Avoid this MISTAKE in Luminar NEO! Correct Editing Order!

Does the order in which we apply editing tools in Luminar Neo affect the end result? Let's find out! You can get Luminar Neo discounted here: bit.ly/Luminar-NEO Using code ATNEO10
You can find my architectural photography channel here: bit.ly/ATArchitecture where I share lots of free tutorials.
Shout me a coffee by joining my channel supporters here: bit.ly/Channel-Members
𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲
Best Enthusiast Photo editing Program: bit.ly/Luminar-NEO
🏋🏻‍♀️Get Lightroom and Photoshop here: bit.ly/CC-adobe
😄 Lightroom Alternative without subscription!: bit.ly/dxo-editing
💣 The best AI sharpening, denoise, and upscaling: bit.ly/TopazPhotoAI
𝗣𝗹𝘂𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀
🤩 Luminosity masking panel for Photoshop: bit.ly/3dpGeub
💪 High-end finishing and effects bit.ly/nik-collection-dxo
𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀
⛅ Best Sky replacement pack: bit.ly/2Ruj8KP-Skies
✏️ Wacom Tablet amzn.to/3SXfVhd
✏️ Huion Tablet bit.ly/BestGraphicsTablet
🖥️ My favourite colour-accurate monitor: amzn.to/3UbFgVm
🎵 Music when featured is from bit.ly/ATHookSounds
These are affiliate links to the equipment I use - they are not sponsored by the manufacturer in any way. If you use these links it costs you no more than normal, but I may get a small commission which helps me to keep providing free content for you and my viewers. Thank you for supporting the channel and free education. I really appreciate it. ​​🙏

[@AnthonyTurnham]

BIG NEWS! Skylum has just launched a summer sale where you can save a massive 81% off Luminar Neo here bit.ly/NeoSale But the cool thing is in addition to that they've given me a coupon code to share with you so you get to save ANOTHER 20% (use code AFF-T5C1C0 ) I really hope that helps you out! It should work for both the perpetual licence and the subscription too. Enjoy😄 Best wishes, Anthony

[@yinodiaz4290]

Please please please, more videos of Luminar Neo layers and how to work with it !

[@ninjatogo]

Every time they send out those questionnaires about what features I would like to see in future updates, I ask for edit reordering. It's extremely frustrating that such a basic feature isn't here yet

[@AnthonyTurnham]

I recently met with Luminar's chief tech who explained why it's not as simple as you might think... I may cover it in a video

[@ninjatogo]

@@AnthonyTurnham If you can, I'd like to see a video on that, please

[@CrowkeeperStudios]

​@@AnthonyTurnham It is as simple as @ninjatogo thinks, because it was in the original iteration of Luminar 2018, as well as luminar 3, if I am remembering correctly. You could reorder at any time, much faster than how slow Neo is. There's really no excuse on their behalf.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

I don't think it's an issue of simplicity. Certainly not from an implementation point of view. The issue is that the tools affect everything that sits above, so if you've got say a 15 tool stack that's creating your edit and you pull the top tool down to 5th in the stack, for example, the user has to wait for 10 tools above to be recalculated. Skylum feel the gains from adding this feature are out-weighed by the user potentially waiting for their processor to create the updated look. And after giving it a lot of thought I agree.

[@CrowkeeperStudios]

@@AnthonyTurnham ah yes, and reverting the file to original and the reloading all those 15 edits in the order you really want it is so much faster than the recalculation time of simply reordering them, just like you could in the original version of luminar. It just doesn't make sense and it's lazy not to offer this piss easy function.

[@yeungeric6347]

Good observation. Hope Luminar will eventually allow adjusting/moving the sequence of the tools as an option for users

[@richardbirger2245]

THANKS (a big thanks) for this and all your other videos ... having the "Whys" along with the "Hows" is well done and appreciated

[@AnthonyTurnham]

My pleasure! Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I too love to understand the why's behind things.

[@mikesphotography7185]

Thanks Anthony always great info 👍

[@jaumeolle3127]

Thank you, Anthony. Always learning new things.

[@whooptydj]

Thanks Anthony! It is SO helpful to see editing over the top as you did to make your point.

[@sandipbhattacharya427]

Thank you ! This was an eye opener !

[@srqjim6381]

Another excellent video. Thanks Anthony. I often wondered about this workflow issue.

[@jonnyroids1482]

Another great video again Anthony, well done. I will follow these steps and fingers crossed my photos will look great.

[@MikBehindTheLens]

This is so helpful!!! Thank you so much!!!

[@michaelprange2348]

This video is so important ! Longtime overdue! Congratulations !

[@chk3811]

Very helpful. Thanks.

That’s very valuable, thank you

[@MrKenny115]

Very helpful, thank you

[@terryosborn]

Excellent Anthony, thank you.

[@andrewmckinney3053]

Very intuitive, Anthony ... super helpful! Many thanks!

[@steverich_photography]

Awesome video, thank you

[@arpearce4416]

great really appreciate the advice

[@robertmeyerson1618]

Nicely explained. Thanks Tony.

[@igorhlavaty2060]

What a great recommendation. I was not aware of this. Thank you Anthony.

[@peterhewitson71]

Hi Anthony as I have just purchased Luminar ( 2 days ago ) this was really helpful to learn in the early stages , have subed and looking forward to watching many more of your videos . Thanks Pete Western Australia

[@Greg_Ashley]

Very informative. Thank you.

[@michaelbidegain1455]

Anthony Thank you for sharing great information

[@790Piper]

Real clarity and warnings here. So many thanks for the recommendations!

[@danschreckengost6153]

Great video, thanks

[@jaycstocks]

Thank you!

[@leonfisher]

👍Nicely explained.

[@marcrjacobs]

WOW! What a wake up call... thanks for doing this.

[@nigelchase2407]

Great, very well done.

[@reneabela1744]

Thank you Anthony very informative. This is information which I was not aware of.

[@brianford3517]

Thank you very informative

[@riverofgrace]

Wow! Thanks for your hard work to be able to show the differences.

[@edwinmart1]

Thank you Anthony! This is very good information.

[@stephencrane3180]

Indeed, so incredibly helpful and useful for sure

[@ca_os4331]

Hi Anthony, stumbled across your channel a couple of weeks ago and I am enjoying your videos immensely! They also pushed me to finally decide and get myself Luminar Neo, so thank you for the nudge! Keep the good stuff coming!

[@MrDivingduck]

Thanks - addresses a question I've had for a long time.

[@clemturner1113]

As always a very professional, pragmatic and helpful video. Thank you.

[@alangauld6079]

Nice demo. I too was surprised how well Neo held up with the "wrong" order tools.

[@avnerbenzvi8757]

Hey Anthony! It will be great to add a PDF doc. containing the correct editing order.

[@smalltalk.productions9977]

i second this recommendation which is especially needed since the correct order is not on the screen without a KZbin tag for another of your wonderful vids thus a screenshot is not doable. thumbs up.

[@riflegurlsmom]

SO helpful!! I love your videos, Anthony!

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Glad you like them!

[@drwride]

Had this exact question while editing today. Perfect timing for me. Thanks.

[@jeanbarclay4899]

Thank you so much

[@bertcheney481]

I wrote it down and will try it out. THANKS!!!

Hey Anthony! A really great video ... and I actually didn´t know that and haven´t tried it yet. Thanks for that 😉!

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Happy to help!

[@watsoncrawford5296]

Brilliant explanation. Really helpful. Many thanks.

[@rather-reverend]

THANKS! Pretty much what I've kind of guessed out, but I've never taken the time to think about WHY.

[@rockyv23]

Great stuff. Keep up the good work. I enjoy watching your videos.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Thanks, will do!

[@BLZBub-kl6ns]

Thank you for the helpful information. Never thought the order would make a difference. I may have to go back and change the order on some previous edits to see if it improves.

[@shelmana]

Hi Anthony, Is it possible to get a screenshot of your last slide showing the order of steps you recommend, all on one age. Great work as usual and explained in such a clear concise manner

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Nice idea, I'll see about a pdf...

[@ChasWG]

Great info! I think I had seen an earlier version of one of your edit videos and you had talked a bit about this and that's how I started to do all my edits. And for the most part, I am following your guidelines, except for the vignette tool placement. I'll now end with that if it needs it. But I wasn't too far off really. This sort of content is very helpful to me!

[@ChemaPhoto]

nice thanks!! I have my order to do things too really similar that I learned the hard way hahah, I will love to be able to move / resort edits too...

[@Jim181059]

Thank you Anthony - I've been finding Luminar Neo a bit confusing lately as it's added more features but this gives me a great basis to take a breath and start afresh.

[@MrFastforwardcoach]

What an eye-opener!! Great video Anthony. After watching this, I went back and redid a couple of edits based on your suggestion. In one case, the difference as was really marginal, but in the other example, the difference was alarming. Keep 'em coming - well done.

[@fenraven]

I never thought much about the order of applying the edits, but it totally makes sense. Thanks for doing the hard work for us! I've copied your list into a picture I'll put on my desktop for reference. Hopefully this helps me avoid doing things that denigrate my photos. :)

[@MartynWrigg]

Thanks for that Anthony. I have long advocated a set order of processing, but have never done the trials which you have shown us. It's quite incredible (terrifying) what a difference it can make. I shall place even more emphasis on the order of play when teaching my students.

[@62cliffD]

very good to know

[@mauriciolee7349]

Wow! This is one of the MOST EFFECTIVE Luminar Neo tutorials I’ve ever watched. Thank Anthony for VIVIDLY demonstrating the DIFFERENCE between Lightroom (NON DESTRUCTIVE editing) & Luminar Neo (NON DESTRUCTIVE & DESTRUCTIVE editing). Now, I know what steps I should do first in Luminar Neo. Now I remember, in Lightroom, in the past when I made a mistake I can easily went back to the original state of the photo. In Luminar Neo, sometimes it worked sometimes it did not.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Glad it was helpful!

[@brucecampbell4485]

Anthony, thanks for this. I seem to have generally got the order correct except for one. I always added Enhance Ai last instead of first, but usually only if I felt the photo needed it. I've now printed out your suggested order and stuck it in front of my monitor.

[@shelmana]

Hi again Anthony, I first joined Luminar back in the Luminar 4 days as I was very new to photography and didn't understand layers in Photoshop. I now can use layers but still wonder when to use the and when not to. Could you do a tutorial on this outlining the pros and cons of layers, the traps not to fall into, and when it is best to use layers and when not to. I still wonder if I should do some of my edits on layers or not. Thx, I always enjoy your videos. Robyn

[@AnthonyTurnham]

It's more simple than you'd think. If you're wondering if you should use a layer then it's likely the answer is no. Unless you have a specific reason such as compositing or a layer with a blend mode, avoid layers and use tools with masks on the base layer only. Hope that helps

[@Speak_Out_and_Remove_All_Doubt]

Really useful and important video, thanks Anthony. I always think it's a shame that the enhanced AI doesn't use develop raw data as surely it would be more powerful if it did.

[@thisarfingai]

Awesome as always mate. I found a lot of this to be second nature to me - your recommended workflow was was I had been doing - with one MAJOR exception: Contrast - I have been adjusting my contrast as well as playing with highlights & shadows at the beginning of my (Post develop RAW) workflow. I look forward to implementing your recommended workflow and see if that helps. Thanks again mate.

[@hughellins1422]

very interesting

[@thomasocheltree4170]

Thanks!

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Thanks Thomas!

[@joeyrobertson4926]

Thanks so much. I purchased Luminar Neo a couple of weeks ago and have been watching a lot of your videos…which are very helpful. Thanks for sharing your work flow!

[@AnthonyTurnham]

My pleasure 🙏

[@michaelpegg8966]

Thanks interesting

[@duncanmctaggart7183]

Thank you Anthony. Made a lot of sense! I would have loved to get a copy of the 7 (or 8) steps in a list in your comments though. Great job overall.

[@phlotographer]

agree -- a .rtf file linked in the original text message of all tutorials would be easy to do and offer to viewers. Personally, I feel the a straighten and crop at the beginning of the edit is a good idea but I know that there will be debate. Also, I also love to do a quick single image HDR to just see where one can go and maybe the areas the might wish to have adjustments during the edit process. Also, does the order make a difference if editing an original .jpg rather than a RAW image? Just a few thoughts and questions.

[@marknathan7744]

Yes good tips follow the normal raw edit first always! except do not automatically click the defringe tool and chromatic aberation tool when editing these tools do not work and WARNING TO ALL NEO USERS the chromatic aberation removal tool added more aberation than was already there on my original image yes thats right added aberation not remove! My suggestion is get yourself dxo pure raw or another raw editor and use neo just for flashy stuff if thats your thing.

[@paulhayward444]

Great advice, thanks. At what point in the sequence would you recommend to do sky replacement?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Early on, after develop raw and making the photo technically sound, but before any creative work.

[@ebouwens]

Excellent analysis. Another commenter had recommended applying supercontrast prior to Enhance AI. I guess I'll need to do my own comparison in the same methodical way that you demonstrated.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yep, sure. I'm not saying that there is only one correct way to apply the tools I just want people to be aware there is a potential for different results depending on the order and to make informed decisions as they edit.

[@utahdesertadventures4512]

Thanks for your videos, they are so helpful. I am struggling to find a way to compare two photos side by side in Luminar Neo. My Main reason is for be able to see differences say when finding a lens sweet spot. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

It's not a function to do a direct side by side unfortunately. One potential workaround would be to load one of the versions as a layer on top of the other and use the before after slider or create a hard linear mask on the layer... not ideal but may serve the purpose.

[@kimraymond2749]

Thanks Anthony, so helpful. It reminds me how little I understand about what is actually happening when I apply edits. Just a question about hardware. My little laptop really struggles with some functions like cloning. Any advice on the minimum computer specs for smooth operation of Neo?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hmmm... yeah they do have a minimum specs page on their website, but tbh you want to be maxing your RAM memory and getting as fast processor as you can afford. The graphics card isn't as important for 2D editing as most people think. If your budget permits running luminar and your photos from an m.2 ssd is also a nice improvement over traditional hard drives or basic SSDs.

[@thierryhoornaert9950]

Thank you Anthony. Where would you order Layers, Sky replacement, Remove and Clone in your workflow when combining them with the other tools, esp. with Sunrays, studio light ...? I had some issues with all these yesterday.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

I'd get the cloning done early and the sky replacement too. Studio light after that if that's part of the same photo workflow. Sunrays towards the end. As for layers... it depends what you're wanting to achieve by adding the layer. But usually that would come after getting everything done in my base layer.

[@Centauri27]

Great tips as usual, Anthony. I'm watching this on an 11" Chromebook screen, and a lot of the differences aren't that noticeable after the KZbin compression. One comment: I find that if I use a preset, it discards my manual edits. Sometimes I can go back into the editing stack and make changes to the base Develop RAW tool, if it was used in the preset. If not, then I guess I'm out of luck?

[@phlotographer]

as I recall, there are a few tutorials related to Luminar that suggests doing presets first as what you have found is normal for the program.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yes, it's a bit of a shame how this works. But it's the same with most programs and how the presets work. Lightroom does have the ability to pick and choose which tools are added to the preset and which are excluded. This allows for individual edits to remain intact if you apply a preset that targets other tools. I'd love Neo to introduce this feature. For now though a workflow option is to export your "technical edits" (ie edits that aim for authenticity, good exposure, good colour balance and good dynamic range) and then have a second version where you can apply a preset to your already adjusted file. Hope that makes sense....

[@Centauri27]

@@AnthonyTurnham That's a good idea, Anthony. I've been just going into the Edit stack and trying to tweak it to my liking. The main thing I'm after is the camera profile and a few other basic Develop edits. After learning about the importance of profiles from you, that's the first thing I do in every edit!

[@lloydstuartm.d.5625]

I realize there are no hard and fast rules, but do you do Enhance AI before making changes in the regular Devope module AFTER you do the Develop Raw changes? Of course, Develop Raw has to be the first adjustment you make. It seems like Enhance AI should be the #2 adjustment and then go from there. That's pretty much how I've been doing my edits. Maybe one day you could do a video on how to enhance B&W photography as I've just gotten into B&W with my IR dedicated camera. Off to Greenland next week! Thanks again Anthony for another great video.

[@tinkerphil]

Brilliant! Thankyou for this... I came on here to look up this topic as I was falling foul of this very problem. It is serendipitous that you have put up this video only a few hours before I looked.. You must have heard my thoughts. :^) A quick follow-up question - if you forget something in the Develop Raw section before applying all the other tools, can you correct it by going into the the EDIT section and then using Develop Raw there? I wonder if changes there in the Edit section has a knock-on effect on the other tools. Keep up the good work!

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yes You can go back to re edit the raw tool lower in the stack.

[@phlotographer]

@@AnthonyTurnham before using other tools however if I understand you and others correctly. Hope I am not misunderstanding the process but let me know please.

[@harthamm]

Thank you. Where in editing flow do presets and LUTS fall? Are they non-destructive, destructive or both?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

All depends with presets what's being applied. But effectively it's throwing a load of tools over the top of your photo so it's subject to these effects. Luts are just a "filter" manipulating colour and tone. They will affect subsequent tools for sure and should be used towards the very end of the process. Usually as a last touch

[@wanderingsoul59]

Evening (from here in the UK) - great work as usual. I never fail to learn something useful when I watch your videos. Just a quick question (and I'm sorry if I've missed it in the comments) - when would you apply Noise Reduction? I have always treated RAW develop and Noise reduction as a pair - mainly as they are paired together at the start the entire process. Is this the correct assumption?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

For the way I work, it depends on the level of noise. If the file really needs help then I'll hit it as a first step paired with dev raw. Otherwise I may just use a light pass of non-AI noise correction at some point.

[@wanderingsoul59]

@@AnthonyTurnham thanks for that. I'm a novice photographer in a lot of ways. Many thanks for the advice

[@marcrjacobs]

Is this issue of the raw edits first, and then the pixel based (destrctive) edits coming later true in apps like Lightroom classic and ON1 Photo Raw as well?

[@min_chau6564]

Thanks for this beautiful tutorial One question.. if i go to layer properties...i see only Opacity sider..do i miss anything? Any idea how to erase or blend and modify other layers?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yes there should be more. Do a search on my channel homepage for "layers" and you'll find a few vids you should find helpful about using blend modes etc.

[@arpearce4416]

In my wildlife photography with high ISO, I first send my photos to Topaz photo AI for Denise and sharpening. The file comes back as a DNG and I am able then to use develop raw to get correct exposure, white balance etc. Any thoughts on this work flow and the problems you encountered in this video?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Sounds like a good approach. There are so many workflow approaches and I use different ones depending on the genre I'm editing. If this is working for you, then stick with it :)

[@Deruzejaku]

I raised the issue of editing in order being important and then you cannot re-order things in the app. They told me they know, and they won't fix it basically. This is one of reasons why I don't use it basically at all now, probably won't buy new versions too

[@AnthonyTurnham]

I actually had a good chat with the chief engineer about this and the reason the re-ordering isn't practical is because the edit is calculated as a stack with each effect layered on top of yhe next. If you reorder a tool and place it elsewhere in the stack Neo needs to recalculate all tools layered in the stack and that'll affect performance and user experience. So the multiple application of tools is a double edged sword. Fantastic for creative possibilities, but not allowing for that reordering.

[@Deruzejaku]

@@AnthonyTurnham I understand they could give a reason like that, but they recalculate stack either way if you move to the bottom of it, so their reason for not doing it is moronic. They could easily do this a non-problematic feature if they used brains a bit, when you move an effect to the beginning in the direction of beginning of the stack they could then use this as a new active effect the same way you select effects yourself in the stack to re-edit them, this way you need to recalculate the stack only up till the placement of effect you just moved, this way you're not slowing down because you have to take snapshot of effects up till this point (which they seem to do anyway) and calculate 1 effect you just placed. Then when you move to the end of the stack to see end result it would recalculate the rest, which it would have to do anyway after you make changes to prior items. And I often have to go back as I use pretty heavy handed edits, so if you go back to develop, which this way I just have to have in presets, it's zeroed out but it have to be there, because after RAW develop Luminar works on a file with limited bitrate, which will ultimately result in you clipping highlights, banding and other unwanted effects, then you have to move back to develop, and adjust the base. With develop they could just always add it zeroed out in case anyone would forget. But some plugins you use more artistically? Yea you have to scrape all you've done till now pretty much because you have effect you'd rather see earlier on, so you have to go about and delete all effects up till point of interest, and start over from there, which imo is bigger problem than re-calculating results. I know why they're not doing this, and it's not because it's so challenging from engineering standpoint, it's that they focus on new features, so they can sell plugins to the application, that's because bug fixes, and work improvements to something you already sold won't bring you more money, and I understand that, but also this feature don't seem like a lot of engineering, they could add this as experimental feature hidden behind menu or something, they just don't want to. Sorry for wall of text, but this needed some light cast on it. Anyway I appreciate you speaking with them, it's just bad they're not very honest in their approach.

[@wlmiller7248]

Would your recommendations be valid for a non-RAW photo?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yes

[@edwardkillesteyn1479]

Thanks Anthony. Another eye opener. But, doesn’t this mean that Luminar’s claims of non destructive editing is somewhat overstated. I use both Luminar and ON1, the latter i think maintains non destructive editing throughout the editing process. Kind regards.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Luminar has many pixel level creative tools that by their very nature move away from the raw pixels. As soon as this happens its impossible to maintain a raw editing workflow. However the original file remains in tact. You can always remove tools and step back in the edit so from that point of view there is no actual file destruction, so strictly speaking it's non-destructive. If you stick to the raw develop which is pretty much all lightroom offers then in Neo too you're still in a completely non-destructive workflow.

[@smalltalk.productions9977]

thank you for the effort and sharing. i am an appreciative subscriber. perhaps you can put the correct order on the screen and hold for a few seconds longer. this is especially needed since the correct order is not on the screen without a KZbin tag for another of your wonderful vids thus a screenshot is not doable. thumbs up.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

I'll see about making a pdf. Just travelling at the moment so it's hard to get around to any proper work.

[@nutin321]

This is critical information. Does the same apply to On1, LR/PS, C1, etc.?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

No, not in Lightroom or Capture 1. Depends which On1 program you're referring to, and yes as you build layers and tools in photoshop it's also subject to these effects of changing orders. Some are more pronounced than others.

[@nutin321]

@@AnthonyTurnham Thank you for your reply. I guess that this consideration is rather specific to Neo.

[@josecolon8143]

So should I not use it as a plugin bcs files are TIFF or tiff files are fine? (Considering your work order)

[@AnthonyTurnham]

It works fine with tiffs and jpegs too you just need to be aware of the order thingy. Usually activating it as a plugin you will already have done some type of raw develop in lr or ps etc so you'll be fine. I often use Neo this way.

[@josecolon8143]

@@AnthonyTurnham 🫡🫡

[@RSV9]

But, can such a difference be avoided by using masking of the regions that we want to edit?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

You'll get the same effect, just appearing where you've masked. The logic behind what's going on will be the same regardless.

[@RSV9]

@@AnthonyTurnham Thanks

[@GillesQuennevilleGQ]

Very interesting. This does not happen with Lightroom i think.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

You're right. But don't forget lightroom's toolset is just manipulating raw data. When Neo works in raw develop which is akin to lightroom's toolset it also remains non destructive. It's just that Neo's mote creative tools have to work on a pixel level

[@felixthecat1882]

Hi Anthony, Very useful to know which edits to do first - thanks. 😺 From Felix the Cat. 😺 By the way, did you get my E-mail? 😺

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hi. I'm actually not in the office. I'm taking a month off for travel and to see my parents. I also got to meet the Skylum team. Bloody good folk actually! This vid and the next one were recorded before I left. So no sorry I haven't had a chance to log in to that email yet.

[@DarleneHildebrandt]

Hmm I have to disagree with you on one point - Luminar Neo is not doing destructive editing because it never alters the original file or saves over it. All the edits are in the catalog or database and you can always go back or revert to the original. Unlike Photoshop for example, if you open a raw file, use Develop raw, then open that as a JPG and apply any edits directly to that JPG like curves, etc - how you're doing destructive editing.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yeah, I get your point and I could have elaborated on exactly what I meant but kinda just glossed over it in the vid. To break it down there's two ways to look at whether or not something is editing "destructively". The first and most simple way is can I return to my original state, and if the answer is yes then and my file is still in tact then the editing is non-destructive. If that's our criteria then yes 100% Neo is a non-destructive editor. But I look at it in a slightly different way, from the perspective of am I losing data as my edit evolves. So in Lightroom for example, I could boost my exposure to +5 and blow out everything. BUT I could then add a curves adjustment that recovers that data. This isn't possible in Luminar. Each subsequent tool bakes a new iteration of pixel data that is the base point for the edit from there on. That's what I'm referring to when I said it was destructive. On another note. Thanks for watching Darlene, and also commenting with a thoughtful response. I appreciate it and appreciate what you do on the tube too x Best regards, Anthony 😀

[@DigitalPhotoMentor]

@@AnthonyTurnham Thanks so much for noticing my little channel LOL. As for your point about Luminar - well, yes you can go back and recover it later because the Develop Raw tool is always at the bottom of the edits and you can go back there in the history and alter the settings and get it back. So... LOL

[@grahamtowers5513]

I must be stupid, you always lose me early on. Lookup table? Colour grading/Toning? When it comes to editing I'm clueless. Thanks for the order at the end, I'm doing the raw edit 1st which you said is the correct thing to do, thanks

[@AnthonyTurnham]

😅 stupid? Not at all. Everyone's at different levels and you only know what you know. I've been photo editing for 30 years so I kinda take some things for granted, but at one point I didn't know an f stop from a bus stop 😆

[@deathspawn54]

This just unsold me on neo, ill stick with lightroom, all raw edits for me

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Don't forget though that the file can be edited as a raw with pretty much the same toolset as lightroom via the develop raw tool. It's only once Neo starts introducing the more creative pixel specific tools that we step away from the raw file. Similar to editing a raw file in Lightroom and then taking it into Photoshop and applying pixel level editing.

[@deathspawn54]

@@AnthonyTurnham yeah, but in Lightroom you can add masks during raw editing while in luminar it has to be after the raw stage, it just feels like it's missing somethings, like after you use dehaze you arn't raw anymore? All these options in Lightroom though? Maybe Im wrong

[@AnthonyTurnham]

@@deathspawn54 yeah, fair point. TBH it's one of the reasons I love lightroom so much because you stay raw with all the edits. For a photography purist LR is brilliant. But I also like adding in more creative effects and that's where Neo comes into its own. For my architecture workflow I'll usually start in LR and then migrate to Neo fro the finishing touches.

[@deathspawn54]

@@AnthonyTurnham I get that, I'm trying to get away from LR right now but the non raw edits make it hard lol