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The Dramatic Tool

The Dramatic tool in Luminar AI adds a cinematic quality to a photo, often with an alluring gritty quality. I like using it on urban landscapes. The results feel like the movies of the 1970s and 1980s (and maybe a Quentin Tarantino film or two :). If you are a portrait photographer, it is also an interesting look for athletic or environmental portraits.

The Dramatic tool has just a few sliders:

• Amount: The overall strength of the look

• Local Contrast: Increase the contrast on smaller details.

• Brightness: Lighten or darken the overall image

• Saturation: Enrich or mute the colors in the photo

Start by raising the Amount slider, watching how the photo changes until you like the look. Then use the other sliders to fine-tune things. By default, Dramatic adds a healthy amount of Local Contrast and desaturates the scene. While you can increase Saturation with this tool, it’s most often used to mute colors. There is also a touch of Brightness added by default.

After setting the Amount, I typically reduce the Brightness slider some and adjust Saturation to suit the photo. My tendency is toward a darker, moodier photo when using the Dramatic tool. Your style, of course, might be different.

Use Masking When Needed

Like most tools in Luminar AI, the Dramatic Tool can be masked. This is helpful when the effect of the Dramatic tool is too powerful for just a portion of the photo.

For example, in this street shot in Tokyo, the desaturated colors from Dramatic worked very well. Using the masking brush in Erase mode, some saturation can be reintroduced into the reds of the samurai’s clothes.

Give Dramatic a try with your next batch of edits.