Luminar 4- What's the deal?

[Skybuyer]

A member in another thread mentioned Luminar 4. I'd not heard of it but I looked it up and it looks interesting. But then I see many different prices, including dirtbag prices from Thailand and the Russian Federation which throw up lots of red flags. On the Skylum site I see lots of additional purchases they offer. Is Luminar 4 a Photoshop plugin or a standalone? What's included with the basic purchase. What's up with these off-shore dirtbag offerings on Ebay [I uwittingly bought a pirate copy of Rosetta Stone when I thought I was buying a legit *used* copy/license!].

Again, it looks interesting, but I want to make sure I can get what I need without getting sucked in, only to find I've got pay again for the stuff that makes it work.
TIA

 

[zocalo]

A few of the photo magazines are regularly pushing it here in the UK with varing levels of discount and giving it a lot of coverage - a 32-page(!) insert in this month's Digital Camera, for instance - so *some* of those low prices are probably legit as they still seem to be in their "grow market share" phase. I'd be skeptical of anything *too* heavily discounted though. AFAICT, it appears to be a standalone, includees raw support and Photoshop style pixel level editing functions, but is mostly centered around a number of "AI"/computational photography type functions for things like automatically improving skin tone, replacing skies, adding lightning effects, and so on. It *may* also function as a Photoshop plugin (I've got some other tools that do both), but not looked into it enough to know for sure.

Skylum, the company behind it, has been around for a while and have a range of tools, of which Luminar is their flagship. Their early product ads featured some *really* obvious and cheesy effects, but some of the latest stuff actually looks pretty good - assuming it's really as good as the examples on the ads (which I doubt!). It's also not based on a subscription like Adobe's Creative Cloud stuff so you pay once and that's it, which is a major plus for many people.

Anyway, there's a fully functional demo (only 7 days though!) available on Skylum's website, so maybe download it and give it a try? I've been toying with doing the same if I can get enough spare time to properly play with it in a single week, which has been the main issue so far. If it had been something more realistic, like 21 or 28 days, then I'd probably have already tried it out.

 

[Nonprophet]

I too am interested, and downloaded the one week trial--but, it's REALLY annoying how their price bounces allllll over the place, it seems to change daily. I.E. when I first signed up for the one week trial, they were advertising the price as $64.95, but after my trial expired I got an email saying "Special Offer!" instead of our regular $99 price, we're taking $20 off so only $79!! Really? What happened to $64.95?? I do like just paying one price one time that is supposed to include free updates for life, but, if they can't be honest and transparent in their pricing, how do I know that I can do business with them? Meanwhile, Adobe is offering both Lightroom and Photoshop for only $9.95 a mo. with a one year agreement.....

 

[Tufargon]

A member in another thread mentioned Luminar 4. I'd not heard of it but I looked it up and it looks interesting. But then I see many different prices, including dirtbag prices from Thailand and the Russian Federation which throw up lots of red flags. On the Skylum site I see lots of additional purchases they offer. Is Luminar 4 a Photoshop plugin or a standalone? What's included with the basic purchase. What's up with these off-shore dirtbag offerings on Ebay [I uwittingly bought a pirate copy of Rosetta Stone when I thought I was buying a legit *used* copy/license!].

Again, it looks interesting, but I want to make sure I can get what I need without getting sucked in, only to find I've got pay again for the stuff that makes it work.
TIA

I've been using it for quite a while and love it. It is a standalone and/or plugin. Depends on which you buy. I use it as a standalone.

 

[416721lift]

you dont have to pay for it, just lick it off utorrent

 

[zocalo]

I've been using it for quite a while and love it. It is a standalone and/or plugin. Depends on which you buy. I use it as a standalone.

OK, that's pretty positive. Anything you particularly like, dislike, or feel could be improved? If I know what to focus on that'll probably help me make the most of my 7-day eval when I eventually get around to it.

I generally keep my editing fairly light and more or less "as seen" (probably 80% of my processing is done on the raw file), but will swap out completely flat skies from time to time, and frequently remove the odd distraction that is out of my control. Any improvement to automatic toning and contrast of an image to achieve a given "look" (warm/cool, clarity/contrast/saturation, etc.) that can be done in a couple of clicks and doesn't require me to manually fix up areas of the image afterward is probably going to be worth a look...

 

[416721lift]

if you guys want full version with no trial time to test it i have to share with fellow mavic family

 

[tck444]

I use Luminar quite a bit for the AI enhancement tools and sky replacement. I do not think it is the most intuitive software due to numerous sub menus and also seems to run a little slow. Many YouTube videos out there with reviews and discount codes. Of course, the people doing the reviews and getting a referral fee in most cases.

I also use Photoscape which has a FREE version from the Microsoft store and can import most RAW files. I also think Photoscape is much easier to use. There is also a pay version for about $40 which offers a few more tools.

 

[Pstik]

I use ON 1 photo software. It is a 1 time purchase. I got it because I dont want to pay monthly for lightroom. Which I enjoyed using. When you could own it. But i purchased the latest ver of ON1 and I am happy with. Powerful. You can test drive it for 30 days. I use a MAC.

 

[Dave Maine]

It is an interesting product, and works as advertised. Your response to it’s effects may vary. In my experience, sometimes it creates a result that is better than what I would normally have gotten with manual adjustments, and other times worse.

 

[Fort Pierce Pilot]

I use it for quick photo enhancement, cropping, and export. The copy and duplicate capability has let me create some interesting things and cover some not so interesting. A bargain but look around for authorized discounts. I got mine through Drone Film Guide. The AI options for LOOKS are instantaneous and rally do a great job.

 

[MaxE1955!]

you dont have to pay for it, just lick it off utorrent

Why are you promoting software theft?

 

[Hodge]

Hello,

I have been using Luminar 4 for a ;ittle over 5 months now and love what can be done with it Im going to try to upload thr33 photos 1-the original image, 2- with slight modifications, 3- several more features used.
Also if you want to see more of what can be done with the product I highly recommend Jim Nix's YouTube channel, One of his creative examples

One of my images with two different updates done to it.


It is really great for removing objects as shown in my two examples, boy at waters edge man standing holding some yellow object

 

[Tufargon]

OK, that's pretty positive. Anything you particularly like, dislike, or feel could be improved? If I know what to focus on that'll probably help me make the most of my 7-day eval when I eventually get around to it.

I generally keep my editing fairly light and more or less "as seen" (probably 80% of my processing is done on the raw file), but will swap out completely flat skies from time to time, and frequently remove the odd distraction that is out of my control. Any improvement to automatic toning and contrast of an image to achieve a given "look" (warm/cool, clarity/contrast/saturation, etc.) that can be done in a couple of clicks and doesn't require me to manually fix up areas of the image afterward is probably going to be worth a look...

You'd need to get better feedback than me because as I've stated before I'm far from a pro and that's why I like it. All I know is that I've used it and people I know that know way more than me about editing in post thought my pictures were very nice. I think you'd just need to watch a few videos on youtube and try it out. It's AI so it will always have faults though.

 

[drone safety]

thanks for sharing

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Been using it ever since it came out. Best AI software that I have found for sky replacement. With every update it just keeps getting better and better. Check out Gary MacIntyre on Youtube. He is a bit hard to understand because of his accent but has very good tutorials for Luminar 4.

Gary McIntyre Photographer

Explore. Imagine. Create. Image editing and Photography site where you will learn tips, tricks and techniques in Luminar, Photoshop and Lightroom. Plus from ...

www.youtube.com

 

[Hodge]

Been using it ever since it came out. Best AI software that I have found for sky replacement. With every update it just keeps getting better and better. Check out Gary MacIntyre on Youtube. He is a bit hard to understand because of his accent but has very good tutorials for Luminar 4.

Gary McIntyre Photographer

Explore. Imagine. Create. Image editing and Photography site where you will learn tips, tricks and techniques in Luminar, Photoshop and Lightroom. Plus from ...

www.youtube.com

Another great source for how to take advantage of Luminar 4 is Jim Nix. A lot of his topics are just quick little hits on tuning up a pic.
Jim Nix's YouTube channel

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Its great to have Youtube to fall back on for the newbie but if you have been doing photo editing in Photoshop, lightroom or any other platform Luminar 4 is very easy to grasp. It is just one software that is part of my work flow along with Photoshop, Lightroom, Topaz Labs and Perfectly Clear Complete V3.