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It has been nearly six years now since iOS and macOS software program developer Macphun first determined to enter the Home windows market. Six years later and having modified its title to Skylum Software program, the Ukrainian firm’s flagship Luminar Neo bundle has matured considerably and gained a loyal following. But till now, we have by no means reviewed the applying for ourselves. At the moment, that adjustments.
So what’s Luminar Neo? In brief, it is a standalone utility for each Home windows and macOS that goals to switch Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop in your workflow, however which may additionally work alongside these rival purposes as a plugin. In addition to in depth enhancing instruments – usually powered by AI algorithms – and a really beneficiant choice of easy-to-use preset appears, Luminar Neo additionally consists of some restricted organizational capabilities.
Key options
Swiftly browse and cull your images and movies
Dozens of built-in presets to get your enhancing began, with many extra obtainable for buy
Intensive guide controls
Many AI-powered instruments like noise discount, upscaling and background elimination
Helps multi-shot strategies like HDR, focus stacking and panoramas
Works standalone or as a plugin for Lightroom Traditional 6+, Photoshop CS5+ or macOS Images
Accessible for each Home windows and macOS
May be bought with a subscription or with perpetual licensing
Accessible now, Skylum Luminar Neo is priced at round $250 (relying on energetic reductions) for a license together with perpetual entry to all new options/updates launched via mid-August 2024, and time-limited entry to generative AI options via the identical date. This consists of perpetual entry to all of Luminar Neo’s extensions: Supersharp AI, Focus Stacking, Background Elimination AI, Upscale AI, Noiseless AI, HDR Merge, Magic Mild AI and Panorama Stitching.
Purchase or subscribe now:
Alternatively, a subscription is out there for $14.95 billed month-to-month, or $8.25/month billed yearly. This consists of the entire similar options because the perpetually-licensed model, however with no time limitation on upgrades which may also embrace subsequent main releases. A two-year subscription reduces the associated fee nonetheless additional to US$6.21/month billed biennially. An added perk of subscription licensing is that it permits use of two gadgets as an alternative of 1, and provides a ten% low cost on all purchases within the in-app market.
Pricing within the market at present varies from $15-25 for brand spanking new packs of presets, $15-59 for sky alternative packs, $14-49 for look-up tables and $9-49 for overlays.
Luminar Neo’s Catalog mode provides 4 thumbnail sizes, an EXIF viewer and primary filtering.
Picture administration is primary however does the job
Clearly, given the scope of this system I will not be trying to check each single characteristic on this evaluation. As a substitute, I am going to goal to offer a way of Luminar Neo’s general capabilities whereas taking a better take a look at a number of the newer and extra attention-grabbing performance. Earlier than I am going any additional, although, let’s check out the way you handle your photos within the first place.
By default, Luminar Neo’s Catalog view will not import photos immediately out of your digicam or flash card, anticipating you to have already performed so previous to opening this system. It therefore defaults to permitting you so as to add native or community folders or particular person photos while you click on the Add Images button. It’s also doable to manually create a folder in your listing construction and right-click to import information there, although, both copying or shifting them as applicable.
As soon as imported, you may browse your photos with one in every of 4 totally different thumbnail sizes or double-click on a person shot to see it alone in a bigger dimension above a movie strip of your different pictures. Moreover, you may evaluation primary EXIF metadata, and mark photos as both a favourite or rejected to assist with culling.
Right here, we’re viewing the catalog with the biggest thumbnail dimension whereas reviewing the obtainable filtering choices.
You can even filter the view based mostly on these tags or to see simply the Uncooked or edited pictures, type thumbnails based mostly on six totally different criterion, and Luminar Neo will robotically technology collections by date and for latest additions/edits.
That is about so far as the picture administration options go, although. You’ll be able to’t add key phrases, scores or colour tags, detect faces or topics or carry out extra complicated filtering operations. Nor are you able to examine your photos side-by-side, view them on a map or have them robotically backed as much as a secondary location on import.
And tethering your digicam additionally is not doable, though Luminar Neo does watch folders for brand spanking new additions which seem within the app with out person intervention. Which means that it’s going to play properly with an exterior tethering program which simply drops photos within the related folder for you as they’re shot.
Picture shopping and culling efficiency is excellent certainly
Total although, whereas its picture administration capabilities hit the fundamentals and are sufficient to get the job performed, they’re definitely a lot much less complete than extra fully-featured apps like Lightroom.
The excellent news, although, is that newly-opened folders are previewed in a short time certainly when first opening a folder, and the picture administration interface general feels equally snappy and responsive.
Embedded preview
Rendered preview
The distinction between the embedded previews Luminar Neo makes use of to allow its shopping pace and its precise renderings as soon as enhancing begins may be fairly vital.
The explanation for this pace is that Luminar Neo defaults to displaying the embedded previews slightly than producing its personal. This does sadly imply that the thumbnails do not replicate this system’s personal rendering of the scene, although. They have a tendency to look rather more vivid, with the precise rendered outcomes defaulting to being extra muted.
Likewise while you first open a picture you are proven a quick embedded preview earlier than seeing it changed by the app’s personal rendering a short while later. The distinction between the 2 could be a bit jarring at occasions, however is worth it for the efficiency acquire. I might prefer to see Luminar Neo render extra correct previews within the background every time it is partly or principally idle, although.
Multi-shot imaging additionally begins from the catalog
Earlier than we transfer onto its different enhancing options, we’ll begin off by taking a fast look over Luminar Neo’s multi-shot imaging options, as these are kicked off from the identical Catalog-mode picture browser. The HDR Merge, Focus Stacking and Panorama Stitching instruments all sit in this system’s proper bar beneath the EXIF viewer, together with a single-shot upscaling software. To make use of any of those, you merely drag and drop the related picture(s) from the catalog onto the software you want to apply.
For panoramas specifically, you can even have these created from video frames in addition to stills, which is a pleasant contact. Prior to sewing you may optionally allow distortion, vignetting and chromatic aberration corrections, and auto alignment/ghosting discount instruments are additionally supplied. As soon as the panorama has been robotically stitched, you may go for one in every of 5 totally different projection sorts earlier than being guided via the method of cropping and saving.
Luminar Neo helps multi-shot strategies like HDR merging, focus stacking and, as proven right here utilizing the Aircraft projection, panoramic stitching.
I discovered the stitching outcomes to work fairly properly. You will wish to make it step one in your workflow although, as changes made to the supply photos aren’t utilized throughout the stitching course of. You’ll be able to, after all, make these similar changes to the stitched panorama as soon as it is prepared, although.
HDR merging operates equally, with choices of auto alignment, chromatic aberration discount and ghosting discount. The latter additionally means that you can choose which of the supply frames needs to be the reference picture used when figuring out ghosting and what the energy of the impact needs to be. The outcomes are saved in TIFF format for additional enhancing. And the identical is true of the main focus stacking software, which has the identical choices as for HDR merging, aside from that it drops the ghosting discount operate.
Upscaling works effectively, however Face Enhancer much less so
And eventually, there’s the Upscale software. This offers you a alternative of 2x, 4x or 6x upscaling with a most output dimension of 32,000 pixels on the longer aspect. It provides two enlargement algorithms, Common or Experimental, together with a Face Enhancer AI software.
Evaluating the 2 algorithms, I discovered that they have been usually fairly shut of their outcomes however that the experimental algorithm tended to carry onto very positive element a little bit higher. It additionally appeared barely much less susceptible to displaying artifacts, however tended to render the scene with barely extra noise and never fairly as crisply because the default Common algorithm.
2x Upscale alone
2x Upscale w/ Face Enhancer
Though Luminar Neo’s Upscale software works fairly effectively, its Face Enhancer operate is greatest averted. It tends to ship unusual expressions, overly-smoothed pores and skin and ugly artifacts in hair/clothes with giant faces, whereas ignoring smaller faces altogether.
As for the Face Enhancer operate, I discovered it to be greatest left disabled in the intervening time. With smaller background faces it would not operate in any respect in my testing, whereas with bigger faces it produced outcomes which have been noticeably unnatural-looking.
It had a bent to alter facial expressions and to introduce sturdy artifacts within the space surrounding the modified faces. And it nearly utterly smooths all of the pores and skin element in portraits, too.
“Face Enhancer had a bent to alter facial expressions…and nearly utterly smooths all of the pores and skin element in portraits.”
That is just about par for the course although, as I’ve discovered comparable instruments in rival applications all to indicate comparable points with their outcomes. (Though they do at the very least usually work with smaller background faces, not like Luminar Neo’s software.)
Trendy Presets provide fast, pleasing outcomes
In fact, all of those multi-shot and upscaling instruments are ones you will solely wish to use in particular eventualities. Usually, you will be spending extra of your time in Luminar Neo utilizing the Presets and Edit controls to tune the general feel and appear of your creations.
The Presets mode is aimed extra at photographers who simply need fast outcomes. Right here, you are proven a single photograph alongside an organized record of preset classes that populate the right-hand pane. For every there is a thumbnail which goals to offer a way of the presets inside.
Luminar Neo’s presets are utilized with one click on and their energy is tuned with a single slider.
The presets themselves fluctuate considerably of their complexity, with some solely adjusting primary choices like brightness, distinction and saturation whereas others additionally carry out extra complicated duties like sky alternative.
On the high of the suitable pane, Luminar Neo suggests three classes that it considers to be notably related to the subject material of your shot. For instance, for a portrait of my son the app urged 4 classes geared toward portraiture: Essence, Monochrome and Influencer. Every of those classes then consists of 5 or 6 particular person presets.
Upselling can typically be a bit in your face
The app may also attempt to promote you additional preset packs by together with a fourth possibility within the “For This Photograph” part which you do not already personal. Clicking on this final possibility will not allow you to see the obtainable presets or preview their outcomes prior to buy, however slightly exhibits you the shop web page for the preset pack.
Beneath this, you will be proven any preset packs you’ve got bought via the app, after which an inventory of all obtainable preset classes sorted into eight teams: Necessities, Panorama, Mom Nature, Portrait, Macro, Cinematic, Life-style and Aerial.
Luminar Neo tries fairly exhausting to upsell you on extra purchases. Right here, it is advisable a preset pack known as Fabulous Faces and provides up split-screen examples of the presets’ results, albeit with manufacturer-provided images.
When you click on on any of the classes proven, Luminar Neo will instantly start to render previews of your currently-selected picture with every of that class’s presets. As you progress your mouse over the person presets, the picture preview updates to indicate the outcomes of that preset.
You’ll be able to if you want zoom in on a selected portion of the preview as you browse your obtainable choices, and the rendered previews are remembered even if you happen to swap between preset classes or program modes, so that you solely have to attend for every one to be rendered a single time. The previews solely should be re-rendered if you happen to swap to a separate picture and again once more.
In addition to Skylum’s personal program extensions and month-to-month freebies for purchasers with X Membership subscriptions, the Luminar Neo Market has sections providing presets, skies, LUTs and overlays.
Total, it is fairly a pleasant setup which makes it fast and simple to preview the outcomes of the obtainable presets. The one actual downsides are that you would be able to’t see outcomes of latest preset packs earlier than buying them, and not one of the thumbnails proven are based mostly by yourself photos. Which means you actually do must hover over every particular person preset to get an thought of the way it will have an effect on your chosen picture.
Complete masking and layers assist too
In fact, if you do not need your handheld via the enhancing course of, Skylum Luminar Neo additionally gives the entire conventional enhancing instruments – and a few that are much less widespread – in its edit tab. Layer-based enhancing is supported, and the entire obtainable instruments are once more offered in a single column to the suitable of your chosen picture.
For layers, you’ve got management over the opacity and 14 totally different mixing sorts. You are additionally supplied with brush, linear and radial gradient masking instruments, in addition to automated portrait background, background elimination AI and masks AI strategies. Most are self-explanatory, however the two AI strategies are a bit extra uncommon, robotically figuring out the totally different topic areas similar to human, flora, structure, transport, mountains, sky, water and extra so that you can choose or deselect.
Luminar Neo provides six totally different masking strategies together with two AI-powered ones that try to manually detect your topics.
The accuracy of those AI masks could be a bit hit and miss relying in your supply picture, however after they do work they’re fairly spectacular and make fairly complicated masking choices easy. (And so they can, after all, be mixed with guide masking.) One glitch I shortly found although is that if you happen to swap to the Presets mode with a masks chosen, it’ll seem to stay energetic till you select a preset, however will then be ignored and the preset as an alternative utilized to the entire picture slightly than the masked space.
There’s additionally a cropping software which provides each automated horizon alignment and an AI-powered composition software which suggests a crop for you. You can even choose a crop manually or with all kinds of side ratios, and there are instruments for 90-degree rotation and horizontal/vertical flipping too.
Full picture
Sky
Flora
Structure
Transport
Floor
The AI-powered masking software robotically divided this picture into 5 zones. Sky, Flora and Structure have been detected fairly effectively, for probably the most half, however the AI struggled to separate the automobile from the bottom on this shot.
A raft of guide and AI-assisted enhancing instruments
As soon as your masking and cropping is about up if desired, you will discover the entire varied enhancing instruments additional down the suitable pane. They’re grouped in six totally different classes: Favorites, Extensions, Necessities, Inventive, Portrait and Skilled, and beneath these there’s additional sub-categorization. (For instance, the Necessities group has sub-categories known as Develop, Erase, Construction, Coloration, Black and White, Particulars, Denoise, Panorama and Vignette.)
The six essential teams may be concurrently made seen for faster entry or hidden to avoid wasting on some scrolling, however just one sub-category may be expanded at anyone time, so you may’t for instance see the sliders for a software within the Necessities and Portrait teams directly.
Sky AI can simply swap out your sky for one more one fairly convincingly. Right here, a boring overcast sky was swapped for one thing extra attention-grabbing. Observe additionally the Edits view at display screen proper.
Discovering the suitable management may be trickier than it needs to be
The general format of those management can typically really feel a bit disorganized, although. And sadly, there isn’t any solution to seek for controls by title. As a substitute, you need to scroll via the record, opening sub-categories separately while in search of the controls you are after. You’ll be able to at the very least evaluation already-adjusted controls alone within the Edits view, although.
To take one complicated instance, noise discount seems in three totally different locations. There are luminosity, colour and increase sliders for normal noise discount within the Develop sub-category of the Necessities group, however the identical group additionally has a Denoise sub-category with its personal separate luminosity denoise, colour denoise and increase sliders.
And as if that wasn’t sufficient, there’s additionally a separate Noiseless AI software below the Extensions group which provides low, center or high-strength modes, then gives three extra sliders for luminosity denoise, particulars and sharpness.
Default picture
Sky AI picture
Sky AI tends to work effectively when there is a clear separation between sky and topic and tweaks the foreground tones appropriately. It might wrestle when there’s not a giant distinction between sky and topic as within the sails on this shot, which it turns translucent.
All of the fundamentals, and many else apart from
With a whopping 35 totally different sub-categories, a few of which group collectively dozens of particular person instruments and sliders, I am unable to remotely record all of them. However let’s check out a number of the extra attention-grabbing choices on provide.
In fact, you will discover many of the fundamentals from rival apps like Lightroom right here, predominantly below the Develop sub-category. These embrace issues like digicam profiling, publicity controls (together with sliders for highlights, shadows, blacks and whites), curves controls and extra.
The digicam profiling software’s default choices may be supplemented with customized DCP profiles and these will also be imported from DNG information. Optical corrections are supplied too, however your supply picture must be in Uncooked format if you need entry to automated distortion or chromatic aberration corrections.
You will additionally discover some vital native adjustment instruments on provide similar to cloning, dodging and burning, all to be discovered below the Skilled group.
The Magic Mild AI software provides customizable starbursts on level mild sources. Right here, I’ve added pretty crisp 11-pointed stars. You can even paint these in our out of the scene as you want.
Tweak skies, lighting, bokeh and even your portrait topics
Past these primary choices, you will discover many extra uncommon instruments in Luminar Neo, a lot of them AI-powered. Among the many standouts are the Sky AI, Magic Mild AI, Relight AI and Portrait Bokeh AI instruments.
Sky AI will robotically choose and change the sky parts of your picture, and there are dozens of various skies to select from plus extra to buy. You’ll be able to management positioning of the alternative sky, however not its orientation or skewing. You can even management relighting of the foreground scene to match the texture of the brand new sky, in addition to adjusting issues like defocusing, grain, haze and reflections.
The Relight AI software helps you shortly tweak foreground and background illumination individually with no guide masking wanted. Right here, I’ve strongly brightened and barely cooled my son within the foreground, whereas the background buildings have been darkened and warmed just a bit.
Magic Mild AI, in the meantime, locates level mild sources in your picture, then helps you to add starbursts with management over the quantity and width of beams in every, in addition to their orientation, glow and extra. You can even manually brush starburst areas into or out of the picture at will. Relight AI, in the meantime, splits your picture into foreground and background zones, then helps you to alter the brightness and heat of the 2 zones independently of one another.
With Portrait Bokeh AI, Luminar Neo isolates simply your portrait topic, then permits the background space to be defocused. You’ll be able to tweak the topic masking and edge correction as wanted, and have management over the energy of the defocus impact, the depth of the picture, in addition to the heat, brightness and spotlight glow of the background.
There are additionally a number of different AI-based instruments which might additionally show useful, whereas maybe being a bit extra controversial. Face, Pores and skin and Physique AI are geared toward portrait use, clearly, and allow you to make extra refined tweaks like pores and skin defect or shine elimination, in addition to extra vital ones like slimming faces, our bodies and abdomens, enlarging eyes, whitening tooth and extra.
Conclusion
As a substitute for Adobe’s Lightroom and Photoshop, Skylum Luminar Neo provides a reasonably huge scope for enhancing in a classy and engaging bundle that is designed particularly for photographers. It is fairly swift for probably the most half, and consists of many AI-based instruments that goal to make complicated duties a lot simpler.
It additionally gives a beneficiant choice of ready-made presets that assist get you outcomes shortly and simply. But these aren’t restricted to performing simply primary operations as in most purposes; they’ll additionally carry out extra complicated duties like sky alternative, taking their potential to a unique degree.
That is to not say that this system is ideal, by any means. Whereas visually interesting, its interface can typically show a little bit complicated, and makes the duty of discovering instruments tougher than it must be. And a number of the visible gloss might be made extra helpful, too.
The Portrait Bokeh AI software can typically introduce some haloes round your topic, however in any other case does a pleasant job of giving softer, creamier backgrounds and higher topic separation.
As a substitute of different folks’s tangentially-related images, it will be good if thumbnails all through the app saved you checking previews by being based mostly by yourself works. It will even be preferable if previews in this system’s catalog extra precisely mirrored Luminar Neo’s personal renderings.
However these quibbles apart, there isn’t any denying that Luminar Neo may help you to seize the imaginative and prescient you’ve got to your images, whether or not that includes refined tweaking or rather more complete reimaginings of the unique shot. And this system continues to be developed at breakneck pace, with at least six new program updates and dozens of latest or improved options simply over the past 3-4 months.
That is doubly spectacular when you think about Luminar Neo’s Ukrainian origins. This program is kind of actually being developed from the guts of an energetic warfare zone, and but its builders are in some way nonetheless churning out updates!
And whereas I’ve consciously averted this subject elsewhere in my evaluation, I really feel it is value noting that in buying or subscribing Luminar Neo, you are each supporting a rustic that might use some assist proper now, and an organization which has gone out of its solution to do its half within the effort.
“Luminar Neo has matured impressively shortly and provides huge scope for enhancing in a classy and engaging bundle”
For a program that is solely one-third the age of its essential rival, Luminar Neo has matured impressively shortly. Now that we have given it our first, lengthy overdue evaluation, I am going to positively be watching it extra intently sooner or later. Are there enhancements I might prefer to see made within the months and years to return? Completely, however I do not doubt that Skylum Software program is difficult at work on making at the very least a few of my wishlist gadgets come true.
Even because it stands, I see greater than sufficient right here to be value your whereas downloading this system’s free trial model. It offers you a full week to check its options with out the necessity to present your bank card particulars first, and I might wager various who’ve by no means tried it earlier than will determine it is worthy of their buy!
What We Like
What We Do not
Complete picture enhancing options
Clear and fashionable person interface
Good picture high quality
Beneficiant choice of presets
A lot of hand-holding from AI instruments
Helps native changes, complicated masking and layers-based enhancing
Permits for multi-shot imaging like HDR, focus stacking and panoramas, too
Efficiency is nice for probably the most half
Works with Home windows or macOS and standalone or as a plug-in
Optionally available subscription or perpetual license
Consumer interface typically feels disorganized and the educational curve fairly steep
Jarring disconnect between embedded previews and this system’s personal renderings
No solution to seek for or filter instruments
Picture administration choices are a bit restricted
Import capabilities are hidden
Face Enhancer would not work with smaller faces and provides unconvincing outcomes with bigger ones
Generative AI options are time-limited for perpetually-licensed variations
Software program tries to upsell you on packages you do not personal but
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