Macphun Luminar Photo Editor For Mac

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Skylum Luminar Review

Skylum Luminar 4

Macphun, the company behind Aurora HDR, has announced Luminar, an all-in-one photo editing app for Mac. The photo editor was designed for users of all skill levels, and includes a user interface that can be tailored to each user's specific needs.

This is a very positive review, I’ll tell you right now. If you just trust me, then go grab the new Luminar 4 now!

What is Luminar 4?

Luminar is a great photo editing program that is simple, fun, and fast. As well as editing your photos, it can also help you manage them through the Digital Asset Manager (or Library to you and me). It comes from Skylum (formerly Macphun), a company I teamed up with to make our own HDR Software called Aurora HDR, so you know it’s gonna be good. These guys have been making award-winning software for years. Did I mention Aurora HDR won the Apple app of the year award not too long ago?

Anyway, Luminar is an extremely powerful and fast photo editor that can do not only the most basic adjustments, but literally millions of “looks” for your photo. It’s extremely easy and fun to use and designed for all skill levels.

For a limited time you can save $$ on select Skylum products (including Luminar) over in their store by following this link and using the coupon code STUCKINCUSTOMS during checkout.

What are the top 2 features of Skylum Luminar?

1) The AI aspects! Accent AI is one simple slider that can have a tremendous effect on your photo. Or you could select AI Sky Enhancer to quickly improve your sky. Portrait photographers even get their own AI section with tools to quickly enhance skin, eyes, teeth and more.
2) Speed! It’s so much faster than Lightroom for editing photos. My Lightroom has been chugging lately. In fact, I’ve upgraded my system several times in the hope that it would solve my Adobe woes. It has helped but still in comparison, Luminar is so fast. Even the panel layout helps with moving around quicky, for example just select Essentials to get access to all the key tools to make your images look great in just a few clicks.

Mac Only? Nope! Luminar runs on both Mac and Windows!!!

Check out the Luminar website to grab it.

Better than Lightroom?

That’s the big question you’re wondering, right? Well, YES, it is better in many ways. As of the time of writing this, I’m still using Lightroom to organize my photos because moving several hundred thousand is quite a project but for everything else, it’s Luminar for me. As I mentioned, Lightroom is so slow. So slow it makes my skin crawl with pain as I howl into the night, a thousand dark shadows chasing my anguish into the abyss.

Speedtree cinema for mac download. Additionally you’ll find the controls in Luminar are much more powerful than the ones in Lightroom. I’d also wager to say that Luminar has at least 5 times as many control options as Lightroom. I’ll show you some of the fun creative sliders and their impact on the images below…

Luminar Looks (Presets)


I’m excited to release these 29 really fun and beautiful “looks” (presets) for you! I’ve been perfecting them for the last seven years as I shoot photos of people and art at festivals around the world. Plus these also work great in other environments too, as you’ll see in the sample photos and videos.


25 presets. Imagine 25 warm, fresh donuts ready to glaze their way into your donut hole. Awww yeah… I love Luminar so much and figured out a few unpredictable ways to push the controls and create some interesting results. There is a wide variety of filters in here. Some work great with landscapes, some are better with people/portraits, and some are best for architecture.

A Tour Via Screenshots!


See that slider up in the top right – “AI Accent”? That’s where all the action is at! The first time you load up a photo, it should be your first destination. This one slider is so handy; in most cases, it’s all you’ll need! It analyses the image and applies all sorts of useful adjustments to it. Bluer sky, vibrant grass and more texture on the sculptures in this case. A super quick and easy way to give your images a bit of oomph!
Another cool filter/slider is AI Sky Enhancer which does pretty much what it says on the tin. I use it with Accent AI quite a lot to give the sky an extra bump, as above. Of course, flinging the sliders to 100% isn’t always necesarily the best option but used in moderation they work well.
Don’t have a decent sky in your image, fear not. With Luminar 4 you can replace the sky in about 5 button clicks. use your own, or use some of the built in options. Skylum even relight the scene to suit the new sky!
When you select the varied panels at the right edge, Luminar will load a series of options for that type of processing. Here, I’ve chosen the Portrait workspace, and you can see all the panels that opened up underneath it.
One of my favorite Filters is the “Structure” Filter which you can see above. It helps give photos a bit of that HDR Look but it senses people and doesn’t apply the effect on them.
Here’s a little tip if you’re working on a photo that may not have that much color to begin with. The AI Accent Filter may not be strong enough to give you all that oomph you want, so don’t be afraid to find some other filters and move them around until you get the effect you want. Be like a kid and have fun with the sliders!

Miscellaneous Screenshots and items of note

Remember that Library functionality I mentioned earlier? Here’s a little look at it. You can add ratings, view by folders, jump into image editing, set favorites and all the usual stuff. There is still a bit to go for Skylum to match Lightrooms functionality for the Library but this is ideal for anyone starting out in photography, or that doesn’t already have an existing Library… I know you guys still sorting things in Windows Explorer and folders are out there. This is your chance to get organized!
Here’s a great example of some of the power you can’t get in Lightroom alone. You can see I’ve chosen the “Sunrays” filter. It’s extremely fast, like less than a minute to tweak, and this is a “look” you just can’t get in Lightroom. Keep in mind with Sunrays that the warmth is key… don’t leave the default white enabled, get hands-on and match the rays to the feel of your scene.
Naturally, there are many vintage-feels to the filters as well. There are also a ton of Looks (presets) if you’re feeling lazy or just in a hurry. They show up along the bottom and give a decent sized preview. Notice the percentage slider on the previews? If the Look is good but is maybe a bit much, just drag that down a bit.
Yes, Luminar has layers and you can see here how much you can do with a single extra layer. I’ve made use of a really cool filter called “Foliage Enhancer” on that second layer.
Getting a bit more layery, here is that last image with a different effect on each new layer as I built the image. AI, then Foliage, then Sunrays followed by Sky Enhancer. With a final touch of spot removal. Yes, Luminar does that too. You can also apply masks to these layers so if you like what a filter does to one area but not the rest of the image just brush in the bit you like… just like Photoshop!

For a limited time you can save $$ on select Skylum products (including Luminar) over in their store by following this link or using the coupon code STUCKINCUSTOMS during checkout.

Skylum
Macphun
IndustrySoftware development
GenrePhoto editing
Founded2008, Ukraine
HeadquartersBellevue, Washington
Key people
Alex Tsepko (CEO)
Scott Bourne (President of US Operations)
150
Websiteskylum.com

Skylum (formerly Macphun) is a software developing company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is most known for its photo editing software Aurora HDR and Luminar.[1] Skylum is also the developer of Snapheal, Focus, Tonality, Intensify, Noiseless and FX Photo Studio.[2]

Founded as Macphun in 2008, the company decided to change its name to Skylum in 2017, following the decision to develop its Mac only software for Windows as well.[3]

History[edit]

Skylum was founded as Macphun in 2008 by two gaming developers and amateur photographers. Initially the company developed applications for iOS. One of its first applications was Vintage Video Maker, which was later named Vintagio. In 2009, Apple named Vintagio among Best iPhone apps of the year.[4][5] In 2010, Alex Tsepko joined the team. In total, the company released over 60 applications in the first three years. However, it saw the greatest number of downloads in the photography applications. Skylum thus decided to develop the same photography applications for MacOS.[6]

In early 2010, Skylum launched its first MacOS application, FX Photo Studio Pro, which was earlier available for iOS only.[7] Several other applications were also developed for MacOS including Snapheal.[8]

In order to tap the North Americas, the company moved its headquarters to San Diego, United States in 2013.[6] A great number of employees came from the Nik Collection, which was earlier acquired by Google.[9] Later that year, the company launched Intensify, a fully featured photo editing software, that was named among 2013 Best Mac App Store apps. In 2014, Skylum launched Tonality, a black-and-white photo editor software, that won Apple’s Editors’ Choice of the year.[10] The same year, Skylum hired a team in Europe to develop localized versions of its software and start European expansion.[6]

In 2015, Skylum released a new image noise reduction application called Noiseless.[11] Same year Skylum partnered with Trey Ratcliff to develop an HDR program. Through the collaboration Aurora HDR, a High Dynamic Range editing and processing tool, was released in November.[12] A year later, Skylum developed Luminar, an all-in-one photo editing software as an alternative to Adobe’s Lightroom. Both the software became the most known applications by the company. [13]

In 2017, the company released Aurora HDR and Luminar for Windows - software that previously was available for MacOS only.[14] At the same time, it was also announced that Macphun would change its name to Skylum.[15]

Products[edit]

Skylum is most known for its photo editing software, Aurora HDR launched in 2015, and Luminar launched in 2016. Other notable software by the company include: Snapheal, Focus, Tonality, Intensify, Noiseless, FX Photo Studio, and Photolemur.

References[edit]

  1. ^Thurston, Anthony (June 16, 2017). 'Macphun brings AI tech to photo editing with Luminar Neptune Skylum'.
  2. ^Pierini, David (May 24, 2017). 'Macphun to offer software for Windows-based photogs'.
  3. ^Scoblete, Greg (November 2, 2017). 'MACPHUN IS NOW SKYLUM, SETS SIGHTS ON DISAFFECTED LIGHTROOM USERS WITH LUMINAR 2018'.
  4. ^'iPhoneで撮った動画を8ミリやサイレント映画風にする「Vintage Video Maker」'. November 19, 2009.
  5. ^'MacPhun LLC Company Profile'(PDF). Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  6. ^ abcLaurinavicius, Tomas (November 21, 2016). 'An In-Depth Look At The Future Of Digital Photography With Alex Tsepko Of Macphun'.
  7. ^'Review: FX Photo Studio Pro for Mac, fun photo editing done right'. May 20, 2011.
  8. ^Chang, Alexandra (December 16, 2011). 'Snapheal removes unwanted objects from photos, and more'.>
  9. ^Freeman, Mike (November 29, 2013). 'Photo software firm Macphun comes to San Diego'.
  10. ^Dove, Jackie (July 31, 2014). 'Review: Macphun's Tonality brings out your inner Ansel Adams'.
  11. ^Carlson, Jeff (October 9, 2015). 'Noiseless and Noiseless Pro review: Clean up your photos shot in low-light conditions'.
  12. ^Mathies, Daven (May 24, 2017). 'Macphun's highly lauded photo software are coming to Windows for the first time'.
  13. ^Lawton, Rod (November 17, 2016). 'Both products became the most known applications by the company. MacPhun Luminar 1.0 review'.
  14. ^Lestoc, Costea (June 10, 2017). 'Macphun's Luminar and Aurora HDR apps come to Windows 10 this fall'.
  15. ^Zhang, Michael (October 27, 2017). 'Macphun Renaming Itself Skylum as its Photo Apps Land on Windows'.
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