Luminar Adds The AI Sky Enhancer
Luminar’s AI Sky Enhancer
I haven’t used Luminar is a while. While I was at PhotoPlus in New York last week, I took the opportunity to visit the Skylum booth. I wanted to get back up to speed on the features they’ve been working on. So what’s going on? More and more artificial intelligence is in going into the product. And I like the approach they are taking, targeting specific segments and subjects in photos and making them easy to adjust.
Today, Skylum adds the AI Sky Enhancer tool to Luminar. It’s super-simple to use - it’s a single slider. It’s akin to the AI Accent slider Luminar has had for a while. If you already own Luminar, this update is waiting for you. If you’re considering adding Luminar to your photo tool box, use the offer code SDP10 at checkout and bring the price down to US$49. You’ll also get a FREE update to Luminar 3 with Libraries in December.
The AI Sky Enhancer filter is added to Luminar’s Quick & Awesome filter workspace - and rightly so. In less than 60 seconds, I processed the photo you see on the screen here (and 40 seconds of that was masking away Clarity from the sky… I usually prefer my skies softer). Again… it’s really easy to use. I have two notes about using the AI Sky Enhancer:
The filter is grayed out if the selected photo does not have a sky, or has just a small patch of sky. Put another way, if the AI can’t find a sky, there’s no need to use the filter so it gets disabled.
Revisit the AI Sky Enhancer if you significantly adjust Saturation or Vibrance. The sky enhancement will also saturate the blues, and sometimes the double-dose can be too much.
Skylum’s AI approach really intrigues me. I had a private breakout session with Dima Sytnik, CTO and Skylum co-founder, to talk more about it. Dima is a very sharp guy and I am looking forward to seeing more of the targeted AI tools planned for Luminar. I can’t talk more about what is being planned… I can share that the work done for the AI Sky Enhancer filter is just the beginning. The neural processing engine in Luminar now lays a solid foundation for more AI-powered features. To quote Dima, “Expect more innovative AI-powered features in Luminar in the near future.”
Well… my interest is piqued!