redlegfrog

Hello all,
Looking to get the opinion of you Hoggers on the Affinity manuals and user guides. There are several books out on Amazon and there is lots of negative reviews but I don't put a lot of stock in them. I need the input from the members.
Thanks,
Tom

Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains

Although I have been an Affinity Photo user for 2+ years I can't give a good answer to your question as my sources of information are limited to the Affinity Photo Workbook produrce by Serif, and the Affinity Forum. Your question might be a good one to post on the Forum (https://forum.affinity.serif.com/). The Workbook is certainly loaded with information but is in part organized in a projects mode, where an author goes through certain processes used in a given project, and I find that less useful than simple, how to do it, instruction. The Workbook is also very expensice, $50 list price, on sale at times for $40 or $35. Despite not liking it's style I have learned a lot from the Workbook. I find it odd that the companies user guide costs as much as the software. Serif may have a return policy on the Workbook if the buyer doesn't like it but I am not certain on that.

The Serif personnel who produced the software do monitor the Forum so answers can come from both them and users. I have consistenly gotten good answers to posts there.

I simply haven't used any of the other user guides, etc. so I'm sorry I can't be helpful regarding those sources of intruction and information. I hope the information I was able to post above is of some help.

redlegfrog

Thanks for the info, off to a good start.

tom

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

There are free learning resources available online for Affinity Photo, including 92 video tutorials.
https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/learn/

There are additional free videos on YouTube, and online courses at websites like Udemy, whose courses frequently go on sale for as little as $10.

tcthome Loc: NJ

I have the Affinity workbook from Affinity. It is pretty good but I don't use it the way it is intended to be used. I looked thru the beginning of the book to learn the different modules (Affinity calls them Persona's) & tool layout & use. I just scroll through the table of contents or index to look for what I want to do, follow the instructions for a project (that is how the learning is laid out) but on my photo. Also if you click on the help tab on the top , there is a drop down & you can scroll thru a list or choose tutorials. I'll list some you tube resources also. The last link has a set of vids geared torward beginners . When I just looked it was down at the bottom. Have fun, Tom

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQZN-kIrZUQyoTnexM3jJAw

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6xPJ4dx82vSjysPUyjlCsw

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOnLUmyPHr2rayOHVHWsHVw

Kozan Loc: Trenton Tennessee

The workbook that Affinity (Serif) puts out is excellent. You can download all the files the workbook uses to go through the most important features of Affinity Photo. You get a detailed explanation of how to do something, and if you don't know where to click on a page, there is a picture to show you. The only better way to explain something is to have a person sitting beside you that shows you.

What could be easier?

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

Good, high quality textbooks cost - but that doesn't make them expensive. Don't compare them with cheap paperbacks aimed at a huge reader base. The Affinity Work Book is high quality and contains all you need to become a master user - quickly. Read the how-to pages or follow the projects. I am a proud owner.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Tom, I have been using Affinity Photo for several months. I like it and it has become my go to editor after I use proprietary editing software with my files. I recently email them to suggest working on a sky replacement feature such as those in Luminar and Photoshop. The answer was that they had a sky replacement feature already. It is true but it involves lots of work and know how because it could be a nightmare replacing the sky. From what I know it is easy with Luminar and Photoshop.

I bought their instructions book and I returned it. I prefer the many videos in You Tube describing how to use the software.

dandev Loc: Enumclaw, WA

I've been using Affinity for a couple of years as a PS replacement. I use it with Capture One. I bought the book - and used it a little at the start of my learning curve. It was on sale for $35. As someone pointed out that's very inexpensive for a hard-backed text book.
Here's how I learned Affinity. Let's say I need to remove power lines from a photo. I find the tutorial on how to remove objects in Affinity. That goes on one monitor. On my other monitor - I have the photo that needs to have power lines removed. I may have to "rewind" and replay that tutorial a bunch of times in a step by step fashion while I edit the photo - but it sinks in for me.

srt101fan

I bought Affinity a while back but, unfortunately, haven't yet spent a lot of time on it. I do know that I like it. As others have said, there are lots of good videos out there. I also bought a couple of the Udemy courses and find them very helpful.

I have the Affinity Workbook. I don't know how much experience you have in photo-editing in general. I had very little experience. I started to use the workbook to learn but put it aside. I'm sure it's an excellent learning guide for some, but I find it less than satisfactory for newcomers to photo editing. The book has not been much help in learning to navigate around the program and learning the basic concepts of tools, selections, layers, masks, etc. I'm sure that once I have that basic knowledge this project-oriented workbook will be a valuable source for continuing to learn.

Harry0 Loc: Gardena, Cal

It costs A LOT to make a physical book in small quantities.
An available .pdf file would be nice. Easily upgradable/ updatable.
The reviews say the folks that bought it like it.
Everybody else says: "But ... youtube tuts are free!"

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Had it for a week. Too much necessary stuff hidden in the interface with oddball names. It went back and I got PaintShopPro 2021. No problem❤️

elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

Joe, when I had a PC, I used PaintShopPro and liked it a great deal. In fact, in those days, I was a purchasing customer of Adobe and purchased so many upgrades, right up to PSCS6. However, I did switch over to iMac, so PaintShopPro isn't written for Mac. Sad.

However, I've been a user of Affinity Photo for several year, now and extremely happy. Yes, I, too, purchased the hard cover book and I have to admit that I did learn some new things there via Affinity's book. Since Tom's original question is about books, I endorse Essential Affinity Photo by Robin Whalley. I'd also like to suggest you avoid any books by Frank Walters. I've purchased two of his books, and while I do not discredit his mastery of Affinity Photo, his teaching style is very difficult, and sometime impossible to follow, with occasional contradicting statements. Being a life long teacher myself, I'm pretty skilled in "seeing what they intended to really say", but there are too many contradictions in his books. And finally, my personal favorite is the "live" instruction offered by Udemy.com. There are so many different courses, and several on Affinity Photo. They cost, and typically you'll find courses "on sale" for $9.99. I put that in quotes for the sale prices are frequently offered. I'm going through one currently, presented by Simon Foster. He's British, I believe, and he behaves like a good teacher, with many many steps in a $9.99 course, complete with visual examples along the way.

I've been using Photoshop since 2002, with all the books to accompany my studies there. I can't speak for PSCC, but only watch the frustration I see by fellow UHH members. When I installed my PSCS6 into my newest iMac, everything was fine until time to print. The program instantly shut down when I did a command-P. Okay, that's enough, and I have not looked back yet. I'm totally happy with Affinity Photo, and if you can survive the expensive $49 for the software (lolol), I think you'll learn a great deal from the Udemy lesson. And when you pay $9.99 for a course, it's yours permanently. You can return to it at any time.

Okay guys, I'm kicking my soap box aside now.

Bill

redlegfrog

I loved PSP! Had to switch to Mac / Apple and have been patiently waiting for them to make a Mac version. I've been waiting a long time.

elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

Don't hold your breath. It's a great program for the PC, but for years, they have not been known to offer a version for the Mac.

Bill