Learn How To… Edit Photos In Luminar 4

“As it gears up for the release of a major new version, here’s the basics on Skylum’s latest clever image-editing app”

- Ian Evenden

Luminar is one of those apps that deserve to be better known. Luminar 4, which will be released on November 18th, improves on previous versions with new features, including some clever ‘AI’ tools. There’s also a full house of one-shot ‘Looks’ to transform your images quickly, along with a layer and-mask-based editing suite to really get the best out of a photograph. The app works on just about any image you import into it, including JPEGS and raw files.

A free trial of Luminar can be obtained from http://skylum.com/luminar (drop down the Luminar menu at the top) where you’ll also find a full beginner’s guide. We produced this tutorial using a pre-release version of Luminar 4, and while the basic functionality will be the same, some interface features may look different on the final public release version.

Step-by-step Edit in Luminar 4

1 Opening an image

There are two ways of getting your images into Luminar. The first is to point the application at existing folders full of image files and allow it to build a catalogue. This way, you get to scroll through your collection, and edit those that stand out to you. The other is to open a single image in Quick Edit mode, which replaces the catalogue on the left with the lone file you’ve chosen.

2 Looks

Luminar’s Looks are its one-shot filters. They live at the bottom of the interface, and cover everything from simple image enhancement to B&W conversion to super sharpness or a soft, airy blur. To use one, just click on it. There will be a short period of processing, then the altered image will snap-in. The before and after view makes seeing exactly what has changed easy.

3 AI Image Enhancer