Affinity Photo
Version 2.6.5.3782 · Serif · Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) · ranked #170 in the library
A full raster editor with the layer stack, masking and retouching depth a professional job needs, built to run fast on ordinary hardware and to open and save the file formats the rest of the industry hands you.
Read the installation section below before you start. The order of the steps matters on this release.
About this release
Overview
Affinity Photo covers the same ground as the established raster editor it is usually compared against: layers with blend modes and opacity, pixel and vector masks, adjustment layers, live filter layers, a deep selection toolset, a full brush engine with pressure support, and non-destructive editing throughout. What separates it in daily use is responsiveness. Pan and zoom stay smooth at any level, brush strokes land without lag on large documents, and there is no background service waiting to phone anywhere before the canvas will draw.
The application is organised into personas, which are workspaces for different stages of a job rather than separate programs. Develop handles raw files with exposure, tones, white balance, lens corrections, noise reduction and detail before the image is rasterised into the document. Photo is the main compositing and retouching workspace. Liquify does warping and reshaping with mesh control. Tone Mapping handles local contrast and HDR treatment. Export writes out slices and assets with per-item format and scale settings that persist with the document.
The specialist stacking work is built in rather than being a separate purchase. HDR merge combines a bracketed set with ghost removal and alignment, panorama stitching handles multi-row sets with live perspective correction, focus stacking merges a macro series into one fully sharp frame, and astrophotography stacking averages a burst down to a clean result. Everything runs in unlimited undo history that survives a save, in 8, 16 and 32 bit per channel, with real ICC colour management and CMYK output for print.
What it does
Feature breakdown
Non-destructive layer stack
Adjustment layers, live filter layers, masks and clipping, all re-editable at any point, with blend modes and blend ranges controllable per layer.
Raw development persona
Full raw processing with exposure, curves, white balance, lens profile correction, chromatic aberration removal, detail refinement and noise reduction before the file enters the document.
Retouching toolset
Healing, patch, blemish removal, clone with source overlay, dodge and burn, frequency separation and an inpainting brush that reads from the surrounding pixels.
HDR, panorama and focus stacking
Bracket merging with alignment and ghost removal, multi-row panorama stitching with perspective control, and focus stacking for macro series, all inside the same application.
Selection and masking depth
Selection brush with edge refinement, colour range selection, luminosity masking, and refine dialog that handles hair and semi transparent edges into a live mask.
File format and colour handling
Opens and saves PSD with layers intact, plus TIFF, PNG, JPEG, EXR, HDR and PDF, in 8, 16 and 32 bit with ICC profiles, soft proofing and CMYK export.
Changed in this build
Version 2.6.5.3782
- Faster document open on large layered PSD files brought in from other applications.
- Improved edge quality in the refine selection dialog on hair and fur against busy backgrounds.
- New live filter layers added, with the existing set gaining better preview performance at high zoom.
- Raw engine updated with profiles for a batch of recently released camera bodies.
- Export persona slices now remember per-slice sharpening and metadata settings between sessions.
Installation
Follow these in order
- Go offline before you start.
- Extract the archive to a local folder.
- Disable real time protection until the install is finished.
- Run the installer as administrator and complete the standard setup.
- Close the installer rather than launching from the finish screen.
- Open Affinity Photo once, confirm no activation prompt appears, then re-enable protection.
Release notes
From whoever packed it
- Hardware acceleration is on by default. If the canvas renders oddly, switch the renderer to software once in preferences.
- Documents saved in this release will not open in the previous major version. Export to PSD or TIFF if you need to go backwards.
- Block the application in your firewall. An online check reverts it to the trial state.
System requirements
Minimum and recommended
| Operating system | Windows 10 version 1809 or newer, or Windows 11, 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel or AMD with SSE 4.2 support, dual core minimum, quad core recommended |
| Memory | 4 GB minimum, 16 GB recommended for large multi-layer documents |
| Graphics | GPU with DirectX 12 support and 1 GB VRAM for hardware acceleration |
| Storage | 3 GB of free space plus room for scratch on large documents |
Questions about this release
Answered before you ask
- Does it open layered Photoshop files?
- Yes, PSD import and export both preserve layers, masks and most adjustment types. Some proprietary smart filters flatten on import.
- Is there a subscription behind it?
- No. It is a one time purchase product, and this build has activation already applied.
- Can it handle 32 bit HDR documents?
- Yes, the whole pipeline runs in 32 bit per channel with a tone mapping persona for bringing the result back to a displayable range.
Download
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