Professional photo retouching

Flawlessly retouch your images with non-destructive tools that keep your original files intact.

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Comparison portrait of a woman before and after retouching with Affinity

How to retouch photos in Affinity

From quick image cleanup to advanced refinements, photo retouching in Affinity stays smooth and under your control.

Icon erase scribble

Clean up and polish

Remove distractions from your images using healing, cloning, and inpainting tools that blend naturally with surrounding detail.

Magic brush icon — paintbrush with sparkles symbolizing creative effects or automatic enhancements.

Shape and enhance

Realistically refine form, tone, and texture with features like liquify, frequency separation, and adjustment layers.

Icon sliders

Fine-tune without committing

Non-destructive image retouching means you can tweak, mask, reorder, or delete edits at any point, without damaging your original file.

No trace left behind

Fix imperfections, eliminate distractions, refine edges, and enhance detail while preserving natural texture and character. Whether you’re editing portraits, product shots, or lifestyle imagery, adjustments stay seamless — even up close.

Affinity photo editor opened up showing a portrait of a man and using AI to remove a skin blemish

High reward, no risk

Because retouching in Affinity is non-destructive by default, you can experiment freely without risking your original image. Every edit stays flexible, so you can revisit or roll back changes at any stage, no need to start from scratch.


Photo editor showing snowy mountain landscape before and after color adjustments

A photo editing tour de force

Retouching isn’t all you can do in Affinity. It covers your full photo editing workflow⁠(opens in a new tab or window), from RAW processing, color grading, image compositing, and other advanced capabilities, all in one place.

Dinosaur scene before and after color adjustments

Everything you need for photo retouching

Icon of an eraser

Healing Brush to erase blemishes

Magic brush icon — paintbrush with sparkles symbolizing creative effects or automatic enhancements.

Inpainting Tool to remove objects

Icon copy

Clone Brush to copy pixels

Color adjustment icon — circular gradient control with subtle shadows for visibility

Liquify Persona to shape forms

Icon contrast

Dodge & Burn to sculpt light and contrast

Image placeholder icon — outline of a photo frame with dashed borders, symbolizing an empty image slot or missing picture.

Selection Tools to isolate areas

Icon sliders

Live adjustment layers for easy corrections

Merged images icon

Mask Layers for precise editing

Icon adjust texture

Frequency Separation

Icon smartmockups

Non-destructive live filter layers

Magic wand icon — wand with sparkles representing automatic selection or enhancement tools.

Adjustment Brush Tool for local edits

Icon magic

Filter Brush Tool for local effects

Icon image selective adjust foreground

Object Selection Tool to separate objects

Icon cog

Customization options

Icon of an eraser

Healing Brush to erase blemishes

Color adjustment icon — circular gradient control with subtle shadows for visibility

Liquify Persona to shape forms

Icon sliders

Live adjustment layers for easy corrections

Icon smartmockups

Non-destructive live filter layers

Icon image selective adjust foreground

Object Selection Tool to separate objects

Magic brush icon — paintbrush with sparkles symbolizing creative effects or automatic enhancements.

Inpainting Tool to remove objects

Icon contrast

Dodge & Burn to sculpt light and contrast

Merged images icon

Mask Layers for precise editing

Magic wand icon — wand with sparkles representing automatic selection or enhancement tools.

Adjustment Brush Tool for local edits

Icon cog

Customization options

Icon copy

Clone Brush to copy pixels

Image placeholder icon — outline of a photo frame with dashed borders, symbolizing an empty image slot or missing picture.

Selection Tools to isolate areas

Icon adjust texture

Frequency Separation

Icon magic

Filter Brush Tool for local effects

FAQs

  • Yes. Image retouching in Affinity is non-destructive by default, with no smart objects or extra setup required. Edits stay editable, so you can revisit, refine, or remove changes at any point without damaging your original image.

  • Yes. Affinity supports advanced retouching workflows, including frequency separation, along with healing, cloning, inpainting, liquify, and masking, all within a flexible, non-destructive setup.

  • Absolutely. Affinity is built for professional retouching, where realism, control, and the ability to revise work are essential, especially when responding to feedback or late-stage changes.

  • From photo cleanup to advanced edits, Affinity offers a full, professional image retouching workflow with non-destructive editing built in by default. In Affinity, you can retouch, refine, and complete projects in one integrated environment without relying on smart objects, complex workarounds, or switching between tools.

  • Yes. Retouching is just one part of Affinity’s creative workflow. You can move seamlessly into color correction, compositing, layout, and final export or print preparation without leaving the app.

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