![]() Using AI-powered tools to enhance scenes, retouch skin, or remove objects, this program makes complex photo editing easy. Luminar Neo is an AI-powered photo editing program that can be used as a standalone platform, or as a plugin to other popular programs such as Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. So rather than making it all sound like sunshine and rainbows, let’s get real about Luminar Neo and if it’s actually worth it for you. Depending on how you intend to use the program, either as your primary editing software or as a plug-in to Lightroom and Photoshop, there are a few things you’ll want to know about. There are some serious strengths to this program, but it has its fair share of weaknesses too. How could something be released so soon after a previous program and be considered an “upgrade”?Īlthough I was once skeptical, after several months of using Luminar Neo in my workflow I’ve realized that this program is actually one of my new favorites. ![]() Many people I spoke to felt unsure if Luminar Neo would be worth it, and admittedly, I felt the same. Neo runs on PCs and Macs and is optimized for Apple Silicon hardware.Love it or hate it, Skylum released Luminar Neo relatively soon after Luminar AI which left a lot of photographers feeling confused, cheated, and a bit frustrated. This is, I guess, similar to an Adobe subscription, and adding third-party plug-ins at a cost over time. Luminar Neo is indeed becoming more full featured over time, but their sales model involves continual purchase and subscriptions. In my tests using a tripod, it did an excellent job of merging the images, without having to resort to layers. I thought the Focus Stacking extension worked as advertised. See the Neo website for pricing, bundle pricing, and any potential sales, which are frequent. You can subscribe to Neo and get all the extensions, or you can pick up particular extensions. Pricing with Neo is usually a dizzying array of confusing options. If you already subscribe to the Neo extensions, it should show up in your software today. If you are already a Neo user and focus stacking is something you want, you should pick up the extension, which is available today. I thought Lightroom was superior in that respect. ![]() I tried a similar shot handheld, and the Neo alignment routines left me with some unwanted ghosting. You are going to want to shoot on a tripod. Here's my result, with just dragging four images into the Neo Focus Stacker. You can get similar results in Photoshop or Lightroom, although it's a bit more complex and involves layers. The Focus Stack module did a nice job of putting it together. Setting my camera to manual focus mode, I took four images, one focused on nearby plants, another with a tree nearby (about 11 feet away), then the roof of the adjacent house, and finally, the horizon. I took a photo in my neighborhood at a low ISO of 64, and at f/3.5 to make sure the whole image would not be in focus. There's a pop-up control that lets Neo align the images if needed and reduce chromatic aberration.
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