"Luminar" editing software

Just loaded it last weekend, very limited time with it yet, but it does seem to hold some promise for an easy workflow. I'm not certain when I'll have a chance to look at it in depth, so if others have done so I'd love to hear about it as well! For $59 I thought I'd give it a whirl. I have yet to locate the "dodge/burn" function, if there is one; beyond that I'm still exploring.

Mark
 
I was just looking at it yesterday, coincidentally. Was reading about the likelihood of Google ever again updating the Nik Suite of applications (nil apparently), but, supposedly the software engineers who designed the Nik software, are behind Macphun. Not sure how much truth there is to that, but I do like the Nik softwware, and the Luminar looked like it might be promising from the web videos I watched, especially for someone who didn't want to go whole hog with Photoshop.
 
Hi all,
today I downloaded the free trial. The installation crashed immediately while initializing. I have a very plain Dell machine. Don't want to lose further time answering their questions.
Kiss and goodbye.
I have to stick with PS and Capture One which at least don't crash
 
Fantastic: they answered my message signaling the crash with an email which provides a link to download the free trial and nothing else
Call it support if you wish
 
I bought it a few months ago to play with. It is VERY slow on my ancient 2008 Mac Pro but works very well on my new Microsoft Surface Pro tablet (the Surface Pro runs Windows 10 Professional, not a 'mobile' OS like an iPad or Android tablet does). I suspect a modern Mac would work fine, too. Mine's just ancient.

Aside from that, I am impressed with the image quality. I have tried several other 'Adobe alternatives' and none of them equaled the image resolution and noise reduction that Lightroom gives...except for Luminar. I'm impressed with it on that basis alone. Color was nice, too.

The main downside to it is that the interface is too complex. I'm going to spend some more time learning it then do some tutorials on it later on when I have some free time.
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
I bought it a few months ago to play with. It is VERY slow on my ancient 2008 Mac Pro but works very well on my new Microsoft Surface Pro tablet (the Surface Pro runs Windows 10 Professional, not a 'mobile' OS like an iPad or Android tablet does). I suspect a modern Mac would work fine, too. Mine's just ancient.

Aside from that, I am impressed with the image quality. I have tried several other 'Adobe alternatives' and none of them equaled the image resolution and noise reduction that Lightroom gives...except for Luminar. I'm impressed with it on that basis alone. Color was nice, too.

The main downside to it is that the interface is too complex. I'm going to spend some more time learning it then do some tutorials on it later on when I have some free time.
Click to expand...

I hope you are getting on better than I am, Chris. I was hoping the Luminar 3 update would improve on the sharpening algorithm, but no. Images just lack crispness and detail and as for the entire crop of tools for detail enhancement, microstructure, structure, clarity et al, I fail to see the need for so many separate tools. Nik Sharper Pro really nailed this aspect of post-processing - and DxO Photo Lab 2 is also hugely better in this critical area. I know there are many good reviews of Luminar, so I am probably doing something hopelessly wrong, but if I can get good results elsewhere, why not with Luminar?

Ray:bang:
 
I am not sure if Luminar supports PC or not but I propose to keep my software which handles my "exotic" requirements - I tend to treat my images as the starting point then post process the heck out of many of them. I use a mix which works for me. Most processing is done with Lightroom and I run both the Nik suite and Corel Paintshop Pro under it to tackle specific issues which I find I cannot deal with in Lightroom. For example, image layers and some selective adjustments (though LR can handle the latter reasonably)
 
peterm1 said:
I am not sure if Luminar supports PC or not but I propose to keep my software which handles my "exotic" requirements - I tend to treat my images as the starting point then post process the heck out of many of them. I use a mix which works for me. Most processing is done with Lightroom and I run both the Nik suite and Corel Paintshop Pro under it to tackle specific issues which I find I cannot deal with in Lightroom. For example, image layers and some selective adjustments (though LR can handle the latter reasonably)
Click to expand...

Luminar is available for Windows. The license allows you to install it on 5 computers, and I have it on my Mac Pro and my Surface Pro (A tablet running Windows 10).

Luminar 3 is faster than Luminar 2018 was, but I don't see much difference in image quality so far. I haven't played with it much though. I still think LR is the best.
 
Anyone actively using Luminar 3 here? This has been my go to editor for a few months. I can’t seem to get with LR and adobe with their subscription model.

What I get out of it that I personally like:
- no catalogs
- accent AI seems get things right most times
- details enhancer function and the Sky enhancer

What I don’t like:
- I feel it’s a bit slow; and I use small M8 files
- a lot of its functions “overcook”
- I think the functionality promotes
- not sure if I like the processing engine

In the end I’m deciding between using Luminar or learning C1 Pro. If there are luminar users here I’d love to connect and learn from you


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have installed Luminar 3 and On1 alongside of RAW Power and Affinity Photo as my potential Lightroom replacements. No time yet for testing, other than briefly poking around in all of them. But LR will not survive when I update my Mac so somewhere in the next six or seven months one of them will take its place.

G
 
I've been playing with Luminar 3 but I haven't done anything serious. I'm more comfortable using Lightroom 6 so I always go to that.

I tried out Capture One. Didn't last long for me. Every other time I tried to open it, it crashed. Never got a chance to even play around with it.
 
I use Luminar 3 and 4 almost exclusively. Can't afford LR or C1. I use it mostly for my M8

I like it for the following:
- easy interface IMO
- file management is easier IMO
- following features: details enhanced, accent AI, LUT mapping
- cheaper than LR

What I don't like:
- the Looks feel gimmicky
- they don't have subscriptions but they up sell you to to the next product quickly
 
I purchased Luminar 4 last week after seeing it advertised on Boing-Boing and liked what it could do. The only problem is I got it as a replacement for PSE (Elements 2019) , but it doesn't do the things that PSE can like panoramas. Plus it's too "amateur" in the controls, forcing one to go through too many steps to get anywhere, even to the point of wanting to open the tutorial every time you fire up the program.

So I dumped it and switched to Affinity. I'm already liking what it does, and the interface is much better than PSE. Now if I can only figure out where they hid the Panorama feature...

PF
 
farlymac said:
I purchased Luminar 4 last week after seeing it advertised on Boing-Boing and liked what it could do. The only problem is I got it as a replacement for PSE (Elements 2019) , but it doesn't do the things that PSE can like panoramas. Plus it's too "amateur" in the controls, forcing one to go through too many steps to get anywhere, even to the point of wanting to open the tutorial every time you fire up the program.

So I dumped it and switched to Affinity. I'm already liking what it does, and the interface is much better than PSE. Now if I can only figure out where they hid the Panorama feature...

PF
Click to expand...

The price is soo low!
https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/#buy

I'm looking for cheap sw to get on MacBook Pro 13 inch mid 2012. Which I recovered from the dumpster. All works now, except half of the keyboard :).
 
I have also installed Affinity Photo and I do like it. There are lots of tutorials from various people on YouTube that are really helpful. Can't beat it for the $25.00 that it cost me.
 
Looking at video. It is so close to LR for basic functions I use most. Exposure, color correction and dodge, burn, blemishes brushes :).

Looks like really cool sw to play with on MAC.
 
farlymac said:
So I dumped it and switched to Affinity. I'm already liking what it does, and the interface is much better than PSE. Now if I can only figure out where they hid the Panorama feature...

PF
Click to expand...

New Panorama is under File at the top of the screen.
 
Affinity Photo is is a pixel editor. As such it is more of a replacement for Photoshop than for Lightroom. Also, it works seamlessly as an external editor with Apple Photos.
 
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