Category: General Blog Post

Luminar Neo 50%

Comparison – Luminar 4, Luminar AI, and Luminar Neo

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog PostLeave a comment

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

Since Luminar Neo has been officially released I thought I would show you an interface comparison between the now depreciated Luminar 4 (if you own Luminar 4 you can still use it, it is just not sold anymore), Luminar AI, and the new Luminar Neo

The Interface

Changes to the menu at the top of the screen.

Luminar 4

Luminar 4 has the most comprehensive menu of the three

Luminar AI

Luminar AI’s menu is trimmed down from Luminar 4

Luminar Neo

Luminar Neo has a minimalist menu.

Other than items no longer being in the top screen menu, other differences are.

  • Library menu item has been renamed to Catalog for both Luminar AI and Luminar Neo
  • The pre-created settings has been changed from “Looks” in Luminar 4, to “Templates” in Luminar AI, and now changed to “Presets” in Luminar Neo, but for Luminar Neo, the presets menu only shows in the edit module
  • The Export menu item has changed from the box with an up arrow in Luminar 4 and being placed in the middle of the menu, to the word Export in Luminar AI, and back to the box with an up arrow in Luminar Neo, but moved to the far right.

Export icon

Changes to the Apps Menu (What is shown is the Mac OS version, Windows menus may look different)

Luminar 4

Luminar AI

Luminar Neo

Luminar AI and Neo have similar menus. Luminar 4 has the additional Library Menu.

Full Menus from each program

Luminar 4 menus

Luminar 4 menus

Luminar AI Menus

Luminar Neo’s Menus

So what’s different in each.

The file menu is mostly the same with note of the different names for Presets. What is missing for Luminar AI and Luminar Neo from what is in Luminar 4’s file menu is Batch Processing.

The Edit menu is mostly the same. What is missing for Luminar AI and Luminar Neo from what is in Luminar 4’s file menu is the canvas menu. The options that are there in this canvas menu for Luminar AI and Neo are part of the tools in the Edit module if they exist at all.

There is no Library menu in Lumianar AI and Neo. That is the Catalog module in both applications.

The image menu is roughly the same in Luminar 4 and Luminar AI, but for Luminar Neo it does not have the rotate and flip options, set flag options and the only Adjustment option is to revert to the original.

The remaining windows (Account, Window, and Help) are the same across all versions of Luminar

Other inferace notes:

Luminar Neo did bring back layers, but this time they put the layer option by itself on the left side of the interface when in Edit mode. Not sure I like it there yet or not.

When in the Edit mode of Luminar Neo, the interface is simplified again. Just Tools, Edit, Presets main headings on the right. the See as before, zooming, and other actions menu has been moved to the bottom of the screen. See the screenshot below.

Summary

While I’m still learning about the program, just based upon what I’ve shown here and my experience so far. They are trying to simplify the interface a lot. Make it less cluttered. I’m not sure I’m a fan yet as I have been using their programs and others in the past that just got used to where things were. Now they have been moved around a lot. For example, I’m not sure why they put the Layers option on the left when they had it on the right before. To me, the order of Tools, edits, presets seems a bit out of order. I would have put the Presets first especially since if a preset is chosen, it wipes out any previous edits.

There is plenty planned for Luminar Neo in the near future (see below), but the present version is not yet a replacement for Luminar 4 in my option. Time will tell, but given you cannot purchase Luminar 4, this would be your best option for now.

Upcoming enhancements and features coming to Luminar Neo

  • Mask AI — Smart AI-based masking that detects specific elements in an image 
  • Portrait Background Removal AI — Smart AI-based removal of the background behind a portrait without manual masking 
  • Histogram 
  • Clone & Stamp 
  • Dodge & Burn 
  • Undo and Redo 
  • More Hotkeys 
  • Copy and Paste functionality for Adjustments 
  • More functionality when using Masking (Copy/Paste, Pen Pressure for Radius/Opacity, and Linear/Radial gradient) 
  • There are also a few known issues that will be resolved shortly. They include: 
    • LUTs are not applied on hover in the Mood tool 
    • Erase steps in History may show wrong states 
    • On macOS, the context menu is currently absent in Single Image 
    • View for both the Catalog and Edit tabs 

In the next updates, Luminar Neo will support Catalog migration. You will be able to smoothly migrate your Catalogs from Luminar 4 and Luminar AI into Luminar Neo. 

All the Presets users have bought to use in Luminar Neo will be available in Skylum Account soon. To ensure the highest quality of Presets and their smooth performance in the app, some Presets are in the final testing stage and need a bit more time to be ready. 

In March, Skylum will provide users with a special utility to convert custom Templates into a Luminar Neo-compatible format. 

Luminar Coupon Code for extra saving is MARKDODD

Luminar Neo released

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog PostLeave a comment

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

Skylum’s Luminar Neo has been released as of 2/17/2022

Release pricing and options.

You have the option to choose between a 1-year subscription or a lifetime license of Luminar Neo. Details on pricing and what is offered are.

  • 1-year subscription
    • Luminar Neo 1 seat for $59 
    • Luminar Neo 2 seats for $79 

Subscription includes
⚬ All future updates 
⚬ All new feature add-ons 
⚬ Workflow designed for creative photo editing 
⚬ Unique AI tools to simplify repetitive tasks 
⚬ Built-in library of Textures & Overlays 
⚬ 30-day money-back guarantee 
⚬ 24/7 technical support 

  • Lifetime license
    • Luminar Neo 1 seat for $79 
    • Luminar Neo 2 seats for $99 

Lifetime license includes
⚬ Update with AI Masking and Portrait Background Removal 
⚬ Performance and stability updates 
⚬ Workflow designed for creative photo editing 
⚬ Built-in library of Textures & Overlays 
⚬ Unique AI tools to simplify repetitive tasks 
⚬ Lifetime license 
⚬ 30-day money-back guarantee 
⚬ 24/7 technical support 

Lifetime license offer for users who own Luminar or Aurora pricing is

  • Luminar Neo 1 seat for $59 
  • Luminar Neo 2 seats for $69 
Get Luminar Neo here

More to come on Luminar Neo at a later date once I’ve had some more time to test things out. There has already been a dot release for Luminar Neo, so if you have already purchased, make sure to check for updates in the app.

Important notice for Mac OS and select Fuji GFX and X-Series users

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog PostLeave a comment

I usually don’t post vendor emails or notices directly here, but this one is important for users of select GFX and X series Fuji camera that also use Mac OS as it could lead to a loss of your valuable images.

Important notice for consumers processing FUJIFILM digital camera files using macOS
FUJIFILM Corporation has identified a firmware incompatibility between specific X Series and GFX System cameras and computers operating macOS. This incompatibility can result in macOS users being unable to directly access files if they were initially saved to SDXC memory cards in-camera.

To prevent this anomaly, Fujifilm is creating a firmware patch, which will be made available for free download by X Series and GFX System users as soon as it is completed.
READ THE NOTICE to see if your particular camera is effected.

Although a fix is in the works, it is not here yet. Read the notice above to determine if it effects your camera and what precautions you can take now to avoid losing your images.

This issue only effects Mac OS and not Windows.

On1 Photo Raw 2022

On1 Photo Raw 2022 is here

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog PostLeave a comment

On1 Photo Raw 2022 has been released

ON1 Photo RAW - The Ultimate Photo Editor - Learn More or Try it Free

What’s New

With this release, On1 Photo Raw gets multiple additions that are included.

  • On1 NoNoise is rolled into On1 Photo Raw 2022
  • Sky Swap AI (NEW!)
  • Time-Lapse creation (NEW!)
  • Photoshop Plug-in support (NEW!)
  • A updated adn retooled Export (Yeah!)
  • Backup and Restore as part of the App (NEW!)
  • Favorites in Browser (NEW!)
  • Line Mask Tool (NEW!)
  • Customizable thumnails
  • Gester Support View
  • and Apple Silicon Native Support (Read M1 Support here)

On1 Photo Raw 2022 is available now.

Order On1 Photo Raw 2022
Free Trial Download

If you plan to order, don’t forget to use my On1 Coupon Code of MDODD20 to save up to an extra 20% even on this pre-order.

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

Luminar Neo Pre-order

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog PostLeave a comment

Skylum is continuing it’s Pre-Oder offers for Luminar Neo

What is Luminar Neo

It is a creative image editor that is powered by AI technologies. They are building upon the AI technologies that currently exist in Luminar AI but tout this as AI technologies of the future that enable you to fulfill your wildest ideas. Along with the AI technologies it includes a flexible workflow, high-quality editing results. It is based on an entirely new software engine to accomplish your creative tasks with maximum performance and flexibility.

What’s New

Layers – let you effortlessly combine two or more images and manipulate them to achieve your desired effect. – Yes Layers are back in Luminar Neo

Portrait Background RemovalAI – allows you to remove an unwanted background from your portrait in seconds thanks to AI. 

RelightAI – is a tool for controlling the light in your photos based on image depth as determined by AI, allowing you to easily and effortlessly fix photos that need fill lighting. 

MaskAI – allows you to easily detect and select elements of your photo for precise control over how tools are applied. 

Pre-Order

This product is due to ship sometime this winter at the moment, and thus that can mean late 2021 or earlier 2022 at this point. This early bird pricing is has ended and they are now on their standard Pre-Order pricing.

This product is due to ship sometime this winter at the moment, and thus that can mean late 2021 or earlier 2022 at this point, but if you want to pre-order at the best possible pricing, that can be done now. This early bird pricing is limited to the first 30,000 orders worldwide. After that, back up to regular pricing for the pre-order

By pre-ordering you will also get early access to the software as they will release it to you first.

Coupon codes like mine will not be usable during the pre-order period as they are already giving you the best price possible.

Pricing

Pre-Order Luminar Neo

For artist making a new purchase

$65 for 1-seat license for Luminar Neo 
$76 for 2-seats license for Luminar Neo

$94 for 1-seat license for Luminar AI+Neo 
$115 for 2-seats license for Luminar AI+Neo

For artists who own previous Skylum products

$44 for 1-seat license for Luminar Neo
$59 for 2-seats license for Luminar Neo

$73 for 1-seat license for Luminar AI + Luminar Neo
$98 for 2-seats license for Luminar AI + Luminar Neo

Seats are defined as the number of computers that the app can be installed on.

Sample images

Below are sample images using Luminar AI and the type of imagery that Skylum envisions you can create with the all-new Luminar Neo and shows some of the new features in Luminar Neo

Features

Some before and after samples of the various features.

  • Open window to the back yard with blue wall.
  • Open window to the back yard with blue wall.
  • Palouse Landscape in November, WA
  • Palouse Landscape in November, WA
  • Luminar Neo after
    Traveler Photograph Journey Tourist Girl Lady Concept
  • Traveler Photograph Journey Tourist Girl Lady Concept
  • Lifestyle, female model style makeup streetstyle
  • Lifestyle, female model style makeup streetstyle
Pre-Order Luminar Neo

As with most pre-order products, my coupon code does not work for Luminar Neo, but if you are adding Luminar AI or Aurora HDR, please use the Coupon Code of MARKDODD

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

Signs of Summer

On By Mark DoddIn Baltimore County, General Blog Post, Hampstead, MarylandLeave a comment

I haven’t been out on a photography only trip in awhile, so even when I just go out for other reasons I try to take my camera with me now.

So on a recent trip to a relatives house, on the way back I decided to take a new route home and was finally able to get some round bales in the field. Why I say finally is the farmers around here are just to quick for me. They have been baling their hay and picking it up as they go.

Bales of Hay
Round Bales in the Field

Other news

On another front, I am now able to offer those that are interested in On1 products such as On1 Photo Raw 2021 or an On1 Plus subscription, or even the brand new On1 No Noise AI application that is releasing this month a bigger discount.

I am now able to offer you a 30% off order discount. This is the first time they have offered such a high discount for a coupon code, so I’d say if you are interested, use it now, as they may reduce it on me at any time.

Use On1 Coupon code of MDODD20 to get your 30% off.

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

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Memorial Weekend Photo Software info

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog PostLeave a comment

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

It’s Memorial Day weekend 2021. We have made it through to the end of May and the unofficial beginning of summer. On this holiday weekend, photography and utility software vendors are offering specials on their software or soon-to-be-released products. Since there are many, I’m just going to summaries them for you here.

Luminar AI

Luminar AI just released UPDATE 3

Additions in update 3 include

  • Better Sky detection
  • Better Reflections
  • Better Relighting
  • Support for Apple M1 hardware
  • HEIC image format support
Get Luminar AI – Update 3

Use Luminar Coupon Code of MARKDODD to save

On Noise AI Pre-Order

This new product from On1 is separate from On1 Photo Raw and is dedicated Noise reduction software. Current owners of On1 products can pre-order at $30 off using the coupon code of “NONOISE30″ which expires May 31, 2021. It will ship in June of 2021.

Learn more about On1 Noise AI
Pre-Order On1 Noise AI

You can also try my coupon code of “MDODD20” to see which gives you the bigger discount.

Topaz Labs

Topaz labs is ever improving their products and there are several recent udpates.

  • DeNoise v3.1 with a new AI Model. “Severe Noise”
  • Video Enhance AI v2.2, which includes a brand new Comparison View
  • Sharpen AI v3.1 was just released, too! In this update, we’ve made big improvements to the Photoshop plugin when running natively on Apple M1 silicon
Check out all the Topaz Lab software

DeNoise 3.1 is on sale now, Save 25% until 6/4. User my Topaz Labs Coupon Code of MDPDEAL to save 15% on other Topaz Lab products.

Corel Special Offers

Discounts on a series of Corel products including the new VideoStudio Ultimate 2021, Paintshop Pro 2021 Ultimate, Painter 2021, and many others.

You can get an extra 15% off off select downloads using Coupon 15MORE

Check out the Corel Special Offers

Active Corel and Associated software Coupons

Coupon CodeDiscountProducts
10CORELSAVE10% OffMost Corel products, excluding CorelDRAW
20ROXIOSAVE20% OffRoxio Toast and Creator Products
TOAST19SAVE2020% OffRoxio Toast 19 Products
VSP2021SAVE1010% OffVideoStudio Products

Capture One

Although not a holiday special it is worth mentioning.

Capture One now support’s Apple’s M1 hardware. The M1 support update is free for existing users.

Get Capture One now with Apple M1 Support

The above link goes to the trail download page, but if you end up buying use promo code “DODD” for extra savings.

A Little Bit of Locality (Artists Guild Exhibit)

On By Mark DoddIn American Kiwi Photo, General Blog PostLeave a comment
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Screen-Shot-2021-04-19-at-6.05.13-PM-1024x692.png

As a member of the Carroll County Artists Guild, I’m participating in their exhibit at the Carroll County Artists Council. A collection of works created by members of the Carroll County Artists Guild.

The exhibit is in the Tevis Gallery

at the Carroll Arts Center at 91 West Main Street Westminster, MD 21157 United States Google Map

ViewFinder Gallery Exhibit

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog PostLeave a comment

Come see my latest Gallery exhibit at the Carroll County Arts Council. I’m sharing this exhibit with John Carter. So the above image has two of my images and two of John’s. Come to the Gallery to see whose is whose.

Located in the Community Gallery of the Carroll Arts Center at 91 West Main Street Westminster, MD 21157 United States Google Map

The show runs from Monday, May 3rd to Saturday, June 12th, 2021

The Gallery is free to visit

Luminar AI Update 2

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog PostLeave a comment

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

Skylum announces a free update to Luminar AI today and includes many updated features that folks have been asking for.

Main updates

  • Improved SkyAI with reflections and more
  • Transformable Texture Overlays
  • Improved Templates experience
  • Improved camera support

SkyAI

This is the update I have been waiting for. I’ve got a series of images that I’ve always wanted to replace the sky in, but they had water in the image. Up to now, Luminar AI would replace the sky, but you would not get a matching reflection in the water. With Update 2 of Luminar AI, that is no longer an issue. But that is not the only update. In addition to reflections in water, there is also Scene relighting, relighting of humans in your image to match the scene, new sky orientation options such as Rotation and Horizontal offset, and lastly, easier sky selections. It has a much-improved image processing especially around the edges of items in your image and the sky. No more halos 🙂

Luminr AI Sky AI sample
A great example of both the reflection and the relighting of the human in the image to match the lightning of the sky chosen in the adjustment.

On the above take note of the change in lighting on the women in the picture to match the color and tone of the sky selected. Not only on her skin, but her clothing is also changed. Like it determined that the back of her dress should be darker now since it is in the shadow.

Luminar AI Sky AI Demo
Demo of the Sky AI interface with additional options. Shows how easy it is to select and adjust.

One thing to point out on the above beach image is that the reflection on the water on the beach is not just a mirror image of the sky choose, but it adapts to the surface of the water, making changes to the perspective, ripples in the water and color matching. This is what the AI feature of Sky AI does for you.

Texture Overlays

Now supporting PNG overlays from PNG files with transparency. Updates placement tools that let you easily moving, flip, rotate, resize so you can place the overlay exactly where you want it. For those of you that like to Watermark your image and put it in a certain location, you can now do that. Now that you can easily create your own overlay you can save that overlay as it’s own template or sync it across multiple images. Again for those that WaterMark you images, you can save your WaterMark overlay as a template and apply it to any new image. Or sync the setting across your current images

Improved Template Experience

Skylum is always taking feedback on how things can be improved and this would be one area they have done that. Templates are now easier to access by improving how you find and use all the templates and your favorite, purchased, and legacy templates are all found in the main Templates tab just beneath “For this Photo”. Template group previews now show in a uniform size. Any templates purchase from the Luminar Marketplace now are automatically added to the “For This Photo” section and maybe presented by Luminar AI when suggesting enhancements if the purchased Template matches well with your photo.

More Camera’s and File Formats now supported.

New Cameras: Canon EOS R5, Canon EOS R6, EOS 850D, EOS-1D X Mark III (lossy compressed files), Fujifilm X-S10, Leica M10-R, S3, SL2-S, Nikon Z 5, Z 6 II, Z 7 II, Olympus E-M10 Mark IV, Panasonic DC-G100 / G110, DC-S5, Sony ILCE-7C (A7C), ILCE-7SM3 (A7S III) and Zeiss ZX1.
New File Formats: Lossy compressed CR3 files and Lossy compressed RAF files.

How to get the Luminar AI Update 2 details

As mentioned before, this is a free update to existing owners of Luminar AI. Use your App’s option to check for updates.

If you are running LuminarAI as a plugin with Photoshop, Lightroom Classic or Photoshop Elements, it’s also recommended you rerun the plugin installer.

If you do not yet have Luminar AI – upgrade or purchase here