Introduced in November 2016, Luminar is a photo editing software or application developed by Skylum (formerly Macphun). It is available for both Windows and Mac OS.
In the beginning, Luminar was only developed for Mac. In late 2017, Macphun launched Luminar 2018 for Windows. In the meantime, the company has decided to change its name to “Skylum. ”
Luminar can be used as a plug-in for Adobe and Apple products as well as a standalone application. Luminar integrates with Adobe applications, including Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom Classic. It also integrates with Photos for Mac.
Luminar was awarded a gold prize at the Digital Camera Grand Prix in 2019 for its work and innovation in the field of photo editing. In 2019, Luminar was named the best photo software product with the EISA awards. Luminar also has filters (called “looks”) that are used for editing, and the software works directly with raw files.
In November 2019 a new version of Luminar was introduced, namely Luminar 4. This update introduced some new brilliant features like automatic sky replacement and some other AI tools. Luminar AI was then launched in 2020.
Luminar comes with brilliant and standout tools and features. In fact, it has more editing tools than many other software. Also, best of all, you don’t have to be an expert to use it. It’s very simple and straightforward.
So … why should we use Luminar?
Unique technologies and AI tools
Luminar lets you create incredible showpieces in many photography genres such as travel, landscape, portrait, and many others. It offers users many exclusive tools like AI, Sky replacement.
Easy to use
You don’t have to spend years learning to use Luminar. Luminar was designed to be as intuitive as possible. Just open the application and start editing. You can even find a 5-minute video tutorial on how to use Luminar on the official landing page.
No monthly payments – pay once, own forever.
If you are tired of the monthly fees of other editing software, Luminar is the best choice for you. You don’t have to worry about monthly and yearly bills. Once you buy it, the software is entirely up to you. It is available around the clock and offers free maintenance and updates. Of course, new versions can get paid upgrades, but the software is yours.
Let’s go over some of Luminar’s best features.
AI improvement function: It analyzes your photo and then automatically makes smart decisions about exposures, contrasts and saturation.
Sky Enhancer: If your heaven needs a helping hand, you can use the feature.
Twist, tilt and bend to get the perfect shape: With Luminar, you can easily correct distorted photos by using the Lens and Transform tools in the Develop filter.
To use lookup tables with custom presets: You can use and save lookup tables as a preset in Luminar. Luminar opens up a whole new world of creative possibilities.
Remove objects: You can easily remove objects using the “Clone and Stamp” or “Delete” functions.
Discover lost details in your picture: Use the recovery features in Luminar to restore details in the shadows and highlights of your photos.
Correct color balance: You can adjust the color balance of your images with Luminar in seconds.
White balance: White balance is key to getting accurate coloration in your digital photos. This can be set directly in Luminar 4.
Here’s a round-up of some of the other key tools and features you’ll find in Luminar.
- User-friendly interface that you can use for a simple workflow.
- Work areas for quick access to the editing functions you need
- Enhance your images with one click.
- Lots “looks”(Filters / Presets) to edit, enhance and change your photos.
- Incredible object removal and clone and stamp function.
- Crop and transform.
- Noise reduction.
- Blending modes levels.
- Textures of your choice (custom texture).
- Non-destructive processing.
- RAW processing and converter.
- A panel that remembers your story.
- Support for many popular file formats such as RAW, JPEG, TIFF.
- Support for extensions and plugins.
- Batch processing and social sharing.
Luminar tips and tricks
Let’s go over some tips and tricks to help you get all of the benefits of Luminar!
1. Profiles:
You can install profiles by going to Essentials> Light> Advanced Settings. Profiles make it easy to change the hue and contrast of your image. Each RAW file has its own profile, and Luminar allows you to load a custom profile. If you are familiar with Adobe Creative Profiles, this feature will make you feel right at home.
2. LUTs:
LUTs are very similar to profiles. Just navigate to the Creative tab and click Color Styles> Select LUT> Load Custom LUT File.
You can change the saturation of the LUT you apply as well as apply the LUT to a specific area of your image. In addition to many standard LUTs, you can also use custom LUTs.
3. Use the Amount slider when using looks:
If you use Looks in Luminar you will see that there is a built in amount regulator. With this slider you can adjust the intensity of the “appearance“. It’s similar to the amazing Opal plugin for Lightroom Classic.
4th AI Augmented Sky:
If you are shooting landscapes you will love this feature!
The AI Augmented Sky automatically detects the sky in your photo and allows you to position an element within the sky area. For example, you could add a moon to your night sky.
Hope you found these tips and tricks helpful!
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