COMPOSITES IN AFFINITY
Any place, any time
James Paterson teaches you how to drop subjects into any scene you like with simple compositing skills in Serif’s Affinity Photo
AFFINITY PHOTO
BEFORE
BEFORE
AFTER
THE MISSION
Place a figure on to a backdrop and add shadows to make a creative composite
Time needed 30 minutes
Skill level Intermediate
Kit needed Affinity Photo
DOWNLOAD PROJECT FILES TO YOUR COMPUTER FROM: http://downloads. photoplusmag.com/pp181.zip
Compositing is one of the tasks that Affinity Photo does best. With a few simple skills, we can cut out our subject and transport them anywhere we like. There are a few important factors to consider for a successful composite. The first is your initial subject selection… We begin by making a precise cut out using selection tools. The best place to start is usually Affinity Photo’s Selection Brush, which has a ‘Snap to Edges’ setting that lets us quickly isolate a person. It helps if the subject is photographed against a plain backdrop like a wall, sheet or any other surface that contrasts with them, as this makes it easier for the tool to snap onto the edges. After, we can enhance the selection using the Refine Selection command. This is a must for improving the tricky parts of the cutout, like hair.