Frequently Asked Questions

Luminar 4 is the next generation of our all-in-one image editing and photo management software. Luminar 4 is designed to deliver professional results in less time and to help photographers unlock their best images.

Luminar 4 can be used in three different ways:

• as a comprehensive photo library catalog to help organize and view your images

• as an image editing plug-in for other photo editing tools from Adobe and Apple

• as a standalone image editing application

Early birds are the customers who were among the first 20,000 purchasers of Luminar 4 and pre-ordered their copy up to and including August 7. 

Luminar 4 is expected to ship on November 18, 2019 for Mac and Windows. First 20 000 users who pre-ordered Luminar 4 back in July will be able to download it as soon as November 11 and see for themselves how Luminar 4 creates a completely new editing experience, one that is quick, fun, with stunning results, and giving the user unprecedented control.

Luminar 4 RAW processing is based on our own powerful RAW engine. We regularly update our library and make our own improvements to provide perfect support for new cameras. You can check the full list of supported cameras here.

Luminar 4 is meant to be used by a single person. We’ve discovered that two activations are enough for one person in most cases. For example, at home and at work, or on a desktop and a laptop computer.However, you can always reset your license counter in order to activate Luminar on a different computer if you have already exceeded the limit.Moreover, after the Luminar 4 release, you’ll be able to add more seats to your license for a small fee.

We’ve been collecting and processing artists’ feedback and feature requests for quite some time, and came up with a conclusion that people love easy-to-use tools and automatic enhancements.

We decided to make the development of new AI features our top priority. These tools will save you time and make complex tasks more manageable. However, you remain in complete control with easy to use sliders.  

As a Luminar 4 user, you will have lots of tools that allow you to create beautiful photos more easily. Luminar 4 is going to be more intuitive, logical, and concise. Please stay tuned to know more about the upcoming features.

For Mac:

• MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, iMac Pro, Mac Pro, Mac mini
• Processor Intel 64-bit Core 2 Duo or better
• Mac from early 2010 or newer
• Memory 8 Gb RAM or more
• macOS Mojave 10.14, High Sierra 10.13.1, Sierra 10.12.6. IMPORTANT: Mac OS 10.11 is not supported in Luminar 4. 
  
• Hard disk 10 GB free space, SSD for best performance
• Display 1280x768 size or better
  

For Windows:

• Windows-based hardware PC with mouse or similar input device
• Open GL 3.3 or later compatible Graphics Cards
• Processor Intel Core i5 or better
• Memory 8 Gb RAM or more
• Operating System Windows 7 (only 64-bit OS), Windows 8.1 (only 64-bit OS), Windows 10 (only 64-bit OS)
• Hard disk 10 Gb free space, SSD for best performance
• Display 1280x768 size or better

Yes, Luminar 4 is fully compatible with Mac OS Catalina. 

Please note that the “My Software” section displays the apps that have already been activated.

Once Luminar 4 is released and you activate it with your license, the app will appear in your Skylum account.

Luminar 4 is an upgrade to all previous versions of the Luminar application.

It is perfect for both users of Luminar 3 with Libraries and older versions of Luminar such as Luminar 2018. Users can choose to use the photo editing features with or without the photo library. 

Yes, you will! All customers who purchased Luminar 4 before October 15 will get 1-year SmugMug Portfolio plan.

Luminar 4 is also a giant upgrade for those who use Luminar with Adobe and Apple software.

It is an upgrade to users of Luminar Flex and older versions of the Luminar plug-in. New AI-powered filters will unlock useful creative and time-saving workflows.

Luminar 4 will work as a plug-in for:

• Adobe Photoshop (macOS & Windows)
• Adobe Lightroom Classic (macOS & Windows)
• Adobe Photoshop Elements (macOS & Windows)
• Photos for macOS 
• Apple Aperture (note that Aperture no longer runs in macOS 10.15 or later)

You will be able to use your own sky images in Luminar 4. Still, these photos should meet some special requirements which will be announced later. 

All of our software features 30-day money-back guarantee.

You will have 30 days from when we ship the software to decide if you like it. We also offer free training and support to help you succeed.

If for any reason you aren’t happy, we’ll refund your money for Luminar 4.

With each major release of Luminar, we provide multiple free updates. These add compatibility and speed fixes and a few additional features. However, we also release significant upgrades from time to time that add significant improvements and innovations.

Luminar 4 is a brand new application and plug-in. It features several innovative AI features which bring your editing process to the next level. Researching the market of photo-editing tools, we developed unique technologies to enhance your images like never before. 

We hope you see the value in this new version. Nevertheless, the upgrade is optional. It is up to you whether to stick to your current version or to go ahead with Luminar 4. We always extend a discount on the upgrade to previous owners as our way of saying thank you.

We previously committed to adding more advanced tools to our image library. These include the ability to search through your library to easily find the perfect image. We’re also developing the ability to edit the IPTC metadata of your files so you can update information about your pictures.

These features will come as a free update in 2020 to both Luminar 3 and Luminar 4 users. We’ve spent a great deal of time researching what our customers want on this front.  We are developing a solution that makes it even easier to organize and search for large image libraries. These new features will be added in a free update to Luminar 3 and Luminar 4 next year.