Affinity Photo 2 Has Arrived

Affinity Photo 2 Has Arrived

The 9th of November 2022 was a big day for users of Affinity Photo as it saw the release of the latest version of Affinity Photo 2. Unlike the many earlier releases, this was a paid release and there are many new features that might tempt you to upgrade.

Affinity Photo Trial

If you don’t have the latest version of Affinity Photo you can download a trial from the Affinity Photo website.

New Affinity Photo 2 Feature List

The headline improvements in Affinity Photo 2 are:

• Non-destructive RAW processing in the Develop Persona.
• New Compound Masks in the Photo Persona. You can use these to combine multiple masks non-destructively using logic commands like add, subtract, and intersect.
• Live Mesh Warp to warp images non-destructively in the Photo Persona.
• Luminosity Range Mask.
• Hue Range Mask.

If you would like to see the complete list of new features in Affinity Photo 2, you will find it on the following page on the Affinity website https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/full-feature-list/. In addition, this contains details of the hardware requirements for using Affinity Photo 2 on a Mac and Windows computer along with an iPad.

My Favourite Features in Affinity Photo 2

Whilst I find a lot of the new features in Affinity Photo 2 valuable, there are three that I feel stand out. These are my favourite features because they can bring a substantial improvement to the quality of my photo editing. They are:

Non-destructive RAW Editing

I like this because it allows me to continue to refine my RAW editing by returning to the Develop Persona. Providing I have used one of the two RAW development settings my adjustments are preserved, allowing me to change them. This is a timesaver but it also unlocks advanced editing techniques like exposure blending. Previously these techniques would have taken more effort and have less flexibility.

Luminosity Range Mask

The Luminosity Range Mask is another new feature that makes advanced editing techniques more accessible. In the previous version of Affinity Photo, creating Luminosity Masks was complicated. If you came from a Photoshop background, you might want to produce sets of Lights, Darks and Midtone masks as this tutorial explains. Alternatively, you could use a Curves adjustment to produce flexible Luminosity Masks.

But in Affinity Photo 2, the new Luminosity Range Mask makes it simple to create any luminosity mask you need interactively.

The new mask uses a Curves line to select the tonal range to work with. What’s powerful is that there is a Preview option allowing you to switch between viewing the mask and viewing its effect on the image. Once you understand the principles of how the Range selection works, the tool is extremely quick and easy to work with.

Hue Range Mask

On a similar theme to the Luminance Range Mask, we have the Hue Range Mask which we can use to make colour-based selections. To find out more about these three features and see them in action, watch my Affinity Photo 2 video review.

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You can also watch this video on my YouTube channel. I publish a new video every week, often based on subscribers’ requests and feedback. Subscribe to my YouTube channel now and be sure not to miss future videos.

Cost of Affinity Photo 2

So how much does the new Affinity Photo 2 cost?

Well, that depends as there are several options. Also, at the time of writing a 40% launch discount is available.

What we do know is that unusually, there isn’t an upgrade path from the previous Affinity Photo version. Instead, users need to purchase a new full license for the new software. Despite this, the cost of a full license is less than most competitor package upgrades. We should also remember that this is the first paid update to the software since it was launched in 2015.

Another interesting purchase option is the Universal License which grants the rights to use all the software in the Affinity family on Mac, Windows, and iPad. That’s Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher. If like me you can benefit from all three applications, you can save a significant amount of money with this license.

To get the latest pricing and deals, visit the Affinity website pricing page https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/affinity-pricing/

Overall, Affinity Photo 2 is one of the best, most powerful photo editors available, and at a bargain price.