Is it Possible??? Can You Use Luminar AI to Combine The Best of Multiple Photos to blend exposures?

[@leikosdani]

I had no idea this could be made with Luminar AI. It's so helpful , thank you so much.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Happy to help!

[@kevinw7044]

I had no doubts this would work prior to your workflow. I tried similar myself. I don’t even see this as a work around. The software is actually using layers. This is no more a work around than any other software when blending methods are used. Luminar AI does make use of layers, just often more automated than we are used to. And that is a very pleasing result that you have created. It’s a very competent piece of imaging software. I am really liking Luminar AI and I think I am on the brink of finally ditching Lightroom. A great lesson. A bit of a halo on the left tree line maybe, but that could be easily resolved by revisiting the brush work. I like Aurora too. 👍 I think that there are quite a few people on KZbin knocking Luminar AI at present but I think this is also linked to a lack of understanding about what the software can do.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Great thoughts there Kevin. Cheers for sharing 😃

[@felixthecat1882]

Hi Kevin, I think the problem with Luminar software is it's lack of brushes. Okay, the Dodge & Burn and the Masking brushes are great, but there are no brushes for: Saturation & Desaturation, Sharpen & Blur, Push & Smudge, Erase, Paintbrush, Selection brushes, etc! This means you are over dependant on the AI software and masking when editing. Cheers Felix the Cat.

[@gothamelliott]

@@felixthecat1882 You are wrong. All the tasks you list can be accomplished through smaller masks which make brushes completely obsolete!

[@AnthonyTurnham]

If you don't have Luminar AI yet, you can save $$ using the discount code ATSKY10 here: bit.ly/Lum-AI Check out my channel for lots of free training videos and resources, including this one to get you up and running:kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4iwaKGEgZx8frM

[@simonfayers4555]

Awesome content as always 👌

[@HeyLookASquirrel22]

Thank you, this was very helpful

[@shanec4441]

I’m going to try this. I’m thinking of using this technique with portraits. I can take a photo of my model then have them step away to get a nice shot of background with perfect bokeh. Don’t need a $3,000 lens.

[@gimbalair]

As a novice drone photographer, this was a big help to me as I enhance skies of golf courses if I have blown them out to start with. I am no pro, I don not sell my images, they maybe go on the Clubs webpages, should I make life simple for myself and go down the aurora route?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

I see you answered your own question and ended up getting Luminar + Aurora. Sensible for what your doing. 🙂

[@gimbalair]

@@AnthonyTurnham i’m not always premature 😉

[@AnthonyTurnham]

@@gimbalair 🤣

[@ArminHirmer]

great edit. what I still don't like is the created halo along the treelike on the left

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yeah. I reckon with minor refinements I'd be able to eliminate the halo.

[@risk-n1757]

Great tip, thanks

[@AnthonyTurnham]

No problem!

[@ivanfojan8859]

Subscribed simply because you said iso and not iesso!! Even though I'm a Canon user it was also nice to hear you say Nikon and not Nykon....lol. I'm interested in this software anyway as I've just purchased it on humble bundle :)) Good video :)

[@sjj1236]

Thank you, I think I can use this technique with my bracketed interior shots

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Absolutely! To be honest if you're shooting interiors (like I do) this is more of a work around and you'd be better off with Aurora which is designed for the purpose of combining bracketed shots.

[@eternalfocus1848]

Nice man Very nice

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Thanks!

[@hukchone4521]

Hi, thanks for showing how to combine. Which one is the best software to combine different exposures? AI can do, but not a perfect one right ? Thank. you again.

[@jimfolmar7692]

A new subscriber here, curious if your using a custom built PC or a off the shelf . My HP Pisario doesn't handle editing and going to upgrade but not sure which way to go. I know a self built will save $. Been watching some Tech Notice vids trying to learn how.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Thanks for the sub Jim! Yes, my PC was "kinda" self built. I selected all the components following research online and advice from the guys at my local PC store. They then put it together for a minimal charge. It's over 2 years old now but still running very well. 32gb Ram, Ryzen 7 2600, m.2 SSD, nvidia 1070. So not super specced out but performs solidly with the likes of Luminar, Photoshop and video editing software.

[@fenraven]

Great processing job. Easy to follow and CLEVER!

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Thank you Theo!

[@alibo_]

Thank you for bringing up the lack of two important features, namely layers and luminosity masks. I hope they will be featured soon in a coming dot release of Luminar AI.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yeah. Luminar 4 is still the option if layers and luminosity masking is important to your workflow. Luminar AI dropped them in order to speed up the program. Who knows for future updates though...

[@brandonunknown7396]

@@AnthonyTurnham So this might be a stupid question, since they dropped layers and masking in Lum AI, would Luminar 4 be the better option or would Aurora HDR be better?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

@@brandonunknown7396 Not a stupid question mate. All good :) So if merging exposures is what you're after - as per this video, then Aurora is the go-to software for that. It's dedicated to achieving realistic HDR blends with Skylum's philosophy of "making the complex tasks simple". Luminar 4 is good for doing manual blends with luminosity masks, but it's a bit more complicated to get good results.

[@brandonunknown7396]

@@AnthonyTurnham thank you for responding to this, I have been on the fence of which software to get that they offer. I’m going with AI and Aurora HDR then, thank you for clearing that up.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

No worries @@brandonunknown7396. With Luminar AI and Aurora you'll be in a good place for a solid photo editing workflow. BTW, the discount ATSKY10 should also work for Aurora as well as Luminar AI using that link in the description (unless there's another promo currently running). All the best. Let me know how you go. I've got a video on getting started with AI that may help. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4iwaKGEgZx8frM

[@rohitpatgaonkar174]

great technique

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Glad you think so! Thank you :)

[@mariannaoneill]

Anthony, thank you. Super helpful.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Cheers Marianna!

[@MWTH73]

Thanks for sharing Tony I have been trying to replace the background with AI and up to this point I have been unable. Maybe this will work

[@Daytripper51]

Hello Anthony.....Question.....When I delete a photo from AI, it bothers me that it places it in the system trash rather just removing it from AI's trash.....If I would delete my desktop trash, it would be gone forever, even from it's original place on my computer. Is there a way to change this???

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hiya. I haven't found this to be the case for me. When I delete imagery from my catalog it's still in that folder on my PC system just not in Luminar anymore. Sorry, not sure why yours is behaving as you described.

[@malchouse1640]

Thank you that was great for me. Now would you be able to photo stack using same method or would the different focus point cause confusion.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hi Malc. I think it should work. :)

[@stretchini]

Thanks! Wow a long workaround, and the crop thing is a real bummer IMHO

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Cheers Steve. What crop thing?

[@simonsj15]

Enjoyed the video and learned a lot thanks.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Thanks Jim

[@artsmodelstation9396]

Q: Can you stack multiple images with same exposure to create a long exposure effect, ex; silk water and smooth clouds ?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

You could do it by adding the various layers in as "textures" and reduce the opacity of each.Personally I think it'd be a bit tedious and you'd be much better off with an ND filter on your lens.

[@brucewiebe6490]

I have Aurora and use it to blend multiple images. It even works well with one image to give it some pop. I have never tried Aurora with an image that is a long exposure like you used in your demo. What would happen to the smoothed out water? What version of the water or softer clouds would Aurora pick. If you wanted the smoother look could you use the reduce ghosting option and select the longer exposure frame as your primary? I may have to give that a try.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Give it a try and let me know! I'd normally add the water after the HDR merge.... interesting.

[@nancybrown4431]

Hi Anthony. Thanks for the tutorial. It was very helpful and I had a lot of fun playing with textures. However, I now can not export any of my edits that have textures. Do you have any suggestions?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hmmmm. Not sure why that would be Nancy. So it's all good exporting photos usually, just doesn't work when you use a texture in the edit? I'd reach out to Skylum's helpdesk.

[@polaris8126]

Hi Anthony! This method can be used, If I want to make focus bracketing, right? Thanks! :)

[@fragilecolours]

I'm wondering the same thing 🙂

[@maxv77]

Hi Anthony. I am enjoying my luminar AI. Is there a really simple way to add a signature? Everything I've seen on the subject seems to be quite complicated so far. I belive it was easer in luminar4. Unfortunately I don't have that

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Good question. Shot answer is no. Well, not as easy as it should be. But, yes it's doable. I'm a bit snowed under at the moment but I'll see if I can get a video together on the topic.

[@maxv77]

@@AnthonyTurnham thank you

[@maxv77]

@@AnthonyTurnham it would be good if we could just add it like we can when adding a moon to the photo. Resize it and drop it where we like. Unfortunately when I tried to import an image of my signature it hides it behind everything.

[@askme5111]

Hi .... another outstanding video thank you, great help. Been following your channel for some time now brilliant. I'm considering up grading my pc to a new one, however I'm out of touch with how or how little pc power image software really needs these days. Be very easy to buy a pc you only use part of.... What pc spec do you have... CPU clock ( speed ) etc Amount of ram ( speed ) etc Mother board ( speed ) etc Graphics card ( ram ) etc SSD OR HD ???? Thank you for uploading these videos outstanding...

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hi Ask me. I think I'll put a video together on what PC I use soon. Basically though I've got a couple of SSDs, 32gb Ram, Windows, Ryzen 7 2700 and a Geforce GTX1070 graphics card. It's getting on a bit now but still runs what I need it to pretty well, although I plan on doing an update soon - just cos I like to have zippy machines :)

[@askme5111]

@@AnthonyTurnham this would be an outstanding video for followers. There are NO definitive answers to what pc's would be the best to undertake fast image editing. ** but within the financial level of most people ** that's the information people are seeking

[@jackwang6182]

clear video， Anthony👍. Used Luminar AI to edit photos. Feel that there is a few but not much more benefits than luminar 4 .

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Cheers for your thoughts Jack 👍

[@felixthecat1882]

Anthony, Aurora HDR can make an HDR picture from a single photograph.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

True to an extent, but it still can't recover data that the sensor just can't capture due to extremely high contrast as in thos example.

[@MACDRONEPRODUTORA]

Thanks, very helpful! I'm using Luminar AI to make my 360 photos pop (Google Street View and Virtual Tour) and I can't afford right now Aurora HDR. Unfortunately the sky replacement doesn't work with 360 photos, the edges are terrible. Is there a workaround? Can I create my 360 replacement skies templates using Toscana Sky for example? I would appreciate something like that. Cheers from Brazil.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hi Mac Drone. 360 photography isn't my specialty so I''m sorry I don't have an answer for you on that.

[@scubarocks1861]

Thanks for the effort...

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Cheers

[@thekindex5703]

How do you keep the image at natural brightness when lifting up the exposure time? Like in the 3rd picture.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

ND filter on the lens. Like sunglasses for your camera forcing the shutter to be open longer to let in the same amount of light but over a longer time period.

[@thekindex5703]

@@AnthonyTurnham Thanks a lot 🙏

[@enjoythelittlethings3359]

Brilliant !

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Thanks

[@wonkee184]

Ah I see where I could be going wrong, forgive my ignorance, have L4 & just got LAI, 400 hundred+ lost edits in L4 & 12 in LAI, I save from both to desktop & then on to external hdd, should I save straight to hdd, sometimes tru external SSD to hdd, are programs still looking to desktop where originally saved to, to restart editing if I wasn’t fully happy It has no file path ( I guess ), my reasoning is to keep internal SSD as free as possible I can take pretty good pics Edit them pretty good But then not so good 😊 Thanks in advance WK

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hi Won Kee. I would be jumping on the Skylum helpdesk and just querying that. I'm not really sure what the problem would be... Yes, I work similar to you in that I have a nice fast m.2 ssd for my current work and then move it to other sources to back-up when complete. It's a good idea to keep the memory as free as possible. Sorry to hear you've lost some edits.

[@felixthecat1882]

Did you set your HDR exposure range at ± 2 stops?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

I believe I did a series of 1 stop at a time and then just chose the +2 / -2 options.

[@stretchini]

Did you not set up your D850 with the level? or rushing to stay dry! Aurora is much easier obviously.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Rushing to stay dry for sure! 😉 I was pretty soaked through already by this point!

[@tonykoch4284]

Another informative video and an attractive outcome using masks. Thanks Anthony.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Cheers Tony

[@mikejenner5610]

I tried following your technique literally key stroke for key stroke but using a different set of images of course. I didn't have a lot of the options and screens that you seem to have, my Luminar AI screen doesn't look like your Luminar AI screen why is that? I ended up with an awful result. I found trying to adapt your steps to images of my own very difficult and the result was terrible. Not sure what I did wrong or why I didn't have the options and screens that you seem to have my version of AI doesn't look like the one you have.

[@alwilson6471]

Were you working with raw files?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hi Al. Yes I was.

[@felixthecat1882]

Hi Anthony, just to let you know if you like LUTs, and judging by your tutorials you love them, then Bliss Studio have produced ON1 Effects. I have only the 2019 version, free with a photo magazine, but there are a lot of instant effects and LUTs with this package. Cheers Anthony! Felix the Cat.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yep, you've got me! I do like LUTs a lot. Such a great way to color grade! :) Cheer Felix the Cat!

[@ninthsunn]

this is a great technique! for the sky, out of interest, would it blend better without the halo if you’re to bring the image as sky replacement instead of texture? just a thought, but this is the way to go! 👍🏼

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Thanks for the idea.

[@DiveDiva2007]

Excellent video, would never have thought of this trick, thanks very much

[@AnthonyTurnham]

No problem Phil 👍 Thanks for the feedback.

[@ismailamine4492]

Hi i want to buy luminar ai but wil it work on my laptop? I have a Acer travelmate p2 windows 10 pro, Screen: 14 inch (1920 x 1080) Processor: Intel Core i5-10210U Ram: 8 GB Storage: 256 GB SSD Graphics card: Intel UHD Graphics 620

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hi Issm. Follow the discount link in the description and scroll all the way to the bottom. There's a list of minimum specs there.

[@JB-xi5ek]

Why not use Aurora HDR, and/or layers in Luminar 4 before finishing off in Luminar AI?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Great question. And that's probably what I'd do, however not everyone has the other apps and just has Luminar AI so this video is intended to help them.

[@randallbranham2235]

You might if you can get it to work and keep working I've had this from the beginning, but it keeps crashing and it's been a week since they tried to help, and then said it would be another week before they could get back to me, not very impressed with they're service...

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Sorry to hear that Randall. Hmmm. They've recently released update 1.3. I wonder if you uninstall the version you originally installed, redownload Luminar (ie the new version) and try running that whether you'll get on any better? Failing that I believe they do a money-back guarantee.

[@randallbranham2235]

@@AnthonyTurnham Thank you I'll try that it can't hurt I'm totally dead in the water now. I don't want my money back I like the program I just want it to work.

[@dugblair1]

Is it possible to make a composite of 2 or more different photos in AI as in Luminar 4 ?

[@tompatton2086]

Not really. You can bring a 2nd image into Luminar AI much as Anthony's done using "Textures", but I've yet to find a way to control it's placement and size. It is possible to change the brightness, contrast, saturation, hue and blend mode of a Texture, so my hope is Skylum will add "placement", "size" and other controls in an update.

[@dugblair1]

@@tompatton2086 Thanks Tom, fingers crossed for an update.

[@rafimarkus5909]

Hi, this is a very well prepared and presented video lesson. I subscribed. Thanks, c u again.

[@felixthecat1882]

Hi Anthony, this was what I meant by no software can do everything! I like the new Aurora HDR software that also now uses AI.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yes. Aurora is invaluable in my workflow alongside other software like Luminar AI

[@lensalucia]

I’m convinced. I’ll buy Luminar AI. Shut up and take my money! 🤣🤣

[@AnthonyTurnham]

😄🤣. Good man Omar 😀

[@taichpaul]

So why don't you just do the luminosity masking in Photoshop? Layers and all the tools available in PS. I am really failing to see any AI here. Using Luminar for the sake of it.

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hi Paul. Good question. A lot of people following this channel don't have Photoshop or Aurora so in this video I'm trying to solve the layering issue for the people that have Lumniar AI only. Cheers

[@tjerkheringa937]

Being halfway through the video and we are still not at the subject

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Only another half to go 😂

[@geoffreystone4849]

Don’t Skylum sell Aurora HDR for this purpose?

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Yeah, but not everyone has it, so just thought I'd experiment as an alternative.... Also I've found some people are really averse to HDR software.

[@geoffreystone4849]

@@AnthonyTurnham I decided to give Luminar AI a miss and am moving to Affinity Photo. It has more things that suit my style. Layers, focus stack8ng, blending etc. It’s more complex than LAi but my focus isn’t on Lord of the Rings or Harry Potters skies.

[@mackenziemckayla9715]

Lovely 😍💋 💝💖❤️

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Thanks Mackenzie

[@yotuberudy85]

Horrible! 10mins boilerplate blah blah blah

[@AnthonyTurnham]

"boilerplate"? I don't even know what that means. Please bear in mind I make these videos for free just trying to help people. If you find it horrible just move on to something you prefer.