Luminar 4 is Coming This Fall with Some Exciting New Tools

Posted on September 18, 2019 by DanSeptember 18, 2019

Skylum software has announced the next generation of Luminar and they’ve given us a sneak peek at some of the amazing new tools that will be included in the program. (You can preorder the software for a special discounted price here)

I’ve loved using Luminar since the first day it launched, and it’s been a real joy to watch the software progress over the past three years. I’m amazed at where they’ve taking things, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I’ve met three of the lead developers, and there all brilliant engineers with backgrounds in science and technology. Really smart guys.

They’re also dedicated to making sure that Fuji users are well supported. All the Fuji models work with Luminar and the program does a great job with the X-Trans RAW files, which, as we know, is something that not every software can boast. Images retain a high level of detail and don’t produce the kinds of false colors and “snuggles” that are often seen in Adobe programs.

What I like most about the programs that it allows me to work the way I want to, which usually translates to: “I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this editing stuff…” In other words, I want great results and wide creative flexibility with a minimal amount of time, and with Luminar I get both of those.

I’m kind of a quick thinker and I tend to go with my gut much of the time. I typically don’t like to dwell on decisions; when I get an idea, I’ll usually run with it and not overthink the process. With photography, I like to run with the creative ideas and excitement that come to me right when I’m right there experiencing the scene.

While some people very much enjoy the editing process, I just don’t like to spend a lot of time sliding sliders and doing computer processing work. If I do want to tweak my photos and give them a bit more life, I prefer to do it quickly rather than get lost in the rabbit hole of a nearly infinite combination of possible adjustments.

With Luminar, I can eyeball the palette of possible looks at the bottom of the screen, and if one strikes my fancy, I’ll select and dial it in until I get the results I want. If I need to adjust even more, or if there’s a specific look I’m going for, I can use up one of the many creative filters/tools, many of which are made up of just one or two simple adjustments.

In addition, each tool also has a little thumbnail image example and description that shows you exactly what it does. This makes it even easier to find, select and apply the right tool to match the problem you’re trying to solve, or achieve the creative look you’re going for.

Advanced AI Tools and Custom Workspaces

One of Luminar’s signature feature are their AI (artificial intelligence) tools. These tools use complicated algorithms to analyze your image so that you can use a single slider to adjust the entire photo.

It’s amazing how well these tools actually work. Often times, a simple AI adjustment is all that’s needed in order to give your photos the boost they need to make them look awesome. Imagine how much time this can save in your workflow.

Of course, if you want to dig in and spend a lot of time editing, you can do that too. With a collection of 70+ presets (called Looks) and over 50 professional-grade adjustment tools, including Crop, Denoise, Structure, Details Enhancer, Sharpening, BW Conversion, HSL, Adjustable Gradient and LUT Mapping, as well as Masks and Layers, Clone, Erase and a powerful RAW engine, you can fix, edit, tweak, refine, process, restore and add brilliance in whatever way you want.

Add in the option of using Custom Workspaces, and you can personalize your workflow or set up different tool combinations to match specific types of images or your own editing preferences.

Coming in Luminar 4

Now, as they march forward and improve the program even more, Skylum software has announced the next generation of Luminar and they’ve given us a sneak peek at some of the amazing new tools that will be included in the next update.

AI Structure

The one I’m most excited about inside the forthcoming Luminar 4 is the new AI Structure Tool. Expanding on the power of their existing AI processing tools, the AI Accent Filter and the AI Sky Enhancer, the new AI Structure gives you the power to boost details and add definition to your photo without compromising in the areas where you don’t want it.

Global tools such as Clarity and Structure work really well to enhance details and increase the drama to your image, except when they don’t.

While these tools work great with certain types of subject matter in your image, they can also present real problems by adding halos, artifacts and distortion in some areas, and they don’t always look great when used on people.

These problems are magnified when you’re including people in your photos. Making big moves with the Clarity and Structure slider can look great for the background, but they often look horrible on people. Solving these problems often requires using masks or adjustment layers… which takes time.

Luminar’s new AI Structure Tool uses “content-aware” technology to determine which parts of the photo should be left out of the sharpening process, and which should be enhanced.

The result, is that your backgrounds are accentuated with added richness and definition, but your people and other vital subjects are not overprocessed. They’ll still look natural, and you won’t have to go in and try to fix problems and cover up artifacts.

And, as with any of Luminar’s other slider-based tools, you have precise control over the entire effect, because you can apply as much or as little as needed for the look you’re going for in your image.

AI Skin Enhancer and AI Portrait Enhancer

After you fix bump up the background, you can use the new AI Skin and Portrait Enhancer to refine the people in your shot. As with their other AI tools, these new additions use “Human-Aware” algorithms and adjustments to dramatically speed up the process of improving portraits.

These tools let you perform the exact same kinds of retouching functions that wedding and portrait photographers have been doing manually for years, but, in much less time.

Automatically removing slight skin blemishes, smoothing, and adding contrast to eyes and eyelashes, the AI Skin Enhancer lets you apply these corrections in a fraction of the time, and dial in the exact amount of adjustment to fit your image.

The AI Portrait Enhancer is an set of eight tools that allow you make a variety of adjustments and improve the overall look of your portraits with just a few sliders. Again, with customizable options like Face-Aware Lighting, Eye-Improvement, Eyebrows, Lips and Teeth Advancement, this lets you make the kinds of adjustment that studio and portrait photographers have been doing for years inside Photoshop.

Instead of having to resort to complicated selections, layers and masks, or outsourcing these task to outside retouching services, as many photographers do, these tools let you accomplish the tasks in seconds and potentially save you hours of extra work and money.

Apparently, these kinds of tools have been high on the list of requested features from Luminar users, so it’s awesome to see the company respond with such useful additions to the software.

AI Sky Replacement

Ok, I’ll say it right up front, this is usually not something I’m interested in doing. Replacing the sky in my photos is just not in my vernacular. However, I’ve have clients do it to my photos, and I know that there are a lot of photographers, both pro and amateur, who do this. The reality is that if you’re trying to sell your photos, they need to look as good as possible, and sometime that means doing some major doctoring.

At any rate, the technology is pretty amazing. Luminar already has the AI Sky Enhancer Tool, which is pretty cool. I’ve used that one on numerous occasions. This just takes it one step further.

Let’s say, for whatever reason, you do want to replace a sky. Normally, you’d have to draw a pretty complicated selection and mask the area. That takes time, and depending on how busy your foreground is, it might end up looking sloppy.

Then there’s the matter of lighting. So you replace a drab sky with a brilliant sunset. Suddenly, you have a horrendously obvious mismatch of light between the sky and the foreground.

Luminar’s new AI Sky Replacement doesn’t just add in the new sky, it does a variety of complicated analyzation and under-the-hood refinement, including making the initial mask, detecting the horizon line, and using tools like Smart Selection, Luminosity Masking, Overlaying, Layers, Masking and Color Range to detect and correctly match the lighting on your scene.

It’s even smart enough to match the depth of field, which makes it usable for a variety of situations and styles. The end result is a photo that looks remarkably accurate, and it only took you a couple of mouse clicks instead of hours of extra time that you don’t have.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are nothing new, they’ve been around in photography for years. Back in the 90’s when cameras start to get really smart, things like Matrix Metering used pre-programmed databases and algorithms that analyzed your scene and applied the best possible exposure. Continuous Autofocus does a similar thing, but with distance and movement.

Other types of creative software uses AI functions as well, and with excellent results. Take music software for instance:

I have a degree in recording engineer, so I know all about compression and equalization, but software presets that automatically apply the exact optimum amount of audio processing makes it really easy, and saves me a ton of time… time I can use to play more guitar or try to write more songs, instead of tweaking virtual knobs.

I’m the same way with photography these days. Even though I know how to work all those sliders in Lightroom and Photoshop, I love using the AI tools and the presets inside Luminar, which are called “Looks.” They allow me to preview and apply the exact style to my image I’m going for and dial in great looking adjustments just a few brief seconds.

Luminar’s whole approach from day one has been based the idea of making your photos look great, and letting you do it really fast. Given that most people would rather spend more time taking pictures than processing them, it’s no surprise that Luminar has won numerous industry awards and has been embraced by over half million photographers.

Luminar 4 is due to be released this fall. It works as both a standalone program or as a plug-in for both Mac and PC: You can either use it with the Library module to organize your entire photo library, or use it inside Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and Apple Photos. It works great either way.

If you order through this link, you’ll get a special discounted price on either the new version, or the upgrade.

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My 5 Favorite Cyclocross Photos from This Past Weekend

Posted on September 16, 2019 by DanSeptember 16, 2019

The cyclocross season continues, with our second Anchorage race of the series taking place this past Saturday, which, of course, meant another great opportunity for some action photography.

As always, I spent a good two hours running around with my camera like a spaz, looking for cool vantage points and experimenting with different lenses and looks as I photographed the racers with my Fujifilm X-T3.

Since I shoot this sport regularly almost every fall, I try to come at it with a slightly different approach each time. I’ll play around with different film simulations and color palettes, I’ll use a variety of lenses, or maybe I’ll shoot a race with just one lens, and sometimes I’ll even use different cameras, formats and aspect ratios.

For this week’s race, I brought four lenses with me: the XF14mm f/2.8, which is my favorite Fuji wide angle, the darling little XF35mm f/2 WR, which I find to be incredibly versatile, the XF50mm f/2 WR, which I absolutely love, and the supremely sharp XF90mm f/2 WR, which, by all counts, is truly a special piece of glass.

To make things interesting, I switched to a new lens for each lap. This kept things fresh and it reminded me of the compositional strengths that each focal length offers. It also gave me a chance to brush up on my skills, because nothing hones your chops like regular practice.

I shot about 1,200 frames during Saturday’s race, often using the awesome PRE-SHOT ES feature on the X-T3. Here are my five favorites, with a little bit of behind-the-scenes explanation for each one.

1. Jumping The Barriers

Early in the race, I grabbed a shot of my friend Pat Crabbe as he jumped the barriers under the waterpower. Pat is one of those “upper 50s and fit as hell” guys that I aspire to be like when I grow up. I’ve raced with him in the mountain bike series and he smokes me every time.

For this shot, I used a low vantage point with the XF35mm f/2, which gave me the classic “hero shot” look. Shooting low, especially with normal to wide lenses can often add a lot of drama to your people images. The 35 worked well, because it kept the scene tight, and the subject sharp, while creating enough separation between him and the background.

I used the ACROS film simulation on my X-T3 and a little bit of the warm toning effect, which is found on the X-T3 and X-T30. This is one of my favorite creative settings on the X-T3, and I make heavy use of it on a regular basis. I’ve even put this setting at the top of my “My Menu” folder, so I can access it with just one click.

2. The Run-Up

The run-up in Saturday’s race was particularly grueling, especially after about five or six laps. (I did eight total). Here’s my friend James Frederick chasing Pat and another racer on about the 3rd lap.

The XF50mm f/2 WR short telephoto gave me a nice tight view and a very shallow field of focus. In fact, the only thing that’s sharp in this frame is the tiny patch of leaves by James’s foot in the lower right corner.

Shot as part of a series at 11 frames per second, this ended up being my favorite, even though it’s mostly out of focus. Call it a happy accident.

For whatever reason, the camera’s AF system decided to grab something other than the center of the frame for this brief moment. Maybe my own highly erratic movement in trying to capture this highly energetic, fast moving scene caused me to blow it. Maybe it’s because the vertical orientation AF (Store AF Mode by Orientation setting) had the zone positioned in the lower right part of the frame.

Who knows. Either way, I love how it looks. Sometimes you can get away this kind of thing. Here, we know exactly what’s going on, and even if the racers aren’t sharp, the message of this scene comes across loud and clear.

In fact, that section of sharp leaves in the lower right corner does pull your eye, and with James’s foot being right there, it sets up a nice pathway for your eyes to track up his long diagonal leg. The combination of focus, softness, angle and prominent subject matter create a lot of motion in the image.

3. Pavement Sprint

Although the average cyclocross race takes place in the dirt, mud and grass, traditionally cyclocross races feature at least some pavement. During Saturday’s race, there was a long, 500-meter straightaway on the pavement to after a long singletrack section in the woods.

This was a nice way to break up from the sketchy gravel, the relentless roots, the soul-sucking run-up and the wipe-out potential of the tight forest trail. Of course, it also provided a key place to pass and be passed, so it’s not like you could really let up much on this “rest section.”

Here, I positioned myself at the edge of the road with the XF14mm f/2.8 lens and used the Classic Chrome film simulation with a shutter speed of 1/27 second, panning forwards to back in line with the racers. It’s pretty blurry, but the message of speed definitely comes through.

4. In The Woods

Who doesn’t love a good panning shot, especially when you nail it? They key to getting a successful pan is having a good mix of sharp and blur, and this one has just the right contrast in the places where it counts.

As you can see, the rider’s upper body is pretty sharp, and his expression is clearly visible. At the same time, there’s a lot of separation between him and the background. The leaves add nice contrast and the motion of the pan itself is quite pleasing. And, that patch of white at the top right acts like a spotlight to highlight his face. That part was just luck.

This was also shot with the XF14mm f/2.8 lens, using that low-angle “hero shot” technique. It’a a classic illustration why wide angles make for great action lenses.

5. Katrina in the Woods

Yet another picture made with the XF14mm f/2.8 lens. This time, I’m using it to get really close, so I can feature the rider prominently in the frame, and and still show off the environment of the scene.

My friend Katrina has worked really hard at her cycling skills during the past couple of years, so it’s really exciting for me to grab a shot like this and make her look like such a badass. I love making my friends look like heroes, and since I’m photographing many of my friends during these weekly races, that actually drives a lot of my motivation.

I was pretty psyched to find this exposed downhill corner. I knew that people would have very focused expressions as they whipped around the bend. There wasn’t much room on the trail, and I had stuffed myself right at the edge, which was another reason the wide lens worked so well here.

I also love the timeless feel that the warm-toned black and white imparts on this picture. I used a few more clicks towards the warm side than what was used on the first “barrier” picture above. I think the pronounced warm tone works really well with all of the foliage and it adds a lot of drama to the photo.

There you have it, my five favorite shots from Saturday’s cyclocross race, all shot with the Fujifilm X-T3, all made with small, compact Fuji primes and all made with a maximum excitement and passion, knowing that after that it would be my turn to race.

If you want to see more cyclocross shots, click here to see the photos from last week’s race.

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The Science and Creativity of Using Color in Your Photography

Posted on September 10, 2019 by DanSeptember 15, 2019

I’ve long been fascinated with the concepts of how our evolution as human beings plays a part in our artistic tendencies and creative habits.

Throughout the span of human history, we humans have expressed ourselves with artistic representations and depictions of our lives and our world, and a significant element of our creative endeavors is geared around the use of color.

As with many of the behaviors and tendencies we exhibit our lives, our use of color is closely tied to both our biological evolution and our cultural history, which reflects thousands of years of evolution.

As early humans began migrating and exploring much more diverse and complex environments, we were suddenly faced with a vast increase in the amount of visual information we were taking in. This required a dramatic increase in visual processing power. Here’s a geeky, yet fascinating paper that talks about the correlation between our visual specialization and brain evolution.

Consequently, our brains grew much more powerful to the point where 30% of the of neurons in our cerebral cortex are devoted to visual processing, and 80% of all visual processing done in our brains is devoted to color recognition.

Color recognition played a big part in our big brain evolution, and in fact, it’s one of the most fundamental aspects that separates us from most other mammals.

Where the majority of mammals on the planet can only recognize two of the primary colors in what we know as the visual spectrum, we humans evolved with what’s called Trichromatic Vision. Possessing three types of cone cell receptors in our eyes that are geared towards recognizing the colors red, green and blue.

RGB. Do these letters sound familiar?

The man difference is that evolved with the ability to easily recognize the color red. Given that many of the things in nature that are red are either things we can eat or dangerous things that we tend to avoid, our ability to quickly spot red played a huge role in helping us stay safe and well fed.

Combining Biology with Culture

In addition to our genetic evolution, we humans are also heavily influenced by our rich cultural history that spans thousands of years of civilization. Color has always played a large part in our cultural traditions and moods, and when you combine our biological and societal history, it’s easy to see the important role that color plays in nearly every aspect of outlives.

USING COLOR to EVOKE MOOD

There is multitude of ways we can use color in our photographs to evoke certain moods and visual response from our viewers. Here are a few essential tips to get you started.

Blue

Technically, there is almost nothing in nature that is the color blue. However, due to the ways that we perceive the scattering and diffusion of short blue light wavelengths, we associate blue as being the color of the sky and the ocean. And glaciers.

For this reason, blue is perceived as being a noble, highly dignified color that projects feelings of calm and tranquility.

Green

The predominant color of nature, grass, and vegetation, green evokes a timeless feeling in your images.

If you combine green with blue, you’ll create a serene, subdued image that projects endless tranquility.

Red

Red is the color of blood, the distinctive marking on a black widow spider and things like berries, apples and ripe tomatoes. Red incites energy and an immediate sense of heightened emotion.

As I mentioned above, our ability to see red so clearly marks one of the fundamental characteristics of our advanced human visual systems. Using a small splash of red in your photos will catch the attention of your viewers and draw them right into the image.

For this reason, red is very eye catching in photos. You can’t avoid looking at the red thing, even it’s just a small part of the image. However, due to a specific chemical depletion in our cone cells that occurs when we view large amounts of red for a long period of time, too much red will incite eye fatigue, and create weird optical illusions.

This isn’t to say that you should never make photos with an all red color palette, you just need to do it sparingly and use an effective composition. If it’s done right, it can generate a powerful viewer response.

Note, like red, orange can also be used as an effective spot color.

Yellow

Yellow is the brightest color in the spectrum, and it’s the most stimulating and fatiguing color to look at. Even more so than red.

Things in our world that are yellow are meant to be looked at, like school busses and warning signs. For this reason, you can use yellow as a spot color and visual target to draw your viewer’s eye right into image.

Pink

Lying between hot red and cool violet on the color wheel, pink is perceived as a warm color. You’ll find that you can be very bold with pink. It commands a lot of attention but it doesn’t incite the same level of eye fatigue as red does.

In landscapes, pink is often the color of sunset light and it can add a lot of richness to your photos, even when used in large amounts. I love using pink in my photographs, especially my mountain aerials.

You’ll find that orange behaves much like pink in the sense that you can use it in large amounts without inciting eye fatigue.

COLOR COMBINATIONS

You can combine colors in your image to achieve powerful visual effects. Anytime you use primary or secondary colors together, or if you use complimentary colors together, (opposites on the color wheel), you’ll create please images that retain the viewers attention.

These kinds of colors are highly attractive to us, and so we want to see them. When used correctly, then can command an equal amount of attention, and this creates strong visual relationships that draw our eyes back and forth across the image.

With all of the colors in our world, there is an endless variation to how you can arrange them in your photography. As with any compositional technique, it takes practice to get a feel for what colors work well together and how to position them in your frame for maximum visual impact.

Keep in mind, there are no hard and fast rules here, so feel free to experiment with your use of color and see what works for you in your quest to communicate your creative ideas.

Watch the companion video to this blog post and see more image examples of how I use color in my own photography. For more compositional ideas, be sure to check out my eBook Making The Image: A Conceptual Guide To Creating Stronger Photographs.

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