The Photoshop alternative Affinity Photo has received it’s latest big update in the form of Affinity Photo 2. We at Squid love Affinity and Seriff, the company behind it. We are really excited about this news!
Although in that first paragraph we referred to this software as a “Photoshop alternative” Affinity Photo is way more of a Photoshop replacement. What allows this software to flourish, is the fact that it’s still the new kid on the block. Because of this, it doesn’t have the vast amount of legacy users that Adobe has, Serif can afford to reinvent the wheel without alienating their user base, something that Adobe has to be mindful of.
With that in mind, the best way to describe Affinity Photo is intuitive. The layer and masking system; while familiar, seems more streamlined than in Photoshop. The software is obviously built with the
future in mind, and because of it’s younger age, isn’t slowed down by aging code. This is evident in how quick it is compared to the competition. FX layers, Filters and live filters seldom make this image editor chug. Live previews of effects seem instant with no lag or render time, and navigating through even the largest of files will rarely cause a stutter.