Luminar Neo: Creative Tools - Where the FUN Happens!

[@filippeo85]

Keep them coming, best videos for Luminar !

[@JimNix]

aww shucks, thanks and I appreciate that - more every week! 😀

[@nickb4736]

Jim, I believe that I have viewed every video that you made regarding Luminar over the years. It never ceases to amaze me that every time I watch your videos I always either: 1) learn something new, 2} end up having my memory jogged about something that I previously learned and then forgot over time or 3) realize the multitude of individual controls associated with many of the tools that most of the time I never think to experiment with and use. Bottom line is that I always take away something helpful from your videos. Well done Mr Nix.

[@JimNix]

Hey Nick, thanks so much and glad you watch and get something from these. I appreciate that! 🙏🏻

[@williambrennan2526]

Jim, thank you for this video on portraits. If you decide to make additional videos, I like a solid background on some portraits. Example: a black background with no distractions.

[@JimNix]

Thanks much William and if I get an opportunity to do some studio portraits I will do so, but I do not have one myself so it's not highly likely. Thanks much.

[@edmonton1338]

Thank you for this excellent series Jim. I did notice some negative comments about Skylum posted on another of your videos. Like all Skylum subscribers I got the recent email about their origins and where they are located in Ukraine. I sincerely hope they are safe from the horrendous situation and I’m sure we can all forgive them on some possible developmental problems with the product if there are any.

[@JimNix]

thanks so much and yes they are suffering through a horrific time right now, and I am sure they appreciate everyone's patience and well wishes - thank you for watching

[@mdbasarbd20]

Thanks so much for your great video.

[@JimNix]

thank you for watching

[@steffore1]

Thanks for all your info Jim

[@JimNix]

thanks for watching Steve!

[@antonzvanut9542]

Hi, Jim! I follow you for several years now and it is high time I express some gratitude and sympathy for what you are sharing with us on KZbin. Initially I was looking for »how to« messages but now, I more and more try to compare what you suggest and how I do my editing myself. And only through that, through comparing my and yours experience I see the great job you are doing. I'm always flattered when it turns out we both have the same attitude and approach. So thank you and, of course, looking forward for more "energetic" tutorials of yours! Greetings from Slovenia!

[@JimNix]

thanks so much, I appreciate that and some day I hope to visit Slovenia, it looks beautiful - thanks for watching and the kind words!

[@kristiangodfrey6139]

Thanks Jim, a great overview. I will add a little hint: Like you I don't like film grain in my photos, but that feature saved many of my photos a year or so when I accidentally had my camera on the lowest quality setting for an entire trip, and any editing in Luminar meant banding in the sky and elsewhere. Putting light film grain in first meant that the rest of the tools didn't produce this effect. Thought I'd mention that in case anybody else finds themselves in the same situation.

[@JimNix]

thanks much Kristian and good tip!

[@jancusters2450]

Many thanks again, Jim, explaining the creatieve tools. I use LN every day and discover so much thanks to you. You make me accelarate! Workflow, wow.

[@JimNix]

thanks much Jan and glad the videos help!

[@fjperras]

Indeed, the creative tools is one area where Luminar shines. I like the fact you presented all the tools without the ideological debates around some of them (i.e. sky replacement). A tool is a tool and based on your artistic goal, all of them offers you creative knobs. I would also add that Mystical can induce a sense of 3D depth in some photos. I use this tool a lot exactly for this effect. Thank you for sharing.

[@JimNix]

Thanks much Frederic and yep I avoid ideological/religious debates about certain things in photography. We all have our own opinions and that's fine with me. 😀I just like to edit photos so this was an overview for newer users. And, I agree about Mystical for that, and it's a lovely tool for sure. Thanks for watching!

[@Lysander-Spooner]

Good overview. I love me some Orton Effect.

[@JimNix]

haha me too Lysander, thanks!

[@JoeB_BSc]

Hi Jim, re videos: please consider use of paint tool with landscape overlays such as a model overlay to place them naturally in a landscape. Thanks for this view of creativeness, it has been very helpful and hopefully your deep dives will include this section.

[@JimNix]

thanks JB and for sure will be doing more videos with masking on landscapes and more, thanks

[@JoeB_BSc]

@@JimNix Thanks Jim

[@veselinvasilev9362]

Thanks!

[@JimNix]

thanks for watching!

[@hansvanwijhe7891]

Hi Jim, as always, thanks a lot for this video. After you are thru with the main "tools" of Neo, can you please do a video on what your workflow would be using Neo as a Lightroom plugin?

[@JimNix]

thanks Hans and yes I have that on the list too, I appreciate it

[@marclabro]

nice presentation of the tools. i don't like relight on landscapes, it lightens sky,... it wuld be nice like LR classic to substract sky from mask,...

[@JimNix]

Thanks and I think once we have Mask AI you will be able to control the sky etc very well. We will see, fingers crossed.

[@habigscrapbooks]

I'm a new Luminar user and these videos are helpful. I wish Neo would work as a plugin for Photoshop Elements. Or maybe it does and I just haven't figured that out? Aurora HDR does work as a plugin so maybe there's a way. Thanks for these helpful videos. And yes we are praying for Ukraine daily.

[@JimNix]

Thanks for watching Loretta and glad these videos are helping. I don't think it works for Elements at this time at least. Not sure about future plans but I assume they would want to work with Elements. Hopefully this conflict will pass and things can return to normal for the Ukraine.

[@KenToney]

I wonder if Skylum can relocate from Kyiv?

[@JimNix]

Hi Ken and I know they have offices and infrastructure elsewhere, although Kyiv is the HQ. But I am not clear on how many folks are still there vs relocated, etc. It's a terrible thing for them. thanks

[@TomasLoewy]

today current version is 1.0.6 (which i have)... is the background removal / replacement already available in this version? if so, can you please make a video detailing it, or if not have it on your list for when that feature is added. (funny that your videos are preceded with a lumiar neo advertisement of exactly that function - background replacement - but i have the impression it is not yet available).

[@JimNix]

Yes this was made on the then-current version which is now out of date LOL. Background removal is not available yet. I believe it is coming in the next major update but I am not sure, and not sure about dates either. Thanks.

[@TomasLoewy]

@@JimNix thank you for sharing the info... we'll get it at some time

[@JimNix]

@@TomasLoewy yes we will and I am hopeful that it won't be too long

[@BenelliMr]

Many thanks for this great video once again. As we all know, Neo is still in a Betra phase. Thus suggestions for future developments should be welcome. I love the power cables deletion tool. But I have a large amount of photos of old cities in Europe, such as Venise for example. I spend a large amount of time to delete roof top antennas for TV, and satellite dishes. Could you please suggest this to the developers to extend the power cable tool also to antennas? Should be a small add on with a huge effect on us. Many thanks in advance

[@JimNix]

Hi there and thanks and that is a good idea. I do hope they extend those capabilities in the future - we will see. Thanks.

[@rogerjakko]

Hey Jim, somehow I missed this video but hey, all I can say is 'Wow!!' I used some of the stuff recently at a wedding - was under pressure to produce very quickly and without sounding horrible, some people were concerned about photos showing them with 'age lines' This section helped me produce shots that they were happy with and therefore I was well chuffed. You've gone into greater depth here, so I missed a few tricks. Either way, what really annoys me is that the other day, I read a review of Neo and the reviewer said it was aimed at a Beginner or Intermediate photographer. In John McEnroe's immortal words, I thought 'You cannot be serious' Why the hell would I bother with other software to produce what I want, after 30 minutes plus of messing about, whereas with this software I can do the same thing within minutes ?? Me thinks there is a certain amount of software snob value going on. On another note, I know that you are not into portraiture and that no doubt you have a load of videos you want to produce to progress people with this product ..... however, at some stage in the future, would you please consider doing a really full, hands on job, with portraiture editing - that would really make my day and I don't care if I have to wait months for same. Take care mate.

[@JimNix]

Thanks for watching Roger, and for the comment. I think Neo works for beginner, intermediate and pro photographers. I think the variation in the tools can appeal to a wide audience. A beginner might just use some of the AI stuff, whereas an intermediate would start to experiment with more tools, and a pro would take advantage of whatever they needed, including curves, masking, layers, supercontrast, color balance and more. So I think it has wide appeal. And for sure it can save you time, which is always good. I do think some people think you have to do everything manually in PS in order to be a "real pro" but I don't agree. To each his own and all that. And yes I will do more with portraits (1 video is out already) because I have started to enjoy that more. I hope to go to some events to get some portraits that I can bring back here and edit in Neo. Thanks much for watching!

[@howardprince8996]

Hey Jim question … so I am down loading the new Luminar Neo now as I type this. I have several programs, Luminar AI Luminar 4 Does NEO replace those so should I delete them. Thank you for your help. Howard

[@JimNix]

Hi Howard and thanks. Neo will eventually replace both, but as of right now it is missing enough features that it does not replace either, frankly. So if you are actively using either one, hang onto them until such time as all the necessary stuff is in Neo. I expect that to be the case a little later this year, although Skylum has their HQ in Ukraine so obviously more important things are happening there right now. Thanks.

[@hiewcheefah1993]

Where is the clone tool ?

[@JimNix]

Not in Neo yet, but I suspect it is coming.

[@jwp2166]

I'd ask this question to the folks at Skylum/Luminar but all they offer is a bot. No live support. I have twice today downloaded Neo and each time it has crashed on opening. My question: Do you know of any other folks who are having this problem or do you have any help you can offer? I'd like to get in on the Neo fun. Thanks.

[@JimNix]

Hi there and sorry you are dealing with that, but I am not sure how to fix it. Perhaps check their forum to see if anyone else has experienced this and been able to correct it? Note that they are based in Kyiv so they are going to be slow to respond to support emails for a while. Thanks.

[@johnvillalovos]

They might be busy as their country and city is currently under attack.

[@jwp2166]

@@JimNix Just checked their forum and yes others are experiencing the same problem. I can wait. They certainly have more important matters on their minds these days. Thanks again.

[@hotjazzbaby]

If you’re on a Mac Restart the machine sometimes that helps

[@JimNix]

@@johnvillalovos yes, it's terrible what is happening there

[@adrian.d]

just watched this and was playing with the sky ai was being silly showing my kids and i loaded a pic of my husband as a sky and now i dont know how to remove it from 'all skies' selection lol! any ideas how to remove a sky that is not a sky?

[@scott-k2k]

I think a viable pathway for Skylum to consider would be to move to a subscription based payment. When they come out with a new software, and have sold a certain number over the course of 12 months or so, they are exhausting the limit of the money that will be paid by people. What I mean is…. After a short time, they have to develop new software in order to stay in business. And so the software never really gets a chance to become great. Or… when it is just getting great, they have another version to sell which (because it’s new) is NOT so great. If it was subscription based, they could afford to really stick with NEO, and keep making it better and better.

[@JimNix]

Thanks Scott and they are actually now offering a subscription option as well. I think nearly all software will go this route at some point. I'm personally a fan but I understand that many people are not. Thank you.

[@scott-k2k]

@@JimNix yes I would think even something like 4.99 per month on an ongoing basis would be worthwhile. I understand that is like $60 per year and over the course of a couple of years it adds up. On the other hand, you get a product that becomes better and better because they are able to make refinements and bug fixes and new features that work better.

[@JimNix]

@@scott-k2k yep for sure, very logical to me, and better for customers and the software maker frankly

[@leonfisher]

Just another FYI. Using Windows and several of sky replacements are very pixelated. All good on AI. Given the horrors that Ukraine is now suffering I don't expect a fix and I'm fine with that. In any event thanks for the overview.

[@JimNix]

good to know, thanks Leon and yes I wouldn't expect any updates any time soon as you mentioned - I appreciate it

I don't like the fact that there is no photo recording on the top beam as in the previous Luminar AI. I also don't like the fact that the Luminar Neo didn't take over the purchased templates and sky photos from Luminar AI, even though it installs in the same directory in total. After all, now the same templates and photos will take up disk space again. It is rather annoying and off-putting from this company.