use Affinity as a full processor. I was very excited until I realized the format — their own — was not useful. It can’t be just me with this problem.
Meanwhile, ADOBE has changed (aka updated) their format again, dumping all the easy stuff and adding much more complicated processes that do exactly the same thing, but are much harder to use. I do NOT understand WHY they do this. Adobe is hard enough to understand and their constantly changing everything doesn’t help. I’ve been looking for some way out of the Adobe trap. IF I can figure out how to convince it to output a more useful format … well … maybe I wouldn’t need Adobe. By the way, I never use Lightroom either. I actually have never figured out how exactly it’s supposed to work. I have it installed, but except for when I first got it and it installed my entire photo library (NOT what I wanted it to do), I disabled it.
Hey, remember when we just BOUGHT a DVD of Photoshop and updated it ourselves every couple of years? This whole subscription thing has gotten WAY out of hand.
Yeah, I noticed that too with ON1, you can’t get too carried away with the settings, some really need a light touch. I think of Affinity like changing camera brands, you have to learn it all over again and find the differences. I haven’t really pushed it yet, but I plan on doing that. I think of Affinity as my replacement for Photoshop. From what I can tell it pretty much does the same. I will find out.
I agree about Adobe, they are changing so much and not all for the better. I think they are trying to bring in a lot of AI and it isn’t always what we want. Things you used to be able to do with one click now takes 3 or 4, so annoying. Then tools you are used to using move or disappear and you have to find them again. I feel like I’m constantly have to relearn it. With Affinity, like ON1 you have to export your images to the file type you want. You can export them as jpegs or PSD files. I just worked out that you can save as a psd and all your layers that you developed in Affinity will open in PS and vice versa, which is I think is great. Lightroom is great for batch processing, but they are doing stuff to it as well that is making it harder to use, or you have to do a lot more clicks. More more clicks, it is annoying. Make it easier to use not harder.
I do remember that, buying the program disk, I agree about the subscription thing, I’m not sure it is worth the money and now they are starting to put the price up more and more. I want out.
I prefer Affinity to Photoshop. There are a multitude of tutorials, but the basics are intuitive.
Good to hear. I don’t know that I am quite there yet, but I do like it and I know I will learn it. Some things are very different, but the way PS is going it seems to be changing so much and I’m constantly having to learn how to use it again which I am getting very sick of. Thank you for sharing that, it is good to hear.
Glad you’re experimenting. I like the photoshop version better. Lighting seems more realistic. You should try Luminar Neo. I’m getter better at it and fine it’s often a good substitute for Photoshop.
Thank you Joanne, fair enough. I have looked at that one but I like ON1 better and I really like Affinity. Good that you like it.
The PS doesn’t look bad, it is actually good. The Affinity Photo looks goods, but you have side by side comparison?
I just wanted to show that you can do basically the same thing in both. I didn’t do them exactly the same. so they will look different. The clouds were definitely different ones for each. Thanks Ziggy.