Best Export Settings for Luminar Neo? - What File Type, When and Why.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Want to take your photo editing to the next level? I've created a comprehensive training course to take you zero to hero, from the fundamentals all the way to advanced level editing in 18 hours of organized training plus raw files to practice on. You can check it out here ➡ bit.ly/NeoMastery 😃

[@RebelMagpie]

Fabulous explanation. Thank you Anthony

[@fbahmer]

Thanks, Anthony, for your Luminar Neo tutorials, by far the best available! Looking forward to see more from you!

[@Piyal2020]

Thank you! As always, great video

[@johncotter8434]

Those file types have always been a mystery to me. Thank you very much, Anthony, for finding out the differences then simplifying for us. You made it look easy!

[@willbrink]

Very useful per usual, thanx. Saved!

[@ronlee1990]

Thanks you, Anthony. Another great tutorial. The one thing I wish Skylum would change is the "location". I would much rather it be the current location, rather than the last one you used.

[@adrianhelyar5735]

All you suggest is what most experienced editors would do! However I have to comment on your wonderful presentation for those that will surely find this of great value. Keep it up Anthony.

[@Childrens-Stories-with-Woodsy]

So professional! You've got an awesome charm about you which makes watching and comprehending very easy!

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Naw thanks mate 😊 As do you sir! 😀

[@ianslingsby3415]

Excellent lesson thank you.

[@tonysanders1633]

I really enjoy your tutorials. They are really informative and have helped me to get so much more from my use of Luminar Neo

[@jobekaert5926]

finally an explanation that I have been looking forward to for so long... that is also the reason why I have been following you for years (since luminar AI)... and I live in Belgium... you can imagine...

[@Alakazam2047]

Thank you, Anthony! Would you also consider making a workflow video on Luminar Neo on iPad? There doesn’t seem to be as much content discussing it after it released but I am considering Luminar Neo for travel photography and edits.

[@jonnyroids1482]

Another great video Anthony, keep up for the good work. Have a lovely week.

[@marshalloneill]

Really good Video. great presentation

[@daviddaw999]

Thanks, Anthony - most useful.

[@jamesss1953]

Excellent explanation of exporting from Luminar. Also, as has been said ~ for me you are the go-to for Luminar. 👏

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Glad you think so!

[@jimwallace2036]

I think I had allot of mis-conceptions about PNG over JPEG. I found this very useful :)

[@asant90]

Dumb mfs that read comments on social media en repeat the same bs around

[@segram3]

Thank you, its a very well explained and very clear.

[@terryosborn]

Brilliant Anthony, answered so many questions for this editing novice, thank you so much.

[@leonfisher]

I've been curious about this and you explained it very thoroughly. The other thing I've been curious about, (for several years) what is the story of the xenomorph that's always on the shelf?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Thanks for asking. So it's actually a welded sculpture from the film Alien given to me by a very good friend. Initially, it was there simply as a nod to my friend, but over the years I left it in shot, curious to see whether anyone would ever ask about it! So congratulations, after 4.6 million total views you're the first to mention it!

[@leonfisher]

@@AnthonyTurnham As a fan of the Alien franchise, I'm very jealous. Thanks for the reply.

[@davyh33]

Fantastic Anthony, thank you. I often print my photos to sell and knew to export them as TIFF but not the ProphotoRgb. I'll be doing that from now on. Thanks again.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

With regards to print, the full colour gamut in proPhoto is unfortunately beyond the printable colours. ProPhoto is great for holding maximum colour info in the file though.

[@ncc1701BB]

Great lesson as usual. One question. When is Save Transparency used? Only in the PNG format?

[@elliottcowand]

A PNG transparency is great for making a layered composite: Edit>Layer Properties>Masking>Background (or portrait) Removal>File >Export

[@brianclark8478]

You dismiss PNG as a format and I would be interested in your thoughts on its use specifically for uploading to Facebook. I was finding that sharp 13:15 images that I uploaded would be blurry. Research, admittedly on line, indicated that the algorithms in Facebook maybe the cause and recommended using PNG sized to 2048. I do this and so far 🤞my images appear as I intended.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

That's a good point. Knowing the best res and settings for social platforms is a tricky thing. The algorithms change relatively frequently and there's nothing worse than your beloved image getting bastardised by a heavy compression algorithm. This does sound like a good use for PNG.

[@mhouslay7281]

As ever super useful video. Really clear. Wonderfully measured and organised delivery. 👍😊

[@nigelchase2407]

Well done, very useful, Thank you.

[@catherinemullarkey8248]

Super video as always Anthony. 👏👏

[@hughellins1422]

Thanks. Here in the UK if you are exporting for camera club activity most insist on JPEG

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yeah, it's the most readable and versatile for display purposes. A good choice. For final output jpeg is great.

[@therealtour360]

Thanks Anthony, really appreciate your help and I got Luminar because of you. I’m doing real estate photography and struggling with the right order when using Neo and LRC. Youd be my hero if you did a video covering this. I like the way hdr merge with brackets looks with neo but feel im losing options when I export to work in LRC. Id like to start with hdr merge in neo - edit in lrc and then finish in neo to do sky and stuff but i may be causing more headaches

[@kenbuckley2211]

Thanks for the video, if I want to send my file to a printing lab, for a large print, would it need to be in a Tiff format. Thanks for all your help.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Not necessarily. Different labs will have different guidelines depending on their machines.

[@kimraymond2749]

Thanks again. Very informative. Although I have been doing pretty much as suggested, I must admit I didn't know why. I probably just picked it up from your other videos and copied that.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Glad it was helpful Kim!

[@johnmoore1628]

Thank you for this tutorial; it's been very useful. At the end of the day, most of our photos are viewed on a screen of some sort. For me, that screen is a photo frame or a website, so JEPG is going to be the best. You have explained very clearly all the options, and I think I will try a little more compression and see how it looks.

[@felixthecat1882]

Hi Anthony! I tend to use TIFF for photos I want to modify later and JPG (JPEG) for finished edits to minimise storage space. I tend to use Adobe RGB on both formats; with 100% resolution for JPG's and 16 bit for TIFF's. Regards from, Felix the Cat. 😺

[@AnthonyTurnham]

That's a great idea, although just be mindful that using AdobeRGB for the finished jpg means the Internet and other displays will not be able to show all of the true colours. Depending on the situation it'll either get converted to sRGB on the fly, or worst case the colours get remapped into a viewable gamut in a wierd way that looks odd. It's better to export to sRGB if you're at the end of your edit and you want maximum sharability without colour shifts.

[@andrealehner7758]

Hello from Austria 🙂 just wanna say thank you for your easy-to-follow explanations! It's a pleasure to watch your tutorials! You are really good at highlighting the necessary steps to achieve certain goals without confusing your audience with side issues. This - and your friendly manner - make learning far more easier!

[@elliottcowand]

Thanks Anthony, During export the size defaults to what I guess is the maximum pixel the camera provided,. So you can only decrease it and not increase it. Correct?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yes. Correct

[@edwardkillesteyn1479]

A great reference video for the future. Thanks. I assume the principles you’ve outlined apply equally to saving in other photo software editing applications.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yes indeed 🙂

[@isoawe1888]

Thanks Anthony. I export with resized PNG for my IG posts. Not always, but occasionally IG will do wacky things with JPEG images. I’ve never had it degrade a PNG.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Thanks for sharing!

[@williambeadle1075]

Hi Andrew, I recently edited a photo that I did some work with on Topaz then opened in Neo but when I went to export it the left box was Red in size and I couldn’t change the numbers until I opened resize and changed from actual size to dimensions but that brought up my question of what numbers to change it to so I still get the correct size and quality. I also tried changing the photo by cropping it to 5x7 or other standard sizes but still had to go to Dimensions to be able to save, Thank you, Bill

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hi Bill. What was the original pixel dimensions of the file you were working on? It's possible f it was from a Topaz upscale (photoAI or Gigapixel) that it exceeded the dimension limits of the software. Just a thought....

[@jamesganaway741]

Great video. I like to create Clipart or objects on a transparent background, I use the PNG format for that. Is that the best for photos on a transparent background?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yes, absolutely

[@riflegurlsmom]

Thank you so much for this helpful info!

[@stulav844]

Great video I learned something today thank you

[@deeweeuavp]

Cool - Learnt something 🆕 😮😅😊

[@rockyv23]

Just what I was needing. Thank you again!!! 🎉

[@jackcoursier8903]

Très bien et très utile.

[@hansoberdiek8319]

Another terrific video

[@jimsturla]

Very helpful. Thanks.

[@Centauri27]

Good info, Anthony. But I'm still confused about using the "ProPhoto" colur space for TIFF. If I want to edit that TIFF later in Neo, won't that cause problems as my monitor doesn't support ProPhoto? (And it's a shame that Neo doesn't support DNG--yet.)

[@AnthonyTurnham]

No you should be fine. It's more about making sure your file holds as much of the original data as possible. Then as you edit your photo and push it around it's going to hold greater integrity.

[@NatureLenzPhoto]

Hi Anthony. Enjoyed your video. Thanks. Is there any way to save export settings as user presets like you can in Lightroom?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

I wish there were. But currently, no.

[@sandippatel8652]

Is there a way to batch process a bunch of photos, as say JPEG 60 setting for web viewing? Seems like the right click, and then the various options work well for individual photos. When batch processing, the only allowed setting is JPEG 80.

[@romansixbert4529]

Thanks for the vid. Is there a way to create export settings presets just like in Lightroom for Instagram, Print, facebook, web, etc??

[@surreyvisualsltd.9010]

Hi Anthony - Excellent tutorial as always. Do you know what the 'Save Transparency' check box within the TIFF export setting is used for? Thanks Mike

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yes, If you have an alpha channel that represents transparent pixels (ie pixels with no colour value assigned) it can save that info with the file. Often used for clearcutting products or working with logos etc.

[@MAHell2010]

Great explanation helps a lot...I just have a "follow-up" question, should you "convert" your "raw" files to .DNG and save all for potential future work and "back-ups"

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hi! Sorry for the delayed response! Personally I like to convert all my files to dng and keep them backed up. You never know when you'll want to revisit and potentially rework a file from years gone by. 😀

[@kevinbachman9903]

Anthony... Big fan of your channel. I am new to this kind of photography, but wanted to see if Luminar Neo can edit 360 photos in the software. I have taken pictures from a Richo Theta Z1 and wanted to import them into here and just delete the tripod stand and do some simple editing with maybe too much light coming into the home for my virtual tours. I have seen a couple of KZbin videos showing you can do this, but they are over a year old. The chat assistant from Luminar Neo said no, but not sure how much they know or understand what I want to do. Please advise! Thanks

[@pauldaverman9235]

What is the “save transparency” check box for that is available for the TIFF?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

If you have clearcut an object, ie removed the background, tiff has the ability to save that transparency information as an alpha channel.

[@pauldaverman9235]

@ Thanks.

[@traclyn79]

Anthony. Have you ever done a video on lost edits in luminar Neo. I have a whole bunch of edits in there and can’t find a video on how to retrieve them or anything I can understand when google searching it. Wondering if you have ever faced this issue. Thank you

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hi, could you elaborate on what you mean by lost edits? So you've moved the sliders around and then you go back to the photo and it's reverted to it's original unedited state? Sorry, not exactly sure what you mean.

[@traclyn79]

@@AnthonyTurnham hi. I edited some photos in the updated luminar Neo. When I went back the next day to look them over they were not in my library. After looking around I found them in lost edits, with a ⚠️sign by them. I tried to look up how to get them out of lost edits but the info I found isn’t helping. Just was wondering if you have done a video on getting them back to the library. Also tried to add photo again but it won’t add the photos back in from iPhoto. I am doing this on a Mac. Thank you 😊

[@AnthonyTurnham]

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[@johncameron6853]

Hi Anthony, another great vid, thank you. I'm sorry but this is probably a stupid question but here goes. Can you leave the original raw file in Neo and save the edited version elsewhere?

[@NJM1948]

You are a master at making a usually boring subject, very interesting! Great explanation - one question about exporting with colour options. If I save to sRGB and then later decide to print the photo to, say , A3 - can I save that jpeg again (previously saved as sRGB) but change the setting to ProPhoto and then click save....or do I have to go back to the file and do it from scratch?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Firstly a printer has a very low colour gamut compared to what a monitor can show, so printing in ProPhoto doesn't actually improve the result. But to answer your question, once you've saved in jpeg with less data, you can't bring it back. That ship has sailed.

[@tabbycatman]

Thanks once again for this tutorial - it all makes sense now. Do you have a tutorial on printing? I'm never sure whether its better to use the printer driver or let the app make changes (I'm assuming this means NEO app).

[@AnthonyTurnham]

I don't but that's a great idea for a future video. I prefer to talk to the printer directly through the specific driver.

[@tabbycatman]

Thanks for your reply I will look forward to seeing it. Not really got my head around the terminology the drivers etc. I suspect there will be others out there. Cheers, Dave

[@garysaerialviews]

Thanks Anthony.. What export settings would you recommend for showing on Facebook.. Look forward to your reply

[@sonicck]

Great video, Can anyone help me I have a problem with Lightroom exporting to Luminar Neo and there is no apply button now only export and when I export it doesn’t go back to Lightroom classic like it used to, did anyone have this problem before and if so what was the fix. Thank you to anyone who can help me I appreciate it

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Since creating this video Luminar Neo has been updated and improved. You can get the newest version on sale here: bit.ly/NeoSale and maybe save more with coupon: ATNEO10 (sometimes Skylum de-activate the code if there's already a promotion running but worth giving a go!)

[@alessiograziani6355]

During the exporting of a photo, I had the requirement to resize it to a specific size in cm (75x50 at 300 dpi) to print it. There was no way to do this in Luminar... I had to make external calculations and then input the size in pixels... It really seems to me that the Export functionality is still very preliminary compared to what you can do in Lightroom (creating presets, defining naming policies for batch exporting, resizing using a unit of measure, adding a watermark, etc. etc.)

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yeah, Lightroom's export options are excellent. But Luminar is improving quickly with every update so hopefully the developers have export improvements on their roadmap.

[@alessiograziani6355]

@@AnthonyTurnham thanks for your reply. Is there a wish list for Luminar Neo users?

[@rather-reverend]

Thanks! Just two days ago I was fiddling around with color space settings on a jpeg export - I was figuring "moaaaarrr spaces izzz moaaarrr COLLO(U)RRRRRSSSSS!!!!" The results didn't look a single bit better, and now I know why! BTW, A vaguely similar issue I was just wondering about: I run windows on an HDR enabled, OLED monitor. I THINK this may be why I'll sometimes work on a shot in luminar and be super happy with it, then export it, but the exported file is too dark. Any thoughts - maybe even a video about best practices for setting the OS and display?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Good question. Oh gosh colour accuracy and colour workflow is soooo in-depth. It's beyond a simple comment and probably beyond a single video too. TBH I don't think you'd be experiencing much of a luminosity shift due to what you've described. Could be a number of things... maybe even relative perception of the brightness. o for exampe a photo edited on a neutral mid or dark grey will appear darker when viewed against a white background such as facebook, windows browser etc. To test the brightness you could always re-import the exported image as a new layer over the top of your edit and do a show/hide to see if there is actually a difference between the two...

[@ronwilson9855]

Great stuff Anthony, another good day at school !!! One question tho, DNG, v TIFF, I only use NEO for editing but just loaded Topaz Photo Ai, and it's auto pref is DNG, should I be converting my CR3's to DNG? But Luminar uses PNG, is it the same?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

If you're using bit.ly/TopazPhotoAI to improve the photo quality before editing in neo then I'd stick with exporting as a .dng file. It's not necesarry to convert CR3 to dng as the dng is merely a container format. Your not really gaining anything. However, for a long time I'd convert my processed nef files to dng because the adjustments I'd made in Lightroom could be saved with the file by using dng. A good strategy incase your catalogue gets corrupted. PNG isn't the same and don't worry about using it - unless you have a specific reason.

[@paulbarnard5267]

Still amazes me that they have not managed to default the save location to the folder the original image came from. Trivial thing but it grates every time I export an image.

[@joanarling]

How can the stored size of an image stay the same when you switch between 16bit and 8bit colour depth? After all, you take two bytes per colour instead of one.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Can you please clarify which file type and scenario you're referring to? Thanks

[@joanarling]

@@AnthonyTurnham I was referring to png, which can be both 8bit and 16bit (I think that's true for tiff as well). My png files are certainly dependant on colour depth as regards size; more colour depth means bigger files. No wonder, as they need two bytes per pixel and colour. (Same resolution, of course)

[@agent953]

In the right direction, surely... but still it worries me that the developers can´t or don´t have the will to implement a completely dng workflow among Neo and other apps: We can do it with Dxo Photolab or Pureraw, Capture 1 or ON1Photoraw, Lightroom etc, and export results in a DNG file, that other software can pick up and continue to edit in a 100% raw editing workflow... but Luminar doesn't. I made several attempts and inquires about this with Skylum only to receive answers like "why do you need that? or that this feature is not on the future road map. I guess all other photo editing software is wrong about this.. For my part, can't figure how this is so. Perhaps you have any hints, reasons or reasonable explanations for this omission?...

[@ChemaPhoto]

🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hey there party animal! 😜

[@Zebrajellyfishphoto]

Importing a basic 16 bit TIFF into Neo, making adjustments, saving the adjustments as a preset and applying to 2 dozen photos is a sloth. This has been Luminar's issue for years. I love your video presentations but no one is talking about this and no one has for years. I run an M2 Max MacBook. I run a clean computer that runs fast with just about any app EXCEPT Neo. Exporting as a JPG is also incredibly slow. I can do many more edits using PS or Lightroom, much more intense editing and Neo always wins as the slowest to render and export. I'm really at a loss. It's so incredibly frustrating.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Have you raised this with the dev team (skylum support)? I did used to experience slower exports than LR but I put that down to the quantity of additional tools I was applying vs what lightroom was able to apply (for example historically a lot of LRs tools are found in dev raw in neo - although greater complexity and sophisticated masking has now been added to LR) Nowadays the exports from Neo are pretty swift for me, but I did update my PC a few months back and that certainly made a positive impact.

[@soureel]

Very helpful. Thanks!