Affinity Photo is a photo editor developed by the software company Serif. Many see it as a less expensive alternative to the famous software Adobe Photoshop. Like with most photo editing apps, it takes some study to learn how to use it to its full potential. That’s why this article will review the best Affinity Photo tutorials available online.
People use photo editors for various reasons and this article will hopefully help you choose the right tutorial based on your specific needs. These reviews include both free and paid tutorials.
COURSE TYPE: | Video lessons |
DURATION: | Variable (self-paced training) |
REQUIREMENTS: | Affinity Photo installed |
FEE: | Free |
ADDITIONAL FREE TOOLS: | Subtitles, Start guide PDF, Keyboard Shortcuts PDF, YouTube Channel |
On its official website, Affinity Photo’s developer Serif offers several free video tutorials for those who want to improve their skills with Affinity Photo (as well as its sister apps Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher). Needless to say, there is an obvious advantage in learning how an app works from those who developed it.
There are 90 tutorial videos for those who have Affinity Photo for Desktop (macOS or Windows) and 34 videos for those who have it on iPad. You’ll also find a Start Guide and a Keyboard Shortcuts (for Mac, Windows, and iPad) downloadable in PDF format.
You can also activate subtitles, which is very useful to learn new technical words, and for non-native English speakers who prefer reading the instructions.
Affinity Photo’s free video tutorials on Serif’s official website.
The duration of each video tutorial is between 2 and 9 minutes. You can select videos from the “All videos” section or you can explore the following categories:
AFFINITY PHOTO FOR DESKTOP
- Basics (18 videos)
- Advanced (30 videos)
- Corrective & Retouching (7 videos)
- Creative Tools (8 videos)
- Filters & Adjustments (19 videos)
- Export Persona (1 video)
- Workflows & Techniques (7 videos)
AFFINITY PHOTO FOR iPad
- Basic Operations (11 videos)
- Advanced (7 videos)
- Corrective & Retouching (5 videos)
- Creative Tools (6 videos)
- Filters & Adjustments (3 videos)
- Export Persona (2 videos)
The teacher is very skilled and knows how to explain both fundamental and advanced concepts, software features, and techniques. You will find his teaching method very clear and easy to follow, regardless of whether you are a beginner or a more advanced Affinity Photo user.
Videos are relatively short, and each one on them focuses on a specific feature or skill. You’ll be able to learn all the steps by watching the teacher performing various actions on his computer.
You don’t need a Serif account to access these videos. Anybody with an internet connection can watch these tutorials on Serif official website. You can also watch them on Affinity Photo’s official YouTube channel.
WHAT LEARNERS SAY ABOUT IT:
Affinity Revolution – YouTube Channel
COURSE TYPE: | Video lessons |
DURATION: | Variable (self-paced training) |
REQUIREMENTS: | Affinity Photo installed |
FEE: | Free |
ADDITIONAL FREE TOOLS: | Subtitles |
This YouTube Channel offers free video tutorials to those who want to improve their Affinity Photo (and Affinity Designer) skills. It was founded in 2016 and has over 120,000 subscribers. New tutorials are uploaded every week.
There are two playlists for Affinity Photo learners:
- Popular Affinity Photo Tutorials (over 100 free videos)
- Popular Affinity Photo iPad Tutorials (over 30 free videos)
The first playlist is for those who use Affinity Photo on their computer while the second playlist is for those who use the iPad version.
A screenshot from the YouTube Channel “Affinity Revolution”
Videos range from very short 2-minute tutorials to longer 20-minute guides. With the help of these videos, you will learn everything there is to know to become an Affinity Photo expert.
Some of the most popular videos on this channel are:
- Why Affinity Photo is Better than Photoshop
- Top 10 Things Beginners Want to Know
- How to Increase Resolution
- Transform Any Photo Into a Pencil Drawing
- How to Blend Two Images
- How to Change Colors
- Easily Retouch Skin Like a Professional
- Make Beautiful Blurred Background
- How to Remove Backgrounds
- How to Create the Perfect Selections in Affinity Photo
- Remove Shadows from Faces
The videos are very easy to understand. The teacher speaks very clearly and explains all steps slowly and thoroughly. You can also activate subtitles if you have problems understanding some technical words.
This YouTube channel is definitely one of the best free collection of tutorials available online for Affinity Photo learners of all levels. Highly recommended.
WHAT LEARNERS SAY ABOUT IT:
Udemy – Affinity Photo: Solid Foundation
COURSE TYPE: | Video lessons |
DURATION: | 12 hours |
REQUIREMENTS: | Affinity Photo installed, Udemy Account |
FEE: | $99 |
ADDITIONAL FREE TOOLS: | Subtitles in English/Italian/Polish, 50-page PDF |
Udemy is one of the most popular online platforms for online learners. It offers a foundation Affinity Photo course for those who no previous photo editing experience.
This 12-hour course has helped over 12,000 learners and has a 4.5 rating on Udemy. Once you join, you will have lifetime access to the course. After completing the course, you’ll be awarded a Udemy certificate that you can share with future employers.
The teacher holds a degree in Educational Design from Manchester Metropolitan University and has over 25 years of experience in this field. His teaching style is very practical and effective and makes complicated steps look easy.
A screenshot from “Affinity Photo: Solid Foundation” course on Udemy
Joining this course also allows you to download a 50-page PDF guide for Affinity Photo learners, which you can refer to while studying the course. This helps you spare time that would otherwise be spent taking notes.
This course will help you become comfortable with the basic elements of Affinity Photo such as color, tone, rotating, cropping, sharpening, reducing noise, selections, and layer masks. It then moves to advanced elements like layer blend modes, vector art, text, and painting.
People who start the course with no previous skills will finish the course with a solid, practical knowledge of image editing and will have the right toolbox to creatively enhance their photos and pictures on Affinity Photo.
WHAT LEARNERS SAY ABOUT IT:
Udemy – Affinity Photo for the iPad
COURSE TYPE: | Video lessons |
DURATION: | 10.5 hours |
REQUIREMENTS: | Affinity Photo, installed, Udemy Account |
FEE: | $99.99 |
ADDITIONAL FREE TOOLS: | Subtitles in English/Italian, 50-page PDF |
This course is hosted by the same teacher as the previous one but it’s for those who have Affinity Photo on their iPad rather than their desktop/laptop computer.
The course is aimed at beginners and contains 75 lectures, for a total of 10.5 hours of teachings. It has helped over 4,500 Affinity Photo learners to this day.
A screenshot from “Affinity Photo for iPad” course on Udemy
The course is divided into 6 sections:
- First Things First (2 lectures) – Some introductory concepts.
- The Basic Five Steps to Improving Your Photos (22 lectures) – Here you will learn how to rotate and crop, how to use layers, how to get the light and dark right, how to get the color balance right, how to sharpen your image and other useful stuff like blemish removal and noise reduction.
- Practice and Consolidate Your Skills (5 lectures) – This section will allow you to put into practice what you learned in the previous lectures.
- Beyond The Basics – Work With parts of Your Photos (23 lectures) – Here you will learn about selections, layer masks, curves, layer blend ranges, and other advanced Affinity Photo elements.
- Getting Creative with Affinity Photo (19 lectures) – Here you will learn how to convert to black and white and other skills to edit your photos creatively, like layer clipping, layer blend modes, filters, gradients, shapes.
- Highlights (4 lectures) – 30 minutes of additional bonu lectures.
This course has a 4.5 rating on Udemy and it’s one of the best guides available for those who plan to use Affinity Photo on their iPad. Upon completion, you will also receive a certificate to enrich your CV.
WHAT LEARNERS SAY ABOUT IT:
Free Tutorials or Paid Courses?
This article reviewed both free and paid guides for people who want to learn how to use Affinity Photo.
Free tutorials are usually not structured as an actual course. They consist of shorter videos that focus on a specific photo editing tool or skill. They are very useful if you plan to use Affinity Photo for specific touch-ups or effects.
In contrast, paid courses are actual online classes that require a higher level of commitment from the student. They explore Affinity Photo’s basic and advanced elements, give you practical assignments to become more comfortable with them, and teach you how you can combine them to turn your creative ideas into reality. They also allow you to receive a certificate of completion, which is always a plus in today’s competitive job market.
This means that the choice of whether to go for a free tutorial or a paid course depends mostly on your needs and on your level of commitment as a learner.
If you have any questions on these courses and tutorials or if you want to share your experiences with these or other Affinity Photo guides, feel free to participate in the discussion by leaving a comment below.
And don’t forget to check the other reviews in the IT and computer skills category.
I have been searching for good YouTube videos with tutorials on how to learn the basics about Affinity. I have never used Photoshop either so I’m pretty much in the dark. I’m glad you have included in this post plenty of free sources and I’m also considering enrolling in the Udemy course. Now I have several options. Thank you very much!
Good to hear you found this article helpful, Ann. Good luck with improving your Affinity Photo skills!
I feel like I have been hacking away with terrible image editing software my whole life. I tried Adobe Photoshop many years ago (15+), but didn’t find it to be intuitive and couldn’t get the hang of it. It would definitely have been helpful to have had a good course to teach the fundamentals and frequently used features of the software. Thanks for sharing these resources!
It’s great that you found this article useful, Aly!
Thank you so much for sharing your review on Affinity photo tutorials. Of course, paid courses will have a better instruction but I think it doesn’t hurt for me to start with the free courses first and move up from there. I am going to check Serif free tutorial out first.
That’s a great choice if you are just starting out, Nuttanee.
Your review is timely. I need a photoshop program. I used to have Adobe, and really liked using it, but that was years ago. I didn’t see a place on your website where I could buy the affinity photo system. Perhaps you intend your post just for those who already have it, so you can tell them about the video tutorials.
I’ll have to look into buying the system, as I could really use a new photoshop program. Thanks for alerting me to this one.
Thanks for your comment, Fran. You can buy Affinity Photo on affinity.serif.com. If you have a Mac, you can also find it in the App Store. It’s a great tool if you are looking for a less expensive alternative to Photoshop.
Well Affinity is new to me but thats cool because in my world change is good and you can bet I am going to give this a shot and see how it works.
I think it is great that there is a free version. Of course anyone knows that with a paid version you will receive more info. However the free version is usually a good indication as to whether you want to or need to upgrade
It is great that there are people like yourself providing us with such great information
We’re glad you found this article useful, Dale!
I currently use two different Adobe products for photo work at my job. One is Photoshop and the other is Lightroom. Both are quite expensive and I feel rather cumbersome to work with. Since I have a Mac at home that I use, I would like to get a photo editor that I can use for my own photos that is less expensive. Affinity Photo looks like it could fit the bill.
Can you tell me a few things about the product?
1. Would you say it is easier to use than Photoshop?
2. What is the cost of the program and how many devices can it be used on under one license? I have a laptop and an iPad and would find it useful to be able to work on both.
I think these training courses and videos will be a definite help in using the product.
Hello, Karen. Affinity Photo is very similar to Adobe Photoshop in many aspects. That’s why it has become so popular in recent years. It costs $49.99 (but they often offer discounts) and you can use a single copy of Affinity Photo on 5 different Windows computers or Macs. There is a separate version for iPad that costs much less.
Wow! Awesome. That is way less expensive than the other products! I am so glad I found your info!
Karin