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The Microsoft Store has gained some powerful apps for creators this year. Affinity Photo is a powerful photo editing software that could easily be an alternative to Photoshop for many users.
The app is available for Windows 10 for $49.99 from the Microsoft Store — there's also a 10-day free trial available through the Affinity website.
Features
Dec 14, 2017 - Affinity Photo is a powerful photo editing software that recently arrived in the Microsoft Store. One time purchase. Works with photoshop files.
Affinity Photo has a wide set of photo editing features including raw editing, color correction, HDR merging, panoramic stitching, and a full set of retouching tools. It is very much a professional photo editing software that will become increasingly useful as you learn the app's ins and outs.
A major boost to Affinity Photo is that it allows you to import and export Photoshop PSD files — with full support for multiple layers! The app also works across Windows, iOS, and macOS so you can bring your files across devices. You can also use the app to format entire folders for batch editing.
Using the app takes some time to get used to — it has a learning curve that's not dissimilar to Photoshop's. Affinity Photo has different areas for editing, such as developing for color and brightness corrections, and if you don't know what you're looking for you can get lost in the menus and options. With as many features as it offers, it's easy to get lost, so I definitely recommend taking some time to poke around and see what does what.
I've used Photoshop and Lightroom for editing both work and personal photos, but I'll admit that my skills are fairly raw. I could tell that I was only scratching the surface of Affinity Photo and that it's designed more for professionals. But with a price cheaper than even the bare-bones Photoshop Elements, which is currently on sale for $69.99, and significantly cheaper than full Photoshop, it's very tempting to switch over.
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How it compares to Photoshop
Affinity Photo is a great app within its own right, but comparisons to Photoshop are unavoidable. It stands up against Adobe's photo editor very well, both in terms of features and price.
Affinity Photo costs $49.99, but that is a one time fee. The full version of Photoshop requires a subscription, the cheapest option being Adobe's Photography plan which is $9.99 per month. The value of these depends on what other software you're using. If you're already using multiple apps in the Adobe Suite, then it's probably not worth paying for a separate photo editor. But if you are looking for a powerful photo editor and that's it, then Affinity Photo is available at very fair price.
The layout and features of Affinity Photo are going to feel very familiar to Photoshop users and for a vast number of photo editing cases both Affinity Photo and Photoshop will be able to do the job. There may be some very specific Photoshop features that some users can't live without but Affinity Photo covers many of the same areas.
Summary
Affinity Photo coming to the Microsoft Store continues the trend of powerful apps coming to the store in 2017. It's a powerful photo editing app that comes at a very fair price considering how much it can do.
The app does have a steep learning curve, especially for people new to photo editing but it provides a wide set of options and features for professional photo editors. After testing out the app I'm actually cancelling my subscription that gets me Photoshop. Some professionals may need specific Photoshop features but for me Affinity Photo covers all the bases I need it to.
Pros:
- One time purchase.
- Works with photoshop files.
- Very powerful photo editor.
Cons:
- Has a learning curve for users new to photo editing.
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Picture the future.
If you could create your own photo editing software, it would work like this. Whether it’s quick corrections, delicate retouching, or immersing yourself in complex fine art with hundreds of layers, Affinity Photo has you covered.
Trusted by professionals
Affinity Photo has become the first choice for photography and creative professionals around the world, who love its speed, power and precision. Born to work hand-in-hand with the latest powerful computer technology, it’s the only fully-loaded photo editor integrated across macOS, Windows and iOS.
Raw Editing
HDR Merge
Panorama Stitching
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Focus Stacking
Batch Processing
PSD Editing
360 Image Editing
Multi Layer Comp
Pro Retouch
Digital Painting
Performance and power
The raw power under the hood of Affinity Photo will leave you amazed at how quickly you can work. Watch your edits render in real time and dive into the huge toolset, tailored to the demands of a professional workflow.
- + Live, real time editing
- + Massive image support (100+ Megapixels)
- + Super smooth pan and zoom at 60fps
- + Near instant load of huge files
- + Open and edit PSD and PSB files
Fine-tuned adjustments
Correct and enhance images with Levels, Curves, Black and White, White Balance, HSL, Shadows and Highlights, plus over a dozen other non-destructive adjustments which preview instantly and can be edited at any time.
Flawless retouching
Whether you want to make quick corrections, or spend time on a detailed retouch, Affinity Photo has a complete set of retouching tools and dedicated features to help.
- + Smooth and retouch skin with frequency separation
- + Dodge, burn, clone, patch and blemish removal tools
- + Dedicated liquify workspace for sculpting features
- + Remove unwanted objects with the magical inpainting brush
Incredible live filter layers
Effects like blurs, lighting, distortions and perspective corrections can all be applied as non-destructive live filter layers. This means you can erase away from them, mask them, reorder them and adjust parameters at any time. It's a completely new way to work.
- + Add filter effects non-destructively
- + Apply to single layers or over a whole layer stack
- + Mask and erase areas after they have been applied
- + Live full resolution preview at all times
Full RAW Development
Shoot in RAW and enjoy an end-to-end 16-bit, super smooth experience in Affinity Photo. Bring out all the details, and control those finer corrections to take that perfect shot to another level.
- + Professional lens corrections
- + Adjust exposure, blackpoint, white balance and much more
- + View histograms, blown highlights, shadows and tones
- + View and edit EXIF information
- + Best in class noise reduction and hot pixel removal
Breathtaking compositions
With support for limitless layers, Affinity Photo provides a full library of adjustments, effects and live filters, all of which can be grouped, clipped, masked or blended together to create incredibly complex image compositions.
- + Unlimited layers
- + Layer effects
- + Live blend modes
- + Mask & clipping layers
- + Vector and text tools
Beautiful brushwork
Affinity Photo’s super smooth brush engine and advanced dynamics offers the most fluid and natural painting experience available.
- + Huge library of brushes included
- + Create custom brushes with advanced dynamics
- + Combine multiple brushes together in a single stroke
- + Full support for Wacom and other graphics tablets
- + Full support for Apple Pencil (iPad version)
- + Import .abr brush files
Faultless photo stitching
Get perfect panoramas every time with Affinity Photo’s advanced stitching algorithm, including automatic image alignment and full perspective corrections.
Refined selections
Achieve a level of accuracy you never thought possible with Affinity Photo’s advanced selection refinement algorithms. Whether cutting out objects, creating masks or selectively applying adjustments, you can make extremely precise selections – even down to individual strands of hair – with ease.
- + Selection brush & magic wand
- + Marquee and lasso tools
- + Advance selection refinement
- + Paint to select
- + Pen tool selection tool
Stunning HDR
Affinity Photo’s HDR algorithm creates incredibly natural-looking images enabling you to unlock the full dynamic range of the scene. You can work natively with the full 32-bit image, or use extensive tone mapping facilities for beautiful results.
- + Unlimited source images
- + Full tone mapping controls
- + Merge directly from RAW
- + Alignment and perspective correction
Focus merge
Expertly merge multiple images taken at different focal distances for detailed macro photography results. Affinity Photo takes care of the alignment and completes a deep analysis to determine the best areas of each image to use.
32-bit workflow
The only photo editing tool to offer full end-to-end 32-bit workflow for working on HDR images, renders, textures or exports from 3D software.
- + OpenEXR and Radiance HDR support
- + Import OpenColorIO configurations
- + HDR / EDR monitor support
Any device, anywhere
The first professional photo editing application to have its full feature set and have 100% file format compatibility across Windows, Mac and iPad allowing you to work with the same file across any device.
Best-in-class PSD Import/Export
PSD Import/Export
PSB Import
Layer Integrity
Plugins Supported
Brush Support
In constant development
We love working on Affinity Photo and are constantly developing new features and improvements to the app. Here’s just some of the new features added in our latest 1.7 update:
Big performance increases across Mac, Windows and iPad
More effective noise reduction, hot pixel removal and wide color space development
New Sub Brushes to combine multiple brushes in a single stroke
Symmetry (up to 32-way) is now supported - including on-canvas controls and optional mirroring
On the fly nozzle rotation now available with shortcut keys
New “Procedural texture” and “Voronoi” filter effects
Live filter effects have been rewritten to improve performance
An all-new HSL adjustment layer has been added, supporting custom hue ranges, new UI and picker controls
HEIF images can now be loaded, including loading of any depth map
New Assets Panel available to store and drag and drop regularly used assets
Mac
Windows
iPad
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