Practical Photography - UK (2020-02)

Minitests

Small accessories that could make a huge difference

EDITING

SKYLUMHASLAUNCHED

th e latestupdatein its Luminar

li ne-up.Withaddedartificial

intelligencefilters– including

thenew AI SkyReplacement

• an d a wealthof portrait
  enhancementtools,Luminar 4
  lo okssetto buildon thegood
  workof its predecessors.

Performance

Visually,Skylumhasremained

fa ithfulto theclassicdesign,

which is bothstraightforward

an d innovative.Thenewfilters

sl idein amongtheprevious

ca tegories,andworkin the

sa mewayas theclassics,

he lpingwiththetransitionfor

us ersof Luminar3. So, on to the

ne w features...

AISkyReplacementmay

so undlikea boldclaim,butit is

a genuinemarvel.Witha single

click, Luminar4 detects,selects

an d insertsa newskyintoa

sc ene.Youcantakeyourpick

fr oma range

of pre-loaded

sk ies,or

importyour

own. Sliders

al lowyou

tofine-tune

as pects,suchas thehorizon,

lig htingeffectsandgradations

tofurtherimprovetheresult.

Duringourtest,we foundthe

in itialselectionto be excellent,

accuratelyselectingaround

di stantmistymountains,

andeasilyworkingaround

th e leavesbetweentreesfor

a naturaleffect.

Lookingto boost its appeal

topeopleshooters,AI Skin

Enhanceris a singlesliderto

re moveblemishesandsmooth

pores.It’sbestusedsparingly

toensurenaturalresults,butis

a usefulfeaturenonetheless.

Ta kingportraitsa stepfurther,

thePortraitEnhancerfilter

of fersa rangeof versatile

options,suchas facereshaping,

ey e bagremovalandlighting

ef fects.It’snotas in-depthas

Photoshopin a professional

ca pacity,butit doesa very

re spectablejobin a fraction

of the time.

AI Structure,thelastof

th e newfilters,usesartificial

in telligenceto identifyareasto

gi ve a clarityboost,andit does

a greatjob.It avoidsaltering

fe aturessuchas skiesandskin,

in steadtargetingbackgrounds

an d landscapeareas.It’seffect

is not asimmediatelyobvious

as withtheprevioustwonew

fe atures,butit’sveryhandyfor

addinginstantpunchto shots.

Beyondthenewfeatures,

everythingelseworksas you’d

ex pect.TheLibraryis simpleto

br owse, and syncs up to your

chosen folders automatically.

Older AI tools have now been

refined, and are better than their

previous incarnations, and there

are more Looks – Luminar’s

version of presets – than before.

Verdict

Skylum has been quietly refining

AI tech for a while now, and with

this latest round of innovations,

it feels like it has matured.

The AI Sky Replacement filter

is worth the price alone. If you

find editing drab landscapes

a ch ore,thisis an essential

additionto youreditingammo.

Portraitistscannowlookat this

as a viable suite – adding in

new features to cover one of its

traditionally weaker spots.

Luminar 4 can be used as

either a standalone software,

or a plug-in for Photoshop,

Elements or Lightroom, as a

useful addition to your current

range of editing tools. It may not

appeal to users who like to do

everything from scratch, but

others will love the easy-to-

master, powerful results it helps

to create. skylum.com

Above The AI Sky Replacement selection does an impressive job.

Skylum

Luminar 4

£81

MAC

OS 10.12 +

8GB RAM

WINDOWS

Windows 7+

8GB RAM

136 PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHY

HIG H LY

R ATED

Above Skylum has added even more impressive

AI Filters to its latest Luminar 4 software.

Above The AI Skin Enhancer

helps to improve portrait shots.