Scott Davenport Photography

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Glory To The Glow Look - In Post #524

The glow looks in Luminar remain my favorite types of glows. There is just something about them. For landscape photographers, the glow of choice is usually an Orton look. However, for certain landscapes, the Soft Focus glow is perfect. Soft Focus is more often used for portrait work, yet for a mid-morning or mid-afternoon landscape, a touch of Soft Focus glow is excellent.

There are several different glow looks in Luminar and I’ve written a detailed article on the Luminar Glow Tool where you can learn more. The Soft Focus glow targets the brighter tones your photo, adding a diffused softness to them. The image overall gets a gentle boost of brightness, too. While the glow tool has several advanced controls, try just adding a small amount to your photo. I find an amount between 10 and 20 strikes the right balance between a dreamy glow while maintaining important detail.

A small amount of Soft Focus glow in Luminar Neo is an excellent finishing touch to a landscape photo.

A gentle application of Soft Focus is an excellent finishing touch to a landscape image. Look at the difference:

Left image: Basic development in Lightroom with the Luminar Neo Soft Focus Glow applied.
Right image: Basic development in Lightroom.

Give Soft Focus a try the next time you’re adding a glow look to your images. The Orton look is great, but it’s not the only glow look available to you.


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