Affinity Publisher has proved so valuable.

[Robert Watcher]

A couple of months ago I made the decision to upgrade my current Affinity Photo application to version 2 after the 6 month free trial ran out and was convinced I would benefit from the upgrade from the previous version that I have had going back to when Affinity Photo was first released - but at the same time took advantage of the special pricing to purchase the bundle of all three of their products - Photo, Designer, and Publisher.

While I started figuring our Publisher 2 for book design, I have quickly realized how superior it is over setting up each different image in layers with Affinity Photo - now that I am creating photo cards and notebooks. A Master Page can be created with the layout, including what are called picture frames, as well as text, and all images are stored in pages within the same project.

And the cool thing that I have been realizing, is that different Master Pages can be created that affect every page that it is applied to. So the same content for every different image that is generated for a card print out, can instantly change into a different layout by applying a different Master Page to one or all Pages. I found that extremely valuable for generating mock-ups of the cards and notebooks for marketing purposes. As an example I created several Master Pages along with the base card layout for printing, to generate these settings.


1 - 3 - created from background image of a small piece of stone on my daughters fireplace, a pic of an envelope, a picture of a pen (all taken quickly with my iPhone). The envelope and pen were opened in Affinity Photo where the tabletop background was removed for transparent background, exported as png’s. The white cards were created in Photo as a base layer with shadow, and a duplicate with the center cut to act as a layer to sit above the photo. Separate Master Pages for Horizontal and Vertical images.

4 - I used 2 background images, one with notebooks and tools, and the other a cut out of my hand holding a notebook (both taken with my iPhone). Two cutouts were made for the photo to show through when sitting on the layer under it.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Your generous sharing is so appreciated.

I hope others will do the same and advise us when bargain discount appear on thr horizon!

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

I’m sure that most people editing images, will not benefit from Affinity Publisher —— but for ones like me who are involved in or interested in graphic layout, publishing and design work, this is such a valuable tool. In the past I would have accomplished the same results using Photoshop and Affinity Photo layers, but this so much more versatile and practical. Publisher is also a wonderful way to design Photobooks for more creative control when sending away to be printed or definitely when printing your own.

Many use Adobe Illustrator for this type of work. But the thing I love beyond anything, is the integration between the 3 Affinity products. Without ever leaving Publisher, I can open the photo in Photo or a vector graphic in Designer by clicking one of the three application buttons, and have full functionality of those specialized feature sets, before returning back to working on Publisher. I don’t believe that can be done in Illustrator. Would have to open the file in Photoshop to do what needs to be done, and save before using the file in Illustrator.

I’m not trying to promote a product, but showing the usefulness if someone already has the applications or sees the potential in owning it.

 

[Asher Kelman]

How about make a reunion book for college? What form would you suggest and if there are say 60 people, what workflow would be most efficient.

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

I would like to preface the things I am posting in this thread as IDEAS THAT OTHER PHOTOGRAPHERS may find interesting as something they could do as avenues of getting their photography into the hands of others. Let’s face it, there is only so much wall space to hang frame prints from even if you find people who enjoy your work. So it’s NOT ABOUT PROMOTING WHAT I AM DOING. Although I am so pleased that people are purchasing these photo items, in multiples. They really don’t take that much time, effort or cost to produce out of my home. Plus I am wanting to keep costs down by being able to send as envelope size by mail.

——-

Well a month or so ago, I wanted to give my brother Tim - who is an incredible artist and creative cartoonist —- a suggestion of possible ways that he might be able to print out his cartoons in a non-conventional but fun way, that people might enjoy. So I grabbed one of the cartoon strips that he posted on Instagram and printed out onto a sheet of paper making a cute little 3 panel accordion. I have it sitting on an end table in our living room and everyone who visits checks it out.

———-

Well doing this for Tim got me thinking about doing something similar with my images (and I probably will yet) and what it has led to this week is my coming up with a set of 4 photo cards/prints sized 4”x4” that I am selling in my daughters retail store and on Anne and my new Etsy store - to add to the matted prints, photo greeting cards and pocket journals that people are purchasing.

I am calling them "Mini 4x4x4 Photo Card Collections”, and suggest some ways to be enjoyed, including:

- Using an oversized mat to display in a large picture frame to hang on a wall or stand on a table
- Matting and framing the collection of all four complimentary cards in one frame
- Running a wire along the wall and using clips to hang them all, add to them, or effortlessly change them out
- Having the prints easily accessible for just thumbing through
- Mailing one or the complete set to friends for them to enjoy, perhaps even frame for themselves

So far I have prepared these 4 sets of 4 cards of 4x4 inch size LOL Something I am going to exploit when comparing to the other printed items, is that the groupings can more easily tell a a story, can include images that probably wouldn’t sell as greeting cards or a matted print for framing, and could even include people from my street photography. I will wait and see how well this works out for me as far as anyone purchasing them. But at the least I have have a personal set of small prints for my own viewing pleasure.

 

[Jerome Marot]

How about make a reunion book for college? What form would you suggest and if there are say 60 people, what workflow would be most efficient.

If I may...

Serif (the make of Affinity suite of applications) first started with Page Plus, which itself was a copy of Page Maker from Aldus and then Adobe. A major competitor to Page Maker was Quark XPress, which motivated Adobe to issue InDesign. Affinity Publisher is more or less a copy of InDesign, just like Page Plus was a copy of Page Maker.

All these software suites are designed to typeset books or leaflets (they are a bit of an overkill for a small leaflet). Their main function is not to enter text (you'll use a word processor for that), but rather to make a book have some unity. Therefore, they have functions to design how pages will look (e.g. margins, page numbers, etc...) and know the difference between start, end and text pages, summary, chapters, etc... Then, when you need to improve a given page, they have functions to move elements around (pictures, drawings but also drop capitals, decorations, etc...) and make sure the text flow around them.

If you want to learn to use this kind of software, your first step would not be to try the software but to look at a few books and advertising leaflets, look at the similarities between pages, look at how the text flows around other elements and note how what of that you want in your college reunion book. Then you will know what to ask for in the software help system.

Basically, it is like photography. You can read a camera manual, but if you want to take interesting pictures, the better way is to study what the masters did, select what you like and find out how the master did that.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Do use any of such software?

If so, what use have you from them?

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

A few Affinity Publisher resources that I have benefitted from on YouTube are

Affinity Publisher

Welcome to the official YouTube channel of Affinity Publisher, an award-winning page layout and design app available for Mac, Windows and iPad. Subscribe for first-look previews, creative sessions from the pros and a wide range of tutorials to learn how to combine your images, graphics and text...

youtube.com

Elaine Giles

Hello and welcome! I'm Elaine and my YouTube channel is the home for my application tutorials, design tips and slide design makeovers. You'll find videos showing you how to get the best from applications including Affinity Publisher, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe...

youtube.com

As well as Envato Tips

 

[Asher Kelman]

No doubt affinity publisher II is extraordinary.

But do they have a series of already made designs so that only needs to feed in pictures and text and delete sections that are not needed?

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

If you are looking for that, you’re probably better using the simple applications provided by the POD services like Blurb. Their easy to use application is Bookwright —— https://www.blurb.com/bookwright I’ve used it several times in the past when using a blurb to make by books.

I’m benefitting from Publisher to produce far more custom items to suit my needs

 

[Jerome Marot]

Do use any of such software?

If so, what use have you from them?

I used type setting software to design information leaflets for my beekeeping club. I also put a book my mother wrote into final form.

 

[Jerome Marot]

No doubt affinity publisher II is extraordinary.

But do they have a series of already made designs so that only needs to feed in pictures and text and delete sections that are not needed?

I'll second Robert Watcher's mention of Bookwright from Blurb, but it is liking to the use of their printing services. If all you want is a pre-made design for a small leaflet, Pages, a word processor free with any Apple machine, comes with a library of them.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Anyone know the relative paper and picture quality and expense in the self publishing book options available?

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

If it’s ok to get back to the purpose of my posting this thread - which really had nothing to do with creating books —— I find that I am benefitting so from Affinity Publisher for

* laying out
* organizing
* keeping projects all together in one file
* versatility of layout that can easily be changed with different Master Pages and applied automatically to any or all pages
* ability to create Picture and Text Frames to drop content into without the need for masks - resize and manipulate
* integrate effortlessly with Affinity Photo and Designer without leaving Publisher
* export and collate and send to print
* and I’ve only scratched the surface

Oh and by the way, I can run this on my desktop and my iPad.

 

[Robert Watcher]

So I’ve been doing everything so far on my MacMini M1 desktop, but now that I am familiar with how Publisher works, I thought I’dtry it out on my iPad tonight.

So I was doing this project of creating a visual description of each of my Photo Cards as a photo to go along with the text description on each of my Etsy listings. Up until now I used Affinity Photo where I had a document with a background layer and another layer where I added the text to. It was rather unwieldy compared to using a Master Pages and Text Frames. And I had to make a choice of either just overwriting the text for each description, saving each file separately so I can use or alter text down the road, or create a lot of layers with the different descriptions and turn them off and on to Export them.

By setting this up in Publisher, I can move forward with greater versatility. With different Master Pages I can change a look of any page with a few clicks by applying a different Master Page to it, and I can Export to my desired format without extra work. And by the way, Affinity has Pixabay stock images built into all of its applications - so I could type in a search phrase and come up with backgrounds to chose from and apply to a Master Page so that every page is setup from scratch, ready to have text pasted into the Text Frames.

Here are a few screenshots of the layout on my iPad as well as two of the finished web images to upload to my Etsy listings. BTW the Title name and impressively worded Description for each of my products - are generated in coPilot (AI from Microsoft) by uploading my photo and letting it extract info from the picture and format the output it generates, so I just need to paste it into the form field for the listing. The only important detail that I provided besides typing in the type of content that I needed from the query, was the location where my picture was taken and Robert Watcher being the photographer - which it couldn’t really extract from a photo. It’s really amazing at the detail it can provide.

 

[Asher Kelman]

This totally from analysis of the picture and the EXIF? You just added your name, or there’s in the EXIF too?

 

[Asher Kelman]

Stunning!

 

[Robert Watcher]

AI is not reading the EXIF that I can tell, just analyzing the contents of the picture I upload. There obviously needs to be some information for the algorithm to go on. I provide direction in the query as to what style or format I require, but nothing specific about the contents of the image other than if I want my name and specific location added into the mix. It all depends of my needs for the photo, how I reprint the request.


———-

However it is really remarkable to me what the analysis comes back with, when even a simple message is given with a photo. Here is an example with a pic I uploaded that has No EXIF date to extract, and here is the direction I gave in the message:

“I require a compelling title for this photograph. I also would like a detailed description written in a whimsical manner.”

The response:

Title: "Guided by the Golden Arrow: A Journey on the Evacuation Route"

Description: Amidst a backdrop of billowing clouds and a vast, open sky, a weathered sign stands tall, its bold yellow letters proclaiming "RUTA DE EVACUACION" and "EVACUATION ROUTE." The arrow beneath points decisively to the right, guiding travelers on their path. Beside this beacon of direction, two adventurers pause. One, clad in a sun hat and vibrant attire, leans on the other for support, perhaps sharing a whispered secret or a moment of reassurance. The other, donning a striped tank top and a green cap, stands steadfast, embodying strength and guidance. Together, they embody the spirit of resilience and companionship, navigating the unknown with trust and determination. The scene is a poignant reminder of the journeys we undertake, both literal and metaphorical, and the importance of having a guiding hand along the way.

——-

I can continue to refine the results to my liking by adding further information, and the algorithm acts on what is already there. An example might be adding a new picture to a follow up message with “I need the same for this photo”.

——

Or here is an example of me continuing with “Use the contents of the photo for an advertising copy.”

And the response:

Discover the Path of Adventure with Our Bold New Campaign!

Get ready to embark on a journey where every arrow points to excitement and new experiences. Our Evacuation Route guides you to the unknown, where camaraderie and resilience meet. Follow the golden arrow and find yourself in places you never dreamed of. Whether you’re seeking a moment of tranquility or the thrill of new discoveries, our routes ensure you’re always in good company.

Join us as we chart the path to your next adventure. Trust the signs, lean on each other, and let the journey unfold. Adventure awaits—you just need to follow the arrow.

"Guided by the Golden Arrow: A Journey on the Evacuation Route"

#AdventureAwaits #FollowTheArrow #JourneyTogether

——-
——-



THAT SAID. For this photo of an airplane window, the message I provided was nothing more than “Write about this photograph”. Here is what the coPilot app responded with:

This photograph captures a breathtaking moment from inside an airplane, where the viewer is treated to a stunning view through the window. The image prominently features the wing of the airplane, which is bathed in the golden light of either a sunset or sunrise. The sky is adorned with vibrant hues of yellow and orange, creating a dramatic backdrop that enhances the scene's beauty.

In the background, another airplane is seen taking off, its silhouette outlined against the colorful sky. This juxtaposition between the stillness of the wing and the motion of the departing aircraft adds a dynamic element to the photograph, emphasizing the simultaneous tranquility and excitement of air travel.

The composition and colors work together to create a visually appealing and memorable image, highlighting the marvels of aviation and the natural world. It evokes a sense of wonder and appreciation for the serene yet dynamic experience of flying.

————

I find great pleasure in writing this type of content manually, and it stimulates my mind for one or two picture. But would be challenging and take forever to come up with unique content for many images.

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Rob,

That work by Copilot is just stunning!

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Robert Watcher]

Hi, Rob,

That work by Copilot is just stunning!

Best regards,

Doug

I started off with chatGPT a couple of years ago to come up with all of the textual content for a rebuild of a website that is hosting on my servers. I knew absolutely nothing about the business or pool installation or stonework or even anything personal about my client - and my client was not able to come up with anything meaningful for me to build t compelling and informative webpages. All they were able to send me were a bunch of pictures of their work that I resized and cleaned up to add to the pages.

In chatGTP ii entered ideas of what I needed and it not only provided me with body text, but sections, titles, lists, as well as relevant SEO content for the source code head block of each page. I was blown away. Especially by the fact that all of the content for the complete website was provided for me to copy and paste into my html code, within a day.

This is the website I am talking about. Even the About Us page was generated by AI based on a few suggestions I provided, by summarizing content available on the web that has been posted about them.

Inground Pool Installation | Concrete & Stonework Hamilton

Mercante Bros. provides expert inground pool design, installation or renovations and quality concrete and stonework for your outdoor living space.

www.mercantebrospools.com

And in order to provide a nice website for my son’s window cleaning business last year - a non-paying client LOL - I used the same layout and basic code from the pool company, and adapted it to Robert’s needs. Again, I knew nothing about the different aspects of his business and he couldn’t figure out what he wanted to go on the website, he just trusted in his old man, and I made good use of chatGTP to come up with the content, that Robert was very happy with. It easy to recognize the similarities in the website design, but no one cares. They are competitors and they operate in totally different parts of the province.

Window Cleaning Home Cottage Business | WindoWatchers

Revitalize your home, cottage, or business with our expert window cleaning services using eco-friendly cleaning methods. Enjoy streak-free windows.

windowatchers.com

——-
——-


And then when my daughter Rachel suggested that I start producing and selling matted prints in her craft show displays last summer, and now with all of the expanded line of products using my photography in her retail store and other potential places that I will sell these —— I came to appreciate the value of letting AI come up with content based on photos that I upload.

ChatGTP comes back with different results than coPilot, and often I prefer the chatGTP titles and descriptions and find the wording and conclusions are not so repetitive when coming up with a similar format of content, based on a lot of different images. Why I don’t use it any longer, is that it will only take about 3 of my requests before timing out for a lengthy period of time. With coPilot I can just keep going. BTW - both are totally free and have no irritating advertising as of yet.