Tag: luminar 4

Luminar Neo, again a new software from Skylum.

Skylum announced their new software on the 9th of September called Luminar Neo. What is going on? Luminar AI came on the market last December. Why a new software again? Will it replace Luminar AI?
Why was Luminar Neo made?
Luminar Neo is built on a whole new image engine. It will mean that it will be faster than Luminar AI that is based on an old image engine. Luminar Neo will also have new features that are not possible in Luminar AI.
Most likely Luminar Neo will be faster. The old image engine needed to calculate again all the previous edits on the image before it could apply the new one. When having a lot of edits the process will slow down as you go forward with your edits. The new engine does not have to do this. Luminar Neo is also a modular software which I who know nothing about coding have learned that it is the new way to do software.
Is Neo compatible with Luminar AI catalogs?
Short and straight answer: No. It is a pity and will make a lot of us a bit annoyed. The reason is that new image engine.
What is new in Luminar Neo?
It will have all the same AI tools that Luminar AI had and a lot more. Skylum said that it has 30 Ai tools. Here are some of the new tools that Luminar Neo has.
Mask AI
Masking is one of the most boring things in image editing. Luminar Neo will do that automatically for you. Mask AI is most likely a time saver for many. Of course, it has to work perfectly in order for it to be useful. Fixing bad masks is almost the same as making the mask by hand.
Layers
Layers are useful. Luminar AI did not have them. It was based on a different method. I am personally quite used to using layers. It is an easy and good way of adding adjustments. The strength can be adjusted in many ways. I think having layers back is a good move.
Background Remove
If this works perfectly it is a quite powerful tool. It is nothing new. Adobe Photoshop and many other image editing software have a similar tool. Luminar Neo has to be better. This tool is very useful for product photographers and for those who make composite images. It will most likely make the workflow faster.
Relight AI
Relight AI is an interesting tool for changing the light in an image. The example photo is just one part of it, fixing poor photographs. If it is also good for actually relighting a scene then this could be something bigger than just a fix for mistakes that the photographer made. That remains to be seen.
A great deal for existing Skylum software users.
Skylum offers a great for existing Skylum software users. An early bird price is only 34€. (valid until 19th of September). There is also a 30-day money-back guarantee that starts when the software is available. Not a bad deal. in spite of the disappointment that the fast pace of introducing new software Skylum has Luminar Neo is interesting software. I will definitely try it.

This is a good deal, but I think they should have given the Luminar Neo to all Luminar AI users for free. That would have been a really great deal. It would have also made people a lot happier. Now many of us feel a bit fooled.

👉 Click this link takes you to that deal: Luminar Neo deal. (valid until October 17th, 2021)

👉 New users: Luminar Neo deal for new users. (valid until October 17th, 2021)
My video about Luminar Neo.

September 12, 2021
Luminar AI – My FIRST look! (Beta-version)

I had a chance to test the new Luminar AI. It is still in beta. Luminar AI a new software from Skylum Software. The whole philosophy of Luminar AI is that it will help to start the editing. Like Skylum said in one of their webinars many photographers have a very hard time knowing where to start. Luminar AI and its templates are the answer.
Luminar Ai will analyze the images and give suggestions on where to start. It will give a few template options to start. The good thing is that every template is editable. So that you as the photographer can adjust the settings that were used in a particular template.
My previous blog post Is AI the future of Image Editing? was about AI in general what it comes to image editing.
If you are interested in Luminar AI. There more info on Skylum Website.
I have made a video where I show a few of the things that Luminar AI can do. I think it is quite an interesting software. I am very interested to see where it is going.
Disclaimer: Some of the links might be Affiliate Links. If you use those links and buy something I will get a small commission. You do not pay any extra.

October 31, 2020
Luminar AI – a New Image Editing Software

Luminar AI is a new image editing software from Skylum. You might be familiar with Luminar 4.3 and Aurora HDR 2020. Luminar AI is a brand new software and it is not an upgrade to Luminar 4.3. Luminar 4 will be supported until the end of 2021 and after that, it won’t get any updates, but of course, the software works after that if the computer supports it.

Alternative to the traditional way of editing images.
Richard Harrington from Skylum said in its webinar that Luminar Ai is an alternative to traditional editing. They said that they are focusing on the results and not the process. They have built the code from scratch and it is not based on the same 35-year approach that other image editing software is based on.
Luminar AI uses AI to analyze your image and it will give you suggestions. Accent AI is the AI that analyzes the image. The material that they showed on the webinar said that many controls like shadow/highlight, contrast, curves, etc. are reduced to one slider. AI is the key here. This will make it easier to start editing. Richard Harrington from Skylum said that for many the problem is where to start. With Luminar AI it will be easier.
I think this is an interesting new approach. to image editing. Skylum is very ambitious about this they said that they want to be a global leader in computational photography. I like that kind of attitude. They call the suggestion that AI has made a template. Of course, that template can be adjusted and saved.

Skin AI helps with portraits.
Screenshot from Luminar AI and its Skin AI. Image: Skylum
The feature to help to retouch portraits is called Skin AI. It will totally replace frequency separation. That is a time saver. Saving time is one key thing that Skylum is aiming for with it is Luminar AI.

Works as standalone software and as a plug-in.
Good thing is that Luminar AI will work as a plug-in for Lightroom. A t least for me that is very important. The Library in Lightroom is the database of my images. Luminar AI does not have some kind of database functionalities as Lightroom has. If you want to use Luminar AI as standalone software, it will work fine. It works from Lightroom 6 and up as a plug-in. The oldest Photoshop version it works with is CS5.

Specifications for your computer
For macOS, you need at least i5, 8GM RAM (16GB is recommended), macOS10.13.6 or higher. It will also support OS Big Sur when it is launched. In PC you need to have Windows 10. Win7 and 8.1 are not supported. The processor needs to be at least i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 or better. Also, you need Open GL3.3. or later compatible graphics cards. (disclaimer: This info is copied from the presentation material Skylum presented in their webinar on the 31.8.2020.)

How does AI work?
The success of Luminar AI will be based on its ability to give the right suggestion for the edit. We all tend to like a bit different thing and hopefully, Luminar AI is good enough to learn from the user. I think that would be great. Otherwise, it might be that we all are going in the same direction with the look of our images.
Skylum claims that its AI will recognize different elements in the photograph and make suggestions based on that information. It will recognize skies, water, faces, etc. Those who have used Luminar 4 and its Sky Replacement tools know that its recognition works pretty well. If Luminar Ai is an improved version I have no doubts about its capabilities.
image: Skylum

You can override the AI.
You have three options, choose the option that AI suggested, customize it, or edit from scratch. I think that is a good approach that it is not fully automated.
Lens correction is possible
I found that one of the biggest downsides in Luminar 4 was the lack of lens corrections. I am glad that that will be available in Luminar AI. It is an essential tool because. all lenses have a bit of distortion and CA.
Pre-order and Availability
You can pre-order Luminar AI from this link. Pre-order is possible for the first 30.000 early birds. It will have a special price. As an early bird, you will also be invited to the Luminar AI Insider program. It is a private community and you will get special deals, tutorials, etc. that others won’t get.
If you have doubts, do not. You will a 30-day money-back guarantee from the day the software actually ships. So no risk getting Luminar Ai now.
The price for early birds is US$69,- for new customers. If you already have Luminar 4, Aurora2019, or Aurora HDR the price is US$59,-. After the 30.000 is sold the price will go up.
Preorder the Luminar AI now and get all the benefits.
The final release date is not confirmed yet. Skylum said that it will available this holiday season.
disclaimer: some of the links are Affiliates links. If you buy something I will get a small commission, but you do not pay anything extra.

September 3, 2020