Luminar AI Review (Longterm Analysis): Use Cases, Pros & Cons
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2024
- 😁 Get Luminar AI here: shotkit.com/getluminar
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🔥 Preorder Luminar NEO: shotkit.com/neo_ai_yt
Join me in this Luminar AI review to find out if the year's most exciting photo editing software is right for you! To help you make a decision, I'll show you 4 everyday use cases that Luminar AI could help save you time editing your photos. Then we'll take a look at 7 pros and 5 cons of Luminar AI before you hear my final recommendations.
This video is NOT sponsored by Skylum (the people behind Luminar AI), which means I can say whatever I want, and trust me - I don't hold back on letting you know what I dislike about the software!
Luminar AI is a powerful, easy to use, affordable and fun to use image editor, but it's definitely not right for everyone. Make sure you watch this review before you buy Luminar AI.
Other photo editing software reviewed here: shotkit.com/photo-editing-sof...
Jump ahead to the section of the video that interests you:
1:10 Use case #1: Replacing the sky
2:20 What are templates in Luminar AI?
7:26 Replacing the sky with reflections
9:40 Use case #2: Fun portrait edit
11:20 What is Face AI in Luminar AI?
12:50 Use case #3: Batch editing a group photo
13:45 What is Enhance AI in Luminar AI?
17:50 How to adjust a body in Luminar AI
20:19 Use case #4: Change the way you look
22:40 Pro #1: Speed
24:50 Pro #2: Complex edits made easy
27:08 Pro #3: Ease of use
30:03 Pro #4: Use with Lightroom & MacOS Photos
31:07 Pro #5: Price
32:50 Pro #6: Features for advanced users
33:50 Pro #7: Fun factor
35:08 Con #1: Lack of export options
34:55 Con #2: No keywording or tagging
35:41 Con #3: No layers
35:59 Con $4: No upgrade discount
36:10 Con #5 Missing features
36:35 Is it right for you? (Recommendations)
Great review, Mark. I've been looking to try this package for a while
Thanks Athol!
Nice work Mark! Glad to see you putting out a YT video!
Thanks Marc!
An honest and accurate review. Thank you. I am waiting to get all the missing features you mention in the new Luminar NEO that is coming next winter. I've bought it already, with a Pre-order offer.
Thanks, Richard! Yeah I have high hopes for Neo too - hopefully Skylum delivers!
Excellent video Mark. Thanks for making it clear and to the point.
Glad it was helpful!
Great review! Very helpful.
Fantastic review! Thanks indeed.
This was so incredibly helpful to me as a brand new Skylum customer. Have been having problems with the speed and a blurring issue in between every adjustment I make, though. Encouraging to hear that it really has potential to go fast. Not sure what the problem is, but I am in communications with Skylem on it. Thank you for this excellent video. So glad I ran into it early on.👍😃
Thank you Candiss!
This was the best review I saw so far, thanks.
I think they just announced the successor of Luminar 4:
Luminar NEO and I really hope they fix the export issue. That dialog does have far to few options.
I also hope they put the export in a background thread, currently you have to wait until all images have been exported until you can continue working.
Glad it was helpful! Yes, I'll be reviewing Neo here soon: shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/
Great review mate, I have been a photographer for over 30 years and I use Liminar Neo and Luminar Ai or Pixelmator pro for final editing, the dust spot removal in Neo does not work well enough if at all, i find myself spending a lot of time manually removing them especially when restoring old 1950-1970 slides or scanning prints.
I use Plustek Opticfilm 8000i for slides and edit them with Silverfast 8 for Ai dust and scratch removal it is by far the better editing tool for this, it literally picks every single bit and is also imperfection size adjustable.
If your looking at restoring slides go with a Plustek Opticfilm 8000i with the silverfast 8 software and for darkroom prints use a plustek a3 scanner or Epson scanner with the silverfast 8 software, then import to Luminar neo or Ai for further editing if you want pro results.
Far out, some of the big differences between Lightroom and Luminar now stand out much clearer for me, I didn’t understand it as much before. Nice helpful review! Thanks!
Thanks for watching, Tommy :)
Awesome video mate. I learned a lot from this video.
Cheers Greg!
I have Luminar AI, I was one of the first to get it. Firstly, I love it! BUT it is not without it's bugs. The company has been working on the bugs, and I've found them to have decent customer service. Even with the bugs, I'm happy I have it. Hoping with a better updated computer, it will work as quickly and as efficiently as all the reviews are claiming. I was a photoshop user, but did not upgrade my program when it went to the subscription mode, decided to give the Luminar AI a try first.. finding I never open my Photoshop anymore. Thanks so much for your great review.
Thanks for the feedback, Diana! That’s good you managed to ditch Ps!
I waited for Neo to appear and have taken a gamble and signed up for the pre order. I'm currently playing with the free AI trial copy (1 image per day). It feels to me a bit like some of the Nik Collection tools in the way it is object based rather than pixel based. Great review, best to I've seen.
Very kind - thanks Alan.
Great video Mark! Hope you’re doing well!
Thanks guys!! Same to you :-)
Quality review !!
Thanks, Martin!
Thanks, This was very helpful.
Glad it was helpful!
Wow, this is amazing Mark......Now I want Luminar AI! Love the photo Harry took of Elissa :)
Thanks India! Yeah, he's pretty handy with the camera already!
Thanks for the thorough review. This was exactly the kind of information I was looking for!
Side note: now as I'm writing this comment, Humble Bundle has got a deal where you get Luminar AI, Aurora HDR, Photolemur and Luminar 4 amongst some templates (I think).
Thank you m8
I got it thru my job and I love it!
Great!
i think everyone needs this program in their arsenal . luminar is unmatched at remastering old photos that is low res. when i say old. i was able to bring out a very nice image of my great grand father from the 40's from a low res an blurry photo.
Great to hear, Don!
Hi Mark. Good overview, but I really feel you've missed out some of the most important features. I've been using Luminar 4 for a couple of years and AI since it's initial release. I was bothered about the lack of layers, but, in reality, the local masking feature is, for retouching anyway, incredibly useful and versatile. Also, the structure tool is an essential part of my workflow. I tend to use Lightroom and Photoshop for much of my work, and make use of the plugins where I want to make use of the speed and AI features. Also, as a general comment, I've found that although there are both Windows and Mac versions, the Windows version is buggier and slower.
Thanks Jon. Coming from Lightroom, local masking isn’t really a new feature for me, despite being really useful. I agree that the Structure tool is great though - I think I mentioned it in the section about batch editing group photos. Cheers
I bought Luminar Ai last night and this made me extra excited to try it out more today! Jumping up out of bed (at noon haha) to get going with it! Thank you for the overview.
Have fun!
Hellow from Brazil... Thanks so much for all your help and videos... AMAZING
My pleasure!
Having used L4 and LAI, I can say that L4 is by far a superior editing tool. If you want cheap Instagram filters then AI is perfect for you, because that's all it feels its good for. L4 also has luminosity masking, which is a major editing function for non beginners.
I do prefer the organisational features of L4
My favourite way is to process first in DXO PhotoLab 5 and use their lens correction, noise correction and control point/line feature. After exporting as dng file I use Lumniar Ai for further edit. I grab a preset and adjust it too my liking. Without adjustment Lumniar preset are way over the top.
Insightful review - solid basic introduction. You've only just scratched the surface with Luminar AI!
Thanks Joe. Yeah there’s a lot more to it but the video was already getting long!!
Great review! Can you do radial filters with this software?
Yep they’re called radial masks in Luminar AI
How do I migrate my photos from Lightroom to Luminar? Do I need to save the edited images as PNG files? Are TIFF better? I've seen avalanche mentioned but I'm using PC.
Nice tutorial, mate.
Glad you enjoyed it
Good video....very much informative ....
Glad it was helpful, Sharad!
Super interesting to see how quick and easy edits can be with AI. Lumiar really does seem to be ushering in a new age of photo editing (it almost feels like cheating?!). I haven't used it yet but after seeing this I think I might give it a shot.
Definitely feels like cheating, Tania!
Hello this is Shan wuestion:^Does Luminar AI or 4 have a feature similar to Photoshop's magic wand or lasso tool in order to isolate an area and not have the clone stamp tool or otherwise interfere or overlap when using said brush? If so, do you have any videos covering this?
I'm afraid I don't, Houshang.
The biggest con for me is the limitations in export size. I make a lot of panoramic images, and I can import a huge/wide image and edit it with no issues at all. But when I'm done I can't export it. It's possible to work around it by using the composition tool to "select" different parts of the image, export them separatly, and then re-stitch the image. This is however very, very frustrating!
That does sound frustrating, Remi.
Hopefully a sensible question. When taking HDR shots on Iphone, does this mean you'll need Aurora HDR to edit them in Luminar ?? Im confused !!! Great video by the way.
Thanks Tony, no you won’t. iPhone photos are saved in an HEIC format which can be opened using Luminar AI natively if you use a Mac. For Windows users the files will be converted into DNGs but either way you won’t need Aurora for this purpose.
Thank you for a great review video. Can you edit photos saved in an external HDD without having to transfer them to the computer?
Yes you can :-) And thanks for the kind words!
Great video, but just fyi per your statement on sky replacement vs PS, they have a very good sky replacement now and will usually do a good job, although Luminar's has gotten much better
Good point! This update happened after I published the review.
Hii loved it awesome review. Watching this video motivates me to enhance my editing skill professionally. Can you please suggest me which software should I learn professionally. So In future if i want to jump to this field, it would be easier for me thanks.
ALL PROS in my opinion! #NEXTLEVEL 🙌🏻💥📸💻❤️⚡️👏🏻
Sounds like you're liking it!
thanks for your amazing $15 off code. got it at only $32
You're welcome!
excellent
Thanks!
Great video. Performance wise it has become very sluggish with frequent crashes since last update. I hope they fix soon ..
Thanks. Hmm let’s hope the next big update sorts those issues
Which hardware system (and spec) are you currrently using? Also, it's been a month since your last comment post. Have they addressed the "sluggish with frequent crashes" *issue* yet?
Agreed re sluggishness. I have an i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz with 64gig ram and a 3060 card and the 'working light' (luminar top left) is cranking all the time. The D850 does have massive files though.
Whenever i choose to edit a specific photo
There comes a black CIRCLE around the photo that I didn't even start to edit it and i cannot undo it or discard this thing just shows on the picture ! Whats the solution... ?!
Very useful video, looks pretty nice actually and caught my attention instantly. I think there's art when taking an photo Feels like you wanna be there, country/city because the photo editing. Its been two months now btw are you still using Luminar Al? How it goes?
Greetings from NY :)
Yep still using it :)
Mark, this was a great video! For me it was dead on what I wanted to know about LuminarAI. QUICK QUESTION-- when you were talking about the exporting of photos that have been edited with AI,...do you think it will be possible to save the photos on my iMac so that I can drag and drop these into Blurb's book-making software??? I need to be able to save the photos I have edited and then drag and drop those into the page templates that Blurb uses. Any thoughts??? I don't want to spend this money until I know I can save edited photos I have done in AI and be able to drag and drop those. I am a print kind of photographer guy and I love making photos on my printed books.
Thanks Blade! Yep you can absolutely do that - the photos will be saved as jpgs that you can drag and drop into Blurb’s Bookwright software - I know for sure as I did it just last week when I made a family album! All the best
@@Shotkit Thank u so much for your help :-)
Is it possible to create in luminar AI animal human portraits like in PS? Thank you.
What do you mean by animal human portraits?
Although Luminar AL does not have layers, it is worth noting that it has local masking that can be used up to 10 times.
Thanks for that, Allan!
But......it is still not layers.
Can one license purchase be used on multiple computers at my home?
It depends which option you purchase - the cheapest one is only 1 computer
I would guess you would be doing a review on Luminar Neo when it comes out. Great review. I like the face light feature (although I prefer not to blow out highlight area on faces and would make my adjustments more subtle). I do like the Body AI slider. Looks like much speedier than Luminar 4 which I have. I have ordered Neo coming out this winter.
Are you saying this speed of import and editing is actually matching or exceeding what Lightroom does for doing a series of photos quickly. Luminar 4 that I have, was a bit slower than Lightroom. AI version seems faster. Neo should be even faster with new engine.
Lightroom is still superior for speed for everything but I like to use it in conjunction with Luminar AI for the features outlined in this video, particular batch editing of group photos. And yes, fingers crossed Neo is much faster too :-)
@@ShotkitWhen is the Luminar *Neo* coming out? Also, if you had to choose between Luminar 4.3 and AI, which one would you pick? And why?
@@sonicvboom NEO is expected during this winter Dec. 21 2021 - March 21, 2022. There also will be updates throughout the year before something new likely will be offered in the Fall just as has been done since 2018. Generally Skylum also offers a variety of early bird discounts. The program so far has not been released but we are all awaiting arrival.
Oh, it is possible to create a Watermark or one can use the free version of PhotoScape X to adding signatures, watermark and/or borders and frames to the edited .jpg/.tiff.
Something I find very frustrating is in Catalogue, there is no naming of the images. See frame @ 28:26
Yeah it'd be nice if they added that, Lincoln.
Really handy review - just one nitpicking point, can you make the volume of your voice louder? The background sound effects were way louder than your voice :)
Thanks Hannah will work on that for the next one.
@@Shotkit Really excellent video though, learned a lot from it!
Can i use my own LUTs and sky photos in Luminar? This thing keeps me with photoshop.
Yep I'm pretty sure you can, Lou.
That’s for the video I watched before I bought the software . I got DPP 4 with my camera and so far it works great with the plug-in
What's DPP 4?
what about apple proRaw support? i don't think it's currently supported even in v1.5. wouldn't that be a con?
I don't use Apple proRAW a lot to be honest
Can you please do a step by step tutorial on how to put my head on another persons body on Luminar 4 or Ai. People love to do this nowdays. I tried it on another app but the color of my face just doesn't match the color of the other persons hands or arm or neck. I just bought Luminar 4 and Ai and am lost on how to do this. On another app, sometimes it works but most of the time, it doesn't. I just can not get to match skin tone on my face to another persons hand and arm. Thank you very much.
That's a tricky manipulation to do, Sung - you won't be able to do it realistically with Luminar AI. I'd recommend paying a professional retoucher to do it for you - they would use Photoshop for the task. You can find one at affordable prices on Fiverr.
Check out PixImperfect for this one, he does a great job of it.
Can one edit on Luminar Ai using the new M1 iPad pro? Are they compatible?
No, but hopefully the Luminar NEO app allows you to use it properly on the ipad - you can preorder it here: shotkit.com/neo_ai_yt
Hi, Luminar AI is fast but very very slow when exporting the photo unhappily. I'm surprised you don't mention it.
What size photo are you trying to export?
Mainly just watching to see if it's worth the $20 on Humble Bundle right now; That's a very easy yes.
My only gripe is that, if you try using it as your (main/import) catalog, the lag is phenomenal
What computer set up do you have, Chris?
@@Shotkit I have a pretty good desktop overall, but, if I'm getting lag, I worry for people who have even less capable PCs
CPU: Intel i7-8700K 3.7GHz
MB: ASUS ROG STRIX Z390-E
RAM: 32GB
OS: Windows 10, 64-bit
GPU: GTX 970
Storage: Multiple Samsung EVO 860 SSDs
DL: 250 Mbps
UL: 15 Mbps
@@Shotkit is this setup is good enough?
Great but NEG also: Katalog not compatible with Apple Photos, No iPad App
Yeah I look forward to what they do with NEO and the mobile app.
I've purchased the software before I finished watching this video till the end.
Great!
Niiiiceee
Thanks Mark for this balanced and insightful walk through. However, please note that your audio level is way too low. Best, Carlo
OK, thanks for the feedback Carlo!
Great video, has anyone ever told you you sound like bear grylls?
Haha thanks and nope but I’ll take that!
If I'm starting from scratch do I need LR or PS?
Depends what you want to do, Lori.
@@Shotkit mainly newborns and portraits
@@Onyxphotos Lightroom and Photoshop are quite different - I'd recommend Lr for a good all-rounder, though. Either way, you can get Photoshop included with a Lightroom subscription, so you can experiment with PS too. See this guide for help on which subscription option to choose: shotkit.com/buy-lightroom/
I love the images Luminar AI can make but so sluggish and crashes constantly so I don't use it as much as Affinity Photo, which I find to be superior in just about every way.
that sky reflection looks terrible, amazed you liked it
Can/does AI increase resolution and or file size?
No it shouldn't, Paul. Did you want a program to increase resolution? I know some good ones so let me know.
@@Shotkit I would love to hear about them I can email you if you like.
@@psfphotography Sure drop me an email from the website, Paul - happy to help.
Wonderful tutorial! I'm loving Luminar ai but for the life of me haven't been able to figure out how to export an entire catalog? I have to do it photo by photo. Can't find out how anywhere. The Command Shift method does not work for me. Any ideas?
Thanks Patty! By catalog, I’m assuming you mean all the photos you’ve edited with Luminar AI? You should be able to export several images by multi-selecting them > right-clicking one of them > choosing Export.
Importing that folder does not transfer 6Gb of files. Its like Lightroom, you’re just telling the Luminar Catalog where the files are, nothing is actually moved or “imported”
You’re right - I should have said ‘referenced’ or similar.
Raw conversons, non-destructive layer based editing? As a pro photographer one would firstly want to save the converted raw file, with the initial adjustments (redundancy) and when bringing it into your chosen package to save all the final edits with all the layers - redundancy once again - e.g. a photoshop PSD file - Its why I've stayed with Photoshop and use various packages as plugins - but I still only choose an editing plug in that offers non destructive layers
If you are engrained in a Photoshop workflow you could use Luminar 4 as a plug-in, then export as a layer in your non destructive layer based workflow.
The software is very good. But... when I can use layers, it will be great.
You'll probably prefer this then: shotkit.com/lum_neo_rev
COUPON CODE NOT WORKING
I'm looking into this - will update as soon as I get a reply from Skylum!
It’s working now
Sound levels so low I couldn't comfortably listen. Both sound on (powerful) laptop at max and the sound on the video at max, it still wasn't loud enough.
Love Luminar AI, it saves hours of dicking about like PS and the rest and the results are brilliant. I haven’t got time to spend an hour on one photograph
Haha yep I agree. PS can be a huge time suck
Thanks for your reply, great video. You mentioned water marking, I do believe it’s now an option on the latest release. Just subscribed also👍
Ah great yeah I imagine they’ll be rolling out a lot of new feature in the coming months since Luminar 4 was disappeared. Thanks for the sub 👍🏾
Wish they still sold these outright packages. Everything is subscription these days... At least they have the trial
What is photography, anymore?
I think Luminar AI is a remarkable piece of software - and I'll probably get it for a limited few operations for efficiency, compared with the same operations in LR/PS - but I'm interested to know your thoughts on where this is taking 'photography'.
Not just 'photography', but integrity, too. At one end we take photos with equipment that is evolving, at he other end we (so-called photographers) are image producers seemingly by whatever means.
I guess it will not be too far in the future that we don't even need a camera - simply let the software read your mind, your imagination!
Put another way: I can take a handful of words and bung them into any number of 'poetry' generators that exist online. Is this disingenuos, were I to publish the output as my own? Does this make me a poet? Not even remotely, I would suggest, because it lacks depth , personality - it is not born out of personal experience, pain, emotion, passion...
I'd love to be able to reconcile my thoughts and conscience on all of this, as well as - and I will be transparent here - the effects that new software is having on what used to be known as fair competition, and conscience. Yet, there's not one photo that I do not edit, because I probably have to (for me SOOC is a bit of a myth).
There are many, many brilliant and stunning images out there (iPhone/Instagram) - some almost too good to be true, but are we recognising the true skills of photographers (along with their ever evolving spaceage tech/equipment), or the AI engineers, or the ability to use software....?
Any thoughts?
It depends what the end goal is, Andrew. If it's just for pleasure, I don't see anything wrong with using AI to have some fun. I do see your point, though, and agree that it can take some of the purity and out of photography. However, at the end of the day, anything that encourages creativity is a good thing in my book!
Very, Very quiet sound, bearly hear on my laptop speakers.
Need to work on that -sorry!
sup
any1 use gigapixel ai?
Given the poor cataloguing and no keywords available, I use Luminar AI exclusively as a plug-in with Photos for Mac since Photos is rubbish for editing,
Yeah that's a good workflow - I agree, Kevin.
Sound level very low.
Agreed! Working on it
great video, audio needs to be normalized =)
Thanks! I need to learn how to do that 🤔
@@Shotkit if using premiere, go to audio tab on top of the program
@@Shotkit select the audio track that has voice and from the right side there should be dialog boxes select dialog or what ever suits best for your voice, rule of thumb, keep audio max peak at 6db
Thanks mate. I used Filmora for this but suspect the process is similar
@@Shotkit ya there must be an option just stay all audio to max 6 decibel peak, ajd your good to go.
Luminar AI is super slow. I can't stress how slow it is. takes 10 secs to complete a single function of your edit. I'm surprised this is not mentioned in this review.
What’s your computer set up? What edit are you trying to make and what size /type is the file? There are lots of variables at play here…
sounds too low when you are speaking.......i`d use this app in moderation if i bought it, too samey looking too often, i mean i can tell when its been used, but some use of it , would be useful!
Yeah I need to fix that!
Go out and buy it... Lol... Get on to pC hail...
34 minutes pros and only 2 min cons is no real pros & cons analysis in my opinion. Also there was multiple times a discount coupon displayed, so I highly doubt that the opinion was really not influened by Skylum.
Luminar ... would be ok, if they did not try to blackmail you into buying "at a special price" while displaying a clock for the ultimatum ... that is Putin style
You were making an annoying drumming noise that detracts from the quality of the video.
I'll be careful of that next time.
Sound quality is horrible. And you said that you can do everything in Luminar ai that you can in photoshop and that is simply not true. Even not close to the truth. There are a ton of tools you do not have in Luminar. Even every other comparison here on UA-cam says that. Please get your facts right or is this comparison bought by Skylum?
Can you provide the time stamp where I say that? As I'm pretty sure I wouldn't say anything like that, as it's simply not true - the two programs are completely different.
And yep, sound quality isn't the best. Any tips?
@@Shotkit it starts at 25:09 or couple seconds later. I am not a video pro and to not know your setup, but it was worse on headphones than on speakers. With the speakers the sound is better now.
Easy tiger!
I have just started watching the video and I am sure that it is going to be very informative. However i shouldn't be defending the Queen's English sitting here in Canada. "Software" is a plural noun so using "a" software is a horrible non-starter. "Program" or "Application" would be the proper English. Software refers to a asset class, not to a program, which is what Luminar is. Luminar is software, not "a" software.
Thanks for the reminder!