Luminar Neo: My Advanced Landscape Editing Workflow

[@rpurdum]

Excellent tutorial! Thank you for your efforts!

[@JimNix]

thanks for watching!

[@meeker5jh]

I continue to be impressed with NEO's capabilities. Thanks for sharing your workflow and illustrating the use of the various tools.

[@JimNix]

thanks Jim!

[@charlesdavis6371]

Probably the biggest thing I've learned from you Jim is that you don't need to (and usually shouldn't), make huge changes. Although I don't usually use Luminar much any more, these editing tips apply across the board with almost all editing software. Sometimes they're just so minor, but when you put them all together - it's so much better. Loved this one.

[@JimNix]

thanks so much Charles and yes for sure that is the thing right there - don't make big, universal changes that often, you nailed it - and thanks for watching, and yes I agree this stuff applies across a lot of software - thank you

[@rebeccamoore4177]

Thanks! I especially liked how you refined the sky mask.

[@JimNix]

thanks for watching Rebecca!

[@andrewmckinney3053]

I really enjoyed this work flow, Jim. Picked up a few tips and ideas. Thanks!

[@JimNix]

thanks so much for watching Andrew!

[@kalenarandall6322]

That was awesome, Jim! Thank your very much for doing this video! Love your work!

[@JimNix]

thank you Kalena!

[@shirishpandey3503]

Excellent learnings as usual Jim, love the sectional approach and the use of different types of masks to pull the various parts into a beautiful whole Thanks

[@JimNix]

thank you so much Shirish!

[@tomprzytula]

Charles Davis is spot on! Here's an advice from an amateur to anyone struggling with photo editing. I've been taking pictures for over 10 years as a hobby. Started shooting JPG, then switched to RAW+JPG. 95% of the time my edited RAWs looked worse than the out of camera JPGs! Very frustrating - what's the point of shooting raw then!? After watching gazillions of YT videos from Anthony T, Anthony M and Jim Nix I finally got it. They all actually mention it in their videos. Did you catch it??? I'm sure you've heard it before but the advice was lost on you among the other 1000 suggestions about post processing. If you don't like your edits it is because you are most likely OVER PROCESSING them. If you move a slider and see a sizable change in your photo then you moved it too far. It's counterintuitive, but this is KEY. I guess the exception would be if you use a single slider like Enhance AI to fix your photo in one shot. But for "regular" edits where you're stacking several tools on top of each other - less is MORE. Stick a Post-It not to your monitor - less is more - and look forward to your editing. This was the answer for me. I'm still no expert, but I'm finally starting to like my edits. Hope this helps you.

[@JimNix]

Thanks much Tom and yes less is more most of the time because the edits tend to be cumulative and adding edit on top of edit just ends up looking a bit cooked most of the time. Thanks much!

[@jean-francoisdamon4847]

très bon travail ,a mettre en pratique dès que possible,excellent workflow,merci Jim.

[@JimNix]

thank you Jean-Francois!

[@ronleckie]

Very informational video, Jim! Resulted in a much more dramatic shot - beautiful!

[@JimNix]

thanks so much!

[@deyelaw4809]

Thank you for the inspiration Jim! Your tips really help me to understand the possibilities of NEO. Now I need to crack down and get some editing done!

[@JimNix]

awesome, glad this helps and thanks for watching!

[@RonaldBrown59]

Great edit Jim, and I learned a couple of good tricks and can put to use right away. Thanks for sharing my friend.

[@JimNix]

thank you for watching Ron!

[@fenraven]

Nicely done! I like the many ways you can use NEO tools to achieve the look you're after in a picture. And suddenly I want to go back through my old bracket sets and redo them. Heh.

[@JimNix]

haha me too Theo, so many old pics to fix, and new ones to still get to! (good problem to have)

[@stanlituchy2206]

Great video. I learned a lot. Very comprehensive with tips I will use.

[@JimNix]

thank you Stan!

[@marcrjacobs]

Thanks Jim; Very interesting workflow... I like it.

[@JimNix]

thanks so much Marc!

[@NOTLeavingLV]

Thanks. I purchased Neo yesterday because Aurora isn’t supported any longer and I was super disappointed, there are no HDR controls like Photomatix and Aurora, so hoping I can learn how to use it and avoid a $99 buyers remorse.

[@JimNix]

Yes, the HDR Merge function inside of Neo does a good job on alignment and tone mapping, but you cannot customize the tonemapping settings. But once it is merged, you have all the filters and tools in Neo to customize the image as needed. I haven't really had any issues adapting my workflow to this, but I can understand if it isn't ideal for someone's workflow.

[@NOTLeavingLV]

@@JimNix hope I can hear back regarding this - I think all the same controls are there but they’re renamed and made to sound “cool” and “cutting edge.” I find that so long as I am working with a raw file I have enough latitude to get great results Eden from a single image, and interior shots Photomatix is better, outdoors with skies Aurora looks more natural. Each application has its… application. Does that make sense? I wish the ghosting detection was better in Neo/Aurora. I often find myself starting over to try and get that right so moving subjects I almost always use Photomatix and since I’m in Vegas there are always people in the shot.

[@JimNix]

@@NOTLeavingLV hi and yes that makes sense. There are way more tools in Neo than Aurora ever had, but as mentioned earlier you don't have the same functionality in terms of tonemapping etc. Yes I use HDR Merge in Neo for single exposures a lot and it works great. Yep lots of folks in LV for sure. I have shot there at 6am several times and it's empty then of course, or at least nearly empty.

[@davidchandler4788]

Hi Jim. Nice example of stacking the different edits. Very helpful!

[@JimNix]

thanks so much!

[@cynical1952]

Another good video Jim and the edit is super.

[@JimNix]

thanks so much Steve!

[@griffjohnson8263]

Excellent stuff! Thanks for sharing!

[@JimNix]

thanks for watching Griff!

[@StuartSchaefer]

Jim to be honest I was not going to get this Neo Special since I already had Neo but no extensions. However after looking at the deal with 18 months plus you get all the Extensions and updates for $79 minus $10 with your coupon (it did work) it"s now $69 for 18 months. Just could not pass that deal up. Besides I can alway cancel my subscription in 18 months. Did wait until the last few hours to get this deal. Thanks for doing the videos and for getting the coupon. Cheers!

[@JimNix]

thanks Stuart and yes that is a great deal, and thanks so much for using my coupon code, and for watching my video!

[@Lykzabet]

Enjoyed watching that thx Jim

[@JimNix]

thanks much Lykz!

[@MM-ob8ti]

Hey Jim, what laptop or computer are you using with luminar neo?

[@JimNix]

Hi there, I have a Macbook Pro, 8-core Intel i9 with 64GB RAM.

[@CarolinePicking]

That was excellent!

[@JimNix]

glad you liked it Caroline, thanks for watching!

[@nigelchase2407]

Very well done, Love it.

[@JimNix]

thank you Nigel!

[@mauriceprokaziuk337]

Beautiful location. As you say, a little adjustment goes a long way.

[@JimNix]

thanks so much Maurice!

[@Centauri27]

I enjoy hearing your thoughts as usual Jim! These "full workflow" videos are very helpful. One thing I notice is that many of your finer "before/after" adjustments are barely (or not at all) visible in your KZbin video. Did you consider dodging the stream of water to make it pull in your eyes some more? Finally your advice: If I need to further adjust an edit I did earlier, is it better to look it up in the Edit panel and adjust it from there? Or just go ahead and create another adjustment? Quite often I'd like to adjust a mask, but finding it in the list is rather cumbersome.

[@JimNix]

Hi Carl and thanks for watching. Yes some changes are minor enough that they may be hard to see unless you were sitting here with me. I can tell, but I realize a viewer may not always be able to. On lots of my recent waterfall shots I have been dodging a lot, but generally only when it is a bigger part of the photo. I actually have a video planned showing some of that, coming soonish. As far as adjusting a previous edit, I am not sure it matters. For Develop RAW, I go back and use that one if I need to, but otherwise I generally just open up a new instance of a tool. And yes I hope someday we can name the edits in the edit panel to make it easier to find things. Thanks!

[@chrisbhoy8855]

This is an amazing video!! Do you also have a video like this for lightroom Jim as I use both neo and LR ?

[@JimNix]

Thanks so much, I am glad you enjoyed this one. I do not have anything like this for LR though, but I may create one at some point. Thanks.

[@TC_Conner]

Gorgeous edit and photo Jim. What were your camera settings? F/10 or 11? I'm still getting used to having a new edit layer each time you use develop. Lightroom Classic doesn't work like that, and I've been using Lr since V4 so transitioning over to LN or ON1 or AP2 and seeing the differences in each of those compared to Lr is taking some time getting used to.

[@JimNix]

thanks TC and actually this was f/22 (although I probably didn't need to go that far), 3 exposure bracket set, ISO 100 etc - and yes coming from LR there are adjustments but you can do so much with Neo!

[@TC_Conner]

@@JimNix “But you can do so much with Neo.” Indeed I can! 😎

[@leonfisher]

Nice edit!

[@JimNix]

thank you Leon!

[@gossedejong9248]

thank you!@

[@JimNix]

thanks for watching!

[@marketguy2]

Excellent video. Thanks so much. I would give you 10 thumbs up if I could.

[@JimNix]

haha thanks so much Bryan!

[@YoSpiff]

Has Neo improved to where I should consider it again? I tried an early version and it was seriously lacking, so I went back to Luminar 4.

[@JimNix]

Well, it works great for me, and I love the results I am getting. Maybe get a trial and see?

[@YoSpiff]

@@JimNix I already have a license purchased at a discount prior to release. I'll give it another try, thanks.

[@JimNix]

@@YoSpiff ok cool

[@andrewmckinney3053]

Worth trying again!!!! :)

[@alangauld6079]

I tried it when it first came out and gave up but a few months ago | tried again(I'd bought a new Mac mini in the interim!) and the difference was huge, both in reliability(crashes) and performance(mainly due to the new Mac I guess!) The only big thing missing from L4 is luminosity masks. And you have to get used to the new way of using the tools multiple times and going back through the edits to tweak them. But I'm now enjoying Neo.

[@stephenjane8193]

Thanks Jim steve no

[@JimNix]

thank you!

[@colin-4794]

👌👍

[@JimNix]

thanks Colin!

[@marcvdb5555]

Hi Jim, I respect you as a pro guy and I sometimes follow your advice. But, "a little bit more of this" and a "little bit less of that" is completely reciculous. I Mostly don't even like your 'final results'. I think everyone should experiment for themselves. But it is good thing you show us what is possible. Best, Marc

[@JimNix]

Hey Marc, no worries and totally understand. I don't expect everyone to like every edit/image I share. And totally agree, we need to experiment for ourselves in order to learn the tools, learn what is possible, find our own creative voice, etc. This is just how I am doing it. Thanks for sharing.