Today, the Affinity Photo software is available for Windows and MAC machines as well as for the iPad, but is not available for Linux machines at the time of this article. Affinity Photo IntroductionĪffinity Photo, on the other hand, was first launched in 2015 by Serif, a private British software developer, essentially as a rebrand of an earlier software known as “Photo Plus,” which was originally released in 1999 and retired in 2017. Though GIMP is a standalone software, it works well in conjunction with other free and open source software like Inkscape, Scribus, Darktable, and Blender, to name a few. It’s a free and open source program, which means it’s developed and supported by a decentralized, worldwide community of developers and users like you or me. GIMP is primarily a raster-based photo editor, with all the tools you need to professionally edit and retouch photos from start to finish, and also includes plenty of tools for creating graphic design compositions or photo manipulations. The GIMP program itself has been around since 1996 when it was created as a free software alternative to Photoshop for Linux operating systems, and is currently available for Windows, MAC, and Linux machines.

In fact, May 17 th of 2021 will be the 10-year anniversary of my YouTube channel! GIMP is primarily a raster-based photo editor and uses common editing tools like the Levels tool (pictured above). GIMP IntroductionĪs many of you know I have been using GIMP, a free and open source photo editor, for over a decade now, and have been creating tutorials for the software since 2011. If you want a book that's more recently, check out Affinity Photo Manual I and Affinity Photo Manual II both published in 2020 and authored by Frank Walters.So let’s start with a quick introduction to the two programs, starting with GIMP.

This book was published in 2017 but is still relevant today because the user interface and tools haven't changed significantly. This book is quite pricey at US $49.99 but it's worth the money for the content, and it's also worth supporting the company Serif who is the publisher of the book simply because they are giving Adobe competition. You can remove those pages and stick them nearby for reference. The last few pages are perforated pages with keyboard shortcuts.

Learning by doing is just easier and more enjoyable compared to scrolling through the Affinity help and technical manual. You'll learn about the different tools and what they can do. The book is packed with step-by-step tutorials that you can follow along. This is an excellent book for learning the ins and outs of Affinity Photo in great detail.

Affinity photo work book