Today we’re in the beautiful Sicilian town of Cefalù. Every time I visit Sicily, I make it a point to come here. I love how this city blends the old and the new while still preserving its authentic Sicilian charm. I hope to capture some of that magic in my video and share it with you.
In this video, I take a spontaneous look into some of Affinity Photo’s hidden filters, focusing on blur, distort, and noise effects. It all started with a client asking me to explore different editing techniques, which led me to experiment with filters like maximum blur, perspective distortion, and add noise.
Using an image of York, I play around with the settings to see how they impact the photo. This is just the beginning of a series where I’ll be discovering the creative possibilities of Affinity Photo’s lesser-known filters.
It’s important that you can customise the tools that you use in order to have flow and speed – but mostly for your convenience. In the clip below I’ll show you how to do that in a few steps.
The version of Affinity that I have now is 2.6 – so if you have an older version you might have a slightly different interface – but the actions can be replicated.
A few days ago Affinity released a new update for Affinity Photo 2.6 – and this update was important. Why it is soooo important, you might ask. Well, they introduced machine learning capabilities and improve the selection tool.
A few weeks back the selection tools was good but basic. Now it’s fantastic. It allows you to select any subject and/or any object easily and fairly accurate. If you don’t believe me, see the video below. I use the tools for the first time and you can see my unfiltered satisfaction with the tool.
A few days back I managed to go and explore a nice area in Peak District. If you are familiar with the area you will recognize the site. For the sake of preservation and conservation or the area I will not mention the location – although it’s popular.
The first image was taken in the first 5 minutes of the walk. The scene was very nice with fog gathering quickly and engulfing the nature. On this photo I also tested a magnetic CPL that I recently bought. In that weather I didn’t mange to see too much of a difference.
After another 10 min walk I stumbled on another wonderful scene with some Birch trees hiding in the fog. The place was magical. Unfortunately, after a few minutes spent here, it started to rain. I have an umbrella but at this point everything was wet and I don’t know if the mic receiver that I’m using (the New DJI mic mini) was weather proof.
But I decided to move forward and try to look for a nice Christmas tree that I’ve seen a few month back when I visited the area.
And if you looked at the video – I found the Christmas tree eventually. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any good angles to take a photo. I think I was too focused on what to film and on the cold weather.
But It’s fine – I’m learning new things and I discover new stuff about me. I have to take in consideration (patience, preparation, be more in the moment). I know that this is a process. ONE thing is for sure, I’m going to keep coming to that area until I find an angle on that Christmas tree.
The photo below I took with my phone a few months back. It’s a nice photo but it needs something else.
So in a quick effort to safe the trip I decided to try some Intentional Camera Movement. I haven’t done that type of photography in a while. So see below a few images:
In the end the trip was a success. I had a nice walk, took a few photos and managed to film a new video for my YouTube channel.
Wow, it’s been a while. Did you miss me? I sure missed you.
Before I start I would like to thank you for hanging out. I’m struggling at the moment to post every week due to the high volume of work and some travelling during the bank holidays here in England. I should be on track in a few weeks. Thank you.
For those that are new to my channel. Hi. I’m Alex Tara and I post videos on how to work in different editing software, digital and sweet old fashion film photography. So please consider subscribing to my channel if you want to follow my journey into awesomeness.
The most viewed image is… Bliss By Charles O’Rear He took the photo in January 1996 in California and Microsoft bought the rights in 2000.
Well – during my trip to Scotland, I’ve come across a similar view. The light, the shapes – all juggled my childhood memories – booting for the first time the windows XP. See the link for the spot where I took the photo.
In this week’s tutorial, we will create a poster for Halloween that you can print and hang in your office, class or pub 🙂
It’s a big tutorial so grab a drink and let’s begin. See the links for the images below this video!
The links for the images used:
https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-concrete-road-during-night-412026/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/dirt-road-1008739/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhuoette-of-a-person-2953863/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-grayscale-house-1123876/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/grey-concrete-gate-beside-green-leaf-trees-at-daytime-816501/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-skull-table-decor-417049/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/lighted-jack-o-lantern-decors-619420/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/abstract-animal-arachnid-art-276377/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/clouds-under-full-moon-239107/
The result:
I’ve created a small tutorial on how to merge a few images into an HDR image to obtain a beautiful “crispy” image.