In the world of photography, Adobe’s Lightroom and Photoshop dominate the editing market. However, if you’re like me you’re always looking for alternatives to the big guys and my choice is with Skylum’s powerful Luminar Neo. I’ve been using it for a couple years now and finally decided I should get around to writing a Luminar Neo review. However, I use this program mainly for a single type of photography. That’s why this review will be focused on using Luminar Neo for landscape photography. It’s certainly capable of handling other shots, but for me it’s all about those landscapes!
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What is Luminar Neo?
Luminar Neo is a powerful photo editor, created by Skylum. Luminar Neo is a continued evolution of Skylum’s Luminar series of editors, all of which look to put power in the hands of users in the most user friendly way possible. They are able to accomplish that with a leading suite of AI-powered tools and extensions. These tools are user friendly and empower you to make high quality edits in less time than other competitors.
Another one of the reasons I like Luminar Neo for landscape photography, are the flexible pricing structures. You have the option to purchase an annual subscription, providing you access to everything Luminar Neo offers for the entire subscription period. Alternatively, you can grab a lifetime subscription, which gives you everything for one price now. The biggest difference is that some future extensions under the lifetime plan will require an additional payment to unlock. Whichever you choose, get an additional 10% off with the code FLMOTR2024 when you grab Luminar Neo today!
My Workflow When Editing
One of my favorite parts about using Luminar Neo for landscape photography is how easy it is to establish a quick workflow. Over the last few years of working with the program, I’ve gotten this down to a pretty consistent set of tools I use on almost every photo. This makes it much easier for me to edit a photo quickly, and to determine which images I want to spend more time on.
My approach with Luminar Neo is to split my edits into two groups: broad image adjustments and detailed local adjustments. In many cases, I’ll only work on the second set of edits for images which I intend on putting up for sale or using for promotional purposes. The vast majority of my work sticks to broad adjustments since most of the pictures I share are lower-resolution on the website or via social media.
I’ll always start by doing an initial crop of the image. I find it easier to be focused on impactful editing by cropping my images first. Luminar Neo has AI powered tools that can help with this, so I’ll let them go to work and then adjust manually after that.
Next, I’ll utilize the Development tool to make initial changes to the RAW file. This tool has everything you need to adjust exposure, contrast, white balance, etc. I’ll hit J to show areas of the image that are clipping, then make adjustments to minimize these.
Once I’ve completed this step, I’ll turn it back over to some of other AI powered tools that make me love Luminar Neo. These include (list the tools here) which speed up my basic edits. Usually at this point, I’m pretty happy with a picture and can move on to detail local edits if I want.
Many of my detailed edits are driven through the AI masking tools of Luminar Neo. These work to quickly and accurately mask portions of the image. From there, it takes a lot less work on my part to fine tune the masking and make the edits I want. This is also the point where I can begin to utilize layers as a way of testing out different edits or stacking different masks on the image to get final results.
How Extensions Can Expand Your Options
One of the major points any Luminar Neo review needs to touch on are the extensions available to you. Depending on the purchase option you’ve selected, you’ll either have access to these extensions by default (annual subscription) or you may need to pay extra for them (lifetime subscription). However, most of the current extensions are included in the lifetime package right now.
For my purposes, I’ve most often used the Panorama Stiching, Focus Stacking, and HDR Merge tools. These are all fantastic for landscape photography. They’re extremely easy to use and a big reason why I love using Luminar Neo for landscape photography. Everything these different tools do can be done by other software, but no where near as easily. When using these options, Luminar’s powerful AI can do much of the work for you, speeding up your editing process greatly. I’m a big fan, and really wouldn’t be able to get some of my edits done without them.
The Fall 2024 Update also has unlocked a powerful suite of generative AI tools. This is something new for Luminar Neo, and I’ve only recently been able to try these out. While I personally am a bit on the fence about generative AI, these are certainly options for creating the best photos you can. For my purposes, the GenErase and GenExpand tools are the ones I can see myself using the most. These are definitely more in line with my philosophy is my photo editor helping to enhance my images rather than simply create what didn’t actually exist. I’ll be working with these extensions more in the coming months, and hope to write an additional Luminar Neo review on these specific extensions.
Luminar Neo also has an expansive marketplace available for users. The marketplace features replacement skies, LUTs, presets, textures, and more. All of these are created by the team at Skylum or partnered users. If these are something you’re interested in using, they can really transform your editing experience and creativity.
Is Luminar Neo The Right Choice For You?
When it comes to photo editing software, there really is a huge range of options. This Luminar Neo review has really been focused on how I utilize the tool and why I love using Luminar Neo for landscape photography. However, that doesn’t mean that it is the right option for everyone.
I think that Luminar Neo is the best tool for people who are looking for a powerful suite of tools, that are quick and straight-forward to use. If you prioritize the ability to accomplish great edits in just minutes, then it’s an excellent choice. Even for more detailed-oriented work, Luminar Neo’s ever expanding suite of tools makes it beginner friendly to accomplish these edits. It is a user focused program, that’s easy to learn and put out high-quality results.
Luminar Neo isn’t necessarily for high-end power users though. Tools like Lightroom offer far more control over your editing experience. Yet, the trade off for this additional control is a bigger hurdle in learning the software. If you’re not a fan of Adobe (or don’t want to lock into their creative suite forever), then alternative tools like Darktable are an option. Again, these are high-powered tools that will take a lot of time and effort to learn.
Ultimately, what you’re looking to get out of your editing experience will help you make this decision. I find using Luminar Neo for landscape photography checks all the boxes for me, and it’s still an excellent tool for different types of photography as well.
Examples of My Work Using Luminar Neo
I can’t write a whole article promoting Luminar Neo for Landscape Photography and not take an opportunity to show off some of my recent work with it. Each of the following photos are ones that I have worked on in the last couple of months, including with some of the newest tools Luminar Neo is offering. I’ll make note of any specific extensions or tools used to make the photos for your reference.
Conclusions on Using Luminar Neo for Landscape Photography
I love using Luminar Neo for Landscape Photography and I think you will too! There are constantly deals available for the software, including an amazing Black Friday Sale going on right now, where you can save an extra 10% with code FLMOTR2024! Over the coming months, I plan on trying to branch out a bit more with my own photography and see everything that Luminar Neo has to offer beyond my existing comfort zone.
If you’re interested in following along on my photo journey or I’ve helped you make a decision on Luminar and you’d like to help me continue writing and travelling I’d greatly appreciate your support. Following me on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok will help you stay in touch. If you’re feeling super generous, you can tip me through the Ko-Fi box below! Finally, please share on your social media platform of choice!
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