Developing a raw image

Working in Develop Persona

If a supported raw file format is opened in Affinity Photo, it will automatically display in Develop Persona. You can then process the image using the dedicated adjustments, Studios and tools.

Develop Persona gives you access to the following:

Tonal adjustments using the Basic and Tones Studios.
Sharpening and Noise adjustments using the Details Studio.
Lens correction adjustments using the Lens Studio.
Overlays for applying adjustments to specific brushed image regions.
Crop Tool for cropping your image.
Blemish Removal Tool for correcting image imperfections.
Metadata Studio for GPS Location and A/F region display.

At any point while working with an image or any selected pixel layer, you can switch to Develop Persona to make use of its unique features.

Choosing between RAW engines

The Develop Assistant provides a choice between Apple (Core Image RAW) and Serif Labs engines for processing RAW images.

Apple's engine provides the benefits of predetermined behaviours for demosaicing, lens correction, noise reduction, cropping and more.

Serif Labs' engine allows for greater manual configuration. You can specify luma and chroma noise reduction separately or disable noise reduction altogether, override lens correction, and benefit from superior demosaicing.

Apple's engine crops to whatever aspect ratio was selected in camera and so was written into the image's metadata, even if the camera sensor's aspect ratio is different. Data outside of the crop area may be removed during RAW processing. The Serif Labs engine doesn't destructively crop images, so all sensor data remains available.

Split view options

There are a variety of split view options available in Develop Persona's View Tool which give you the opportunity of seeing how your processed image compares to the original raw data.

Syncing

While applying adjustments, you can update the 'Before' and 'After' view to give you a more focused representation of the applied changes.

Show Clipping

An incorrect level of exposure within an image can lead to pixels 'falling out' of the viewable intensity range. This results in the loss of detail in areas of shadow, highlights, or midtones and is known as clipping.

In Develop Persona, you have the ability to display Clipped Shadows, Clipped Highlights and/or Clipped Tones directly on the image. This can help you identify areas which need correcting as well as preventing overenthusiastic modifications which result in clipping.

To work in Develop Persona:

Do one of the following:
- Open a raw image. Develop Persona will analyse the data and pre-process it, ready for editing.*
- Select a pixel layer and then, from the Persona toolbar, tap Develop Persona.
Activate your preferred view mode. The photo or layer will adopt all the settings as displayed in the 'After' view. The 'Before' view is for comparison purposes only.
Adjust the image using the various Studio options and tools.
(Optional) Sync applied settings within the view and repeat the above step.
On the context toolbar, select Develop.

To activate view modes:

On the context toolbar, tap Split to cycle between:
- the processed image in isolation on a single page.
- the processed and original raw image simultaneously on the same page. Drag the After/Before slider left/right to preview different areas.
- the processed and original raw image simultaneously on separate pages as a mirror representation. Panning and zooming affects both pages simultaneously so the same area is always displayed in both pages.

To synchronise applied settings in view modes:

On the Commands Menu, choose one of the following:

Tap Sync Before to update the 'Before' view to the most recent applied settings.
Tap Sync After to revert the settings applied in the 'After' view back to the settings shown in the 'Before' view.
Tap Swap Before/After to switch the applied settings between the views.

To show clipping:

On the Commands Menu, choose one of the following:

Tap Show Clipped Highlights to display all 'blown' highlights as a high-contrast red colour.
Tap Show Clipped Shadows to display all clipped shadow areas as a high-contrast blue colour.
Tap Show Clipped Tones to display all clipped midtone areas as a high-contrast yellow colour.

To rotate your raw image:

On the Commands Menu, choose one of the following:

Tap Rotate clockwise to rotate the image clockwise by 90°.
Tap Rotate anticlockwise to rotate the image anti-clockwise by 90°.

To change initial develop settings:

When in the Photo Persona, do the following:

Tap Preferences at the top right of your Affinity app's Home screen.
From the General tab, tap Assistant Options.
Choose from the following settings:
- RAW Engine: Provides a choice of RAW processing engines for you to use—Affinity's own Serif Labs engine or Apple (Core Image RAW) engine (used by default).
- RAW output colour format: Choose between RGB (16bit) or RGB (32bit) output when developing a raw image. Choosing the latter option allows you to maintain a full 32-bit float environment from initial raw development to export and take advantage of extra precision.
- RAW tone curve: If the default 'Apply tone curve' option is active, your raw image is adjusted using a suggested tone curve. The 'Take no action' option makes no tonal correction; the image can be altered within the Develop Persona's Basic Studio later.
- RAW exposure bias: Choose whether to apply exposure bias value if stored in the raw image's EXIF data. Like Histogram stretch, both 'default' and 'initial' give the same results but reports zeroed or actual values, respectively. The 'Take no action' option ignores the exposure bias value.
- Default map region: Sets the map that displays in the Develop Persona's Metadata Studio to a chosen region, if the raw image contains no GPS location data in its EXIF data.

Developing a raw image using Develop Persona

Working in Develop Persona

Choosing between RAW engines

Split view options

Syncing

Show Clipping

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