Luminar Neo (2022) review

ABOUT SKYLUM

SKYLUM (Macphun, early 2018 they’ll completely switched to SKYLUM) is a San Diego, USA based software company, and famous for its outstanding photo editing software products. Their latest software application Luminar Neo, has been upgraded to a new product supporting numerous improvements and the addition of AI Tools, like Crop, Enhance, Structure, Skin Enhancer, AI Portrait Enhancer and their AI Sky Replacement feature. This review will discover and disclose if the Skylum Luminar Neo for Mac upgrade is a true improvement over Luminar AI. Skylum Luminar Neo is for professionals as well as enthousiasts.

WHAT’S ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The term artificial intelligence was formed in 1956, however AI has become immense popular today as nowadays we have increased data volumes, advanced algorithms, and improvements in computing power and storage.
AI works by combining large amounts of data with fast, iterative processing and intelligent algorithms, allowing the software to learn automatically from patterns or features in the data. To make AI work, we need to understand that AI is a mix of seperate tools which in addition can create Artificial Intelligence applications which may be implemented each in its specific field for, face recognition on phones, speech, machine programming,

• Machine learning to automate analytical model building.
• Deep Learning for neural networks, using learning techniques of data for speech and data recognition.
• Computer vision needs pattern recognition and deep learning to learn-recognize what’s in a picture.
• Natural language processing (NLP) is analysation skills of computers to understand and/or generate human language, and speech.
• Advanced algorithms are able and needed to identify and predict events.

INTERFACE & WHATS NEW

Skylum Luminar Neo, boasts a new full intuitive interface layout where when opening first time the catalog images are shown. The left sidebar provides import of selected picture folders. From this point you can enter the Edit section

All is absolutely nicely placed on the interface,  and takes just a small learning curve getting used too the new layout. Double click an image and it will open in full ! You may now click the ‘Edit’ button on top to  start editing your selected image.

In regard to the former version Luminar 4, the Templates have been renamed to ‘Presets’ from the right sidebar in the Editing section. The tools with AI functionality are shown in the image below.

Presets, provides an array of image conversions ready for transforming your photo into a dedicated end result. You of course fine-tune the photo with all available editing tools. Some ‘Presets’ are really nice like ‘Travelogue’ in Big Screens preset which in most cases adds a nice transformation.

Neo is still in development and numerous features are still missing in this build, but Skylum says that it intends to add all missing tools at public launch in February 2022. ( Portrait Background Removal AI and Mask AI)

Explore selected tools that can bring your best ideas to life

Over one hundred classic and AI-based solutions for professional results: Check the selection..

The filters-sliders are now much better to work with. Both the new Dust Spot Removal and Powerlines Removal tools can be found under the “Erase” panel. Considering the two are important features of the early access version, it was somewhat of a struggle to find them.

Both have some issues in this first build. The objects Powerlines erasing has some leftovers ! And the normal erasing is fast and effective but the actual mouse position is far off the selected area. Somehow there’s misconception of position. When adding ‘text’, the placement is centered in the middle of the screen ?? So, these need to be addressed in the next build.

See the Powerline AI tool action !

I noticed that this early release of Luminar Neo is not activating the Undo & Redo function in the menubar! So if you want to quickly undo actions using familiar shortcuts you’re stuck because it has no undo or redo functionality at this point in time.

Currently in this build, Luminar Neo only has an option to clear all your selections, remove all the adjustments made with each tool, or you can click the “Deselect” button and use the brush to paint over which parts of the photo you want to undo. Get this sorted out Skylum.

“ESSENTIALS – COMPOSITION Ai”

Achieve great composition from any angle. You’ll always get the perfect frame. CompositionAI blends the golden rules of composition with the expertise of the world’s best photographers.

• Perfect framing with CompositionAI.
• Automatically fix alignment for a level photo.
• Automatically fix perspective to remove unwanted tilt or distortion.
• AI-powered cropping suggests compositions designed with in collaboration with top photographers.

“ESSENTIALS – ACCENT Ai”

Get natural lighting and life-like color for every portrait with a single “magic” slider.

• AccentAI analyzes the image to identify areas issues with brightness, contrast and color, then balances all of them for the optimal result.
• Adjust the intensity of the enhancements with a single slider to make the effect very subtle or very dramatic.
• Enhancements can be synced across a set of images; saving a tremendous amount of time. It accounts for the unique elements within each image to produce the best result.

“ESSENTIALS – SKY Ai”

• Sky EnhancerAI makes seamless adjustments to skies to make them pop without looking unnatural. It produces amazing results while saving you time in the edit.

“ESSENTIALS – STRUCTURE Ai”

Bring out details in all the right places. StructureAI recognizes people, water, skies and objects. it adds depth and clarity to a scene by pulling out critical detail just where required.

• Saves time and produces amazing results in architecture, cityscape, landscape and environmental portraits.
• Refines textures in the image to add depth or draw the viewer’s eye to the most important elements.

SKY AI in Action 
This truly is one of my favourite AI tools to use. It can create amazing looks of a rather dull picture. In the example below, the shot was taken on top of a mountain in rainy weather. No vivid colours and a plain sky. Luminar Neo has an inbuilt set of ‘skies’ for use and you can import your own in a click. Just check out the difference below….

BOKEH EFFECT AI in action

Bokeh is a word with Japanese origins, defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light.” The word comes from the Japanese word boke (暈け or ボケ), which means “haze” or “blur.” (The “h” was introduced to help English speakers pronounce the word correctly [BO – KEH].) just to show you its origin.

This tool can transfer an ordinairy image in a nicely focussed picture. In the example below I only show the depth focus change, and I partly focussed the statue. You can select the actual area’s you wish to focus or defocus on. It’s maybe not the best example but it does show the tools capabilities. The intensity of focus/defocus can be adjusted with the sliders. It works all fine for me.

EXPORT FUNCTIONS

Luminar Neo’s export functions offer, download to disc, send by mail or use Messages. There is also a ‘Connect’ option which is explained below.

CONNECT

Luminar Neo, now has a new addition for adding or sending an image to or from your iPhone. In order to use this function you need to download IOS app from the AppStore. When prompted on your screen to scan the barcode, just use the IOS app. and you can connect to your Mac to send or import images.

and use our $10 discount code if you’re interested ✑LINK for DISCOUNT

VERDICT

Luminar Neo is the easiest professional photo editor application containing all latest AI tools. It offers great editing tools and results at a fair price! If your pockets are not to deep, Luminar Neo is the overall best program to go for and will never disappoint you in anyway. So if you want to experience a fantastic photo editing tool, Luminar Neo is the one to go for.