The algorithms can do some nice things to your photos, but there is no substitute for the creative eye. It is very easy to create ‘idealized’ reality with Luminar AI, which we suspect will be popular with content creators but perhaps controversial too.'ĭid you catch that last part about 'idealized reality'? It was almost mentioned in passing, but I think they are referring to the fact that the built-in AI has a tendency to make all your images look the same if you rely on it too much. 'Luminar AI does exactly what it sets out to do, though, by allowing novice photo editors to inject some magic into their images without the need for a lot of know how to time consuming manual editing. It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen now.' That may disappoint a lot of Luminar fans hoping for an ever more sophisticated and advanced Lightroom or Photoshop alternative. It is ending development of Luminar 4 and taking its core technologies in a new direction. Skylum appears to be moving away from pro photographers and more toward the broader instagram/influencer/content creator market who just want an easy way to add sizzle to a photo without having to learn a lot about editing.įrom the DCW review: 'Skylum has taken a bold step. Luminar AI is actually something different entirely. More importantly, you should understand that Luminar AI is NOT an upgrade from Luminar 4, although it has many features from that program that you will recognize. It's definitely not a substitute for Photoshop or Lightroom.

that's all it's ever going to be for me – a filter or plugin for doing something like sky replacement or detail enhancement. I've had some time to play with Luminar AI and I think it's great as a plugin for achieving certain special effects, but. I will add my own thoughts in a bit, but I suggest you start with a pair of external reviews, this one from Digital Camera World and this one from Digital Photo Mentor.īoth of these reviews echo my own experiences so far so I think they make a good jumping off point for the rest of my comments. Ever since it was released on Monday, I've been getting emails asking me for my opinion of the new Luminar AI program from Skylum.

Lumiar ai