Imagecredit:Adobe,Skylum/HʋʢɚKʝɦWɛ
Use Luminar
as a plug-in
“Whyuseoneappwhenyoucan
use two? Luminar can now be
usedasa Photoshopplug-in”uminar is one of our
favourite image editing
apps, and takes a slightly
differentapproach to Adobe. That
firm’sPhotoshop apps enable you to
editphotos in many ways, cut them
up,apply special effects and blend
images together, as well as altering
an image’s colour balance, brightness
and contrast. Luminar is less flashy,
but applying its tools across every
image you shoot.
Luminar is non-destructive, so all
the edits you make are stored in a
database file alongside the image file
rather than being written over the
top of it. This enables you to go back
to the original at any time.
The latest version of Luminar –
Luminar Flex – can run alongside
Photoshop and Photoshop Elements
as a plug-in, enabling you to
combine both apps’ tools. Free trials
of Luminar and Photoshop Elements
areavailable,sodocheckthemout.1 Installation options
If you’re starting from scratch, install Luminar Flex after
you’ve finished installing your image-editing apps, so the plug-ins
register correctly. During installation, you’ll be asked which apps
are on your PC, so tick the boxes that apply. Once installed, you’ll
see nothing has changed apart from a new shortcut on your
desktop. You can still use Elements without opening Luminar.2 Use as a standalone app
Double-clicking that shortcut opens an app that looks like
Luminar 3’s Edit mode. Luminar can be a bit baffling at first, as it
doesn’t follow the conventions of image-editing apps, such as
having a toolbar on the left. There are bars at the top, bottom and
right, however, housing all you need to change your photos,
including a layering system almost identical to that in Elements.Step-by-step Edit images with Luminar Flex
<ʝʦɠʔʦLȫɏ,ʋɚ(ɃʑQȫʑɚVʋ\ɡLOOKS
One-shot edits that
can radically change
your image.L
Anyonecandoit
Straightforward
Trickyin partsWindows 10
Windows8.1
Windows^7At a glance
Skill level...
Suitable for...
24 |^ |^ June 2019