Gary J Sibio
Luminar is intended to be a replacement for the Develop module of Photoshop’s Lightroom program. (Library and cataloging will be added in the near future according to Macphun. The Mac version of the program was introduced in 2016. This is the company’s first Windows software.
Luminar works on RAW files. It features a wide variety of tools, over 300 at present, including over 50 presets that are selected by clicking on thumbnails located along the bottom of the screen and 40 filters. These can be fine-tuned. It will also do RAW conversions. Editing is non-destructive. More features will be added until the program is released which is scheduled to happen later in 2017.
To download a copy of the Windows Public Beta, click here.
Enter your email address and click the ‘Get Luminar Beta’ button. The installation program comes as a ZIP file. They will send you an activation code.
Video tutorials can be found here.
I downloaded the beta and installed it. It only took a few minutes and was effortless. The program started quickly. I loaded the test image which came with the program and ran through the presets. Presets are selected by clicking on the labeled thumbnails at the bottom of the screen. Fine-tuning can be done by adjusting the sliders on the right-hand side.
There are a wide variety which seem to be presented in no logical order. However, if you click on the infinity button in the lower right corner, it groups them into six groups which can be viewed.
There are several different black and white conversion options including color pop.
If you are running Windows, give it a try. I could not find anything about how much they will be charging for the final release but, in the meantime, you have a nice free program. There is a public group (Macphun Photography) where you can get some help.
Text © 2017 Gary J. Sibio. All rights reserved.
This program sounds very interesting.
I only got a copy last night so I haven’t had much of a chance to play with it. It seems to be a good choice for people who want to edit their photos but not put in the time to learn Photoshop.