There are multiple approaches, but I'm curious how other people would handle something like this in Affinity Photo.
How would the brain trust lighten up the dark parts (i.e. the lower 3/4 of the screenshot) so the shadow isn't so extreme?
This section of the picture makes no sense on its own, of course, and having a smooth border doesn't matter for my application (because I can just use the Clone Brush to blend it in).
You have to click on it so it doesn't just show up as a black square. 
You have to click on it so it doesn't just show up as a black square.
If you’re literally seeing a black square I think you need to adjust your display settings. It’s quite dark in the bottom left-hand corner, but it still looks brown to me! Having said that, clicking on it reveals a vertical strip with a huge amount of additional content.
I just mean that the thumbnail is a black square.
I understood that. I see a brown square here, and it’s quite a bit lighter at top right than at bottom left.
How would the brain trust lighten up the dark parts (i.e. the lower 3/4 of the screenshot) so the shadow isn't so extreme?
I would separate the area to be aligned as a separate layer, edit it, and, if necessary, merge it back with the main picture.
You can use masking and the "dodge" or "burn" brush to specifically select areas of the image that you want to change
nickbatz have you already tried working with Levels?
Thanks for the replies. As I'd hoped, this is interesting. The thing about image editing is how many ways there are to accomplish the same things - because ultimately everything just comes down to hue, saturation, and luminance.
komatös, by definition everything you do in Affinity Photo is a layer, including adjustments! So yeah, absolutely.
Photocat, dodge and burn are okay, but they're destructive and I prefer to use other tools for this kind of thing. But that's definitely a legitimate way to go about the problem, no question.
Toblerone, I have used Levels adjustments, but not recently, and only a couple of times as a final stage mastering process. In general I've found it to be more of a photography tool than an art one, which is how I use the program (you can see from my avatar, which is a thumbnail of a 44" square picture, that I'm not a normal person ).
***
So what I did is this:
- Copied the whole picture and used a Brightness/Congtrast adjustment (but just brightness) to match the brightest part of the picture.
- Created an inverted mask so the entire copy was masked.
- Painted in white on the inverted mask to brighten the dark parts. The brush was set set to about 30% opacity for control, 0% hardness, and it was pretty big so the soft edge was large.
- Selected a couple of different areas for individual brightness adjustments (always with the selection borders feathered).
- Cleaned up on another pixel layer using the Clone Brush, which is one of my best friends.
***
I just use heavily modified fragments of iPhone images like this as one element among dozens of others, usually layers layered upon other compound layers, in my large-scale prints. In other words, I use Affinity Photo as a playground for what I always describe as an evolution of painting.
But I guess I should post the whole image so this makes more sense. It's coffee grounds in a dishwasher.
Before and after. I just re-did this quickly for this post. I could do a little more work to make it seamless - for example, the top part in the after version is washed out - but for my purposes it doesn't really matter, and this is just to explain what I'm talking about here.
Thank you ! Very good option, especially since it is non- destructiive. You might think of putting out a few instructional videos!
Thanks, but I'd rather just write.
I would have used a linear gradient to mask out the lower part and increase the exposure/contrast to suit.
I would have used a linear gradient to mask out the lower part and increase the exposure/contrast to suit.
Yes, I've done that before. Good one.
In any case, to me this is the kind of thing that makes for an interesting discussion forum! I'm still learning things about the program.
If I might ask here: I am not seeing my images placed in Layout as being as sharp as I thought they would be. Most are provided 300DPI and I make minimum adjustments to them. Others I try to sharpen (Clarify) and bump up from 72dpi to 192 or so DPI. But once placed in my Layout I am not seeing them as super sharp. Perhaps it is my display monitor. Anyways, any tricks I should be doing to enhance image quality?
PS It sure takes a long time when I first open a project in Affinity Studio, for the app to focus the images, they remain fuzzy for 10-20 seconds or sometimes.
any tricks I should be doing to enhance image quality?
The "image quality" depends on a number of things. If the image has few pixels then the image should be placed at exact Pixel co-ordinates and it should also be scaled so it has no stretching of original pixels to fill its placed size.
I think you will find that the not super sharp images are placed at fractional pixel x, y co-ordinates.
I think you will find that the not super sharp images are placed at fractional pixel x, y co-ordinates.
not sure I understand. example?
not sure I understand. example?
That was just one example of what could be causeing the problem. Without an example document illustrating the problem you are having with your images I cannot be sure. Another cause could be if the images are stored on a networked drive or stored in a cloud system and they are taking time to be loaded into the document. Your iMac could have limited resources for displaying the images. There could be other things that I am not thinking of.
A sample document would go a long way to helping solve the problem.
Another cause could be if the images are stored on a networked drive or stored in a cloud system and they are taking time to be loaded into the document. Your iMac could have limited resources for displaying the images.
both points apply. I do have all my projects stored on a network OneDrive and that explains the lag.
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