112 PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY
S
inceourfirstreviewof Affinity
Photowaybackin 2017,it’sbeen
cl earthatSerifis ontoa winner.
Packedfullof primoediting
to ols,techniquesandintuitive
Li veFilters,thispowerhouseis designed
fr omthegroundup to givetheultimatein
cr eativefreedom.It’salsooneof themost
comprehensivesuiteson themarket,and
boastsan intuitivetabularsystemcalled
Personas.Theabilityto jumpbetween
To neMappingto Liquifyandbackinto
RAWDevelopingmeanstheentiresystem
is accessibleat all timesforeveryedit.
Not onlydoesit providea wholehost
of industrystandardtools,but withAffinity
yo u’llalsofindliveeffectsthatare among
th e bestcurrentlyavailable,anda wide
va rietyof refinedtools,layermasks
an d evenblendingmodes.It’sthishuge
ra ngeof optionsforcreativitythathelpedto guaranteeAffinitythetopspotin our
Gear of theYearresults.Updatebringsthegoods
Ofcourse,technicallyAffinityis thesame
basesoftwareas version1.6,butit’sthe
la testupdatethatcaughtourjudges’
at tention.Buildingon thatsolidbase,
ve rsion1.7 succeedsin bringinga
noticeableboostto performance.
Thelatestversionloads RAWfileswith
tw icetheexpediency,bringssupportfor
workingon mammoth32-bitfilesandHDR
monitors,andevenrefinesbasicbrush
an d layeroperationsto be up to tentimes
sp eedier.ThebrilliantLiveFiltershave
beencompletelyrewrittento improve
performance.Thesefiltersare creative
effectsthatyoucanapply,whilereviewing
th e resultsin realtime.Theyincludesuch
to olsas a widerangeof blurs,sharpnessan d clarityandeven
a lightingfilter.Notonly
ar e thesedesignedto
besimpleto usefor
beginners,theyalso
fo rmthecornerstone
fo r morecomplexedits- greatif you’relooking
fo r softwareto growas
your skillleveldoes.
Alltheusualhits
Thesefancynewupdateswouldn’tbe
an ythingwithouta solidfoundation,and
Af finitycertainlytickstheboxeshere,
pr ovidingeverythingyou’lleverneedforall
sk ill levels.Forthosewhoshootin RAW,
thefile conversionDevelopPersonahelps
to get themostfromyourcamera’shidden
fil e detail,givingyoua wealthof toolsto
re coverhighlightsandshadows,andadd
colour, toningandcontrast.ThePhoto#WINNERBestSoftware
AFFI ITY DOMI
DIGITAL EDITIN
Serif’sphenomenaleditingsuitecontinues aru n of blisteringform,withits latestfree update
makingit a clear stand-outvictorin 2019.AFFINITY PHOTO 1.7
FOUR REASONS
TO USE AFFINITY
Switchit up
Theabilityto move
se amlesslybetween
Personasallowsyouto
br ingnewelements
to yourworkflow.
DevelopingRAWfiles,
creatingin-depthtone
mapsandexporting
im ages– it’sall there.Valuefor money
Anyeditingsoftwareforunder
£50 is a bargain.AffinityPhoto
ri vals– andoftensurpasses–
th e industryleader,makingit an
attractivepackage.