Use Aurora HDR for free for 14 days.
ï»żï»żï»żFilters are how you can adjust the exposure, color, contrast, and style of your image in Luminar. The proper use of filters can significantly improve your image. Each filter is designed to solve specific problems or enhance an image in a particular way.
Applying a Filter
In order to adjust an image in Luminar, youâll need to apply a filter. There are several ways to do this for an image. You can choose the workflow that fits your personal style.
Single View Mode for Filters
Working with several filters can get a little bit crowded (especially if working on a smaller screen like a laptop). There is a useful mode to help you see just the filter youâre working with. Itâs called Single View mode and you can find it under the View menu.
1. Make sure an image is open in Luminar.
2. Click the Workspace menu and choose a Workspace such as Professional.
3. Enable Single View mode by choosing View> Single View Mode. Itâs active if thereâs a checkbox next to its name.
4. Now click on the disclosure triangle next to one filterâs controls and make an adjustment.
5. Switch to another filter and click its disclosure triangle in order to edit. The previous controls should close and the new ones open.
Single View Mode makes it easy to just see the controls youâre actively using in the side panel. Consider using this mode to reduce clutter on the screen.
An Overview Of Filters
To help you get the most from Luminarâs filters, youâll find a detailed guide that explains the major features of each. Some filters have similar controls so you may notice that certain Filters have parts that perform similarly. Filters are grouped into different categories. based on function. All filters share some standard controls. At the top of each filter youâll find:
At the bottom of each filter youâll find:
Essential Filters
The essential filter are some of the most frequently used in Luminar. These filters perform core adjustments that are useful for most images.
Accent AI Filter
This filter automatically analyzes your image and instantly corrects it. Under the hood, more than a dozen controls are in use. This effect tends to yield naturally beautiful results with one simple slider. The Accent AI Filter can substitute for many traditional controls like shadows, highlights, contrast, tone, saturation, exposure, details and others.
AI Sky Enhancer
The AI Sky Enhancer allows you to get beautiful skies almost instantly with artificial intelligence and a single slider. Luminar analyzes and detects the sky in an image to improve the texture, tone, and colors of the sky itself. The filter can recognize sky in most photos as well as distinguish between water and other elements in a photograph. It also detects the objects in the foreground and their edges for perfect masking.
As you move the slider, AI Sky Enhancer performs the necessary improvements, selectively adjusting brightness and contrast, saturation and vividness, alongside recovering the details and improving the textures of the sky and clouds. The AI Sky Enhancer is designed to work with most photographs of skies and works from blue hour in the morning to the blue hour in the evening. The filter is not designed to work with night skies.
Just like a professional photographer, AI Sky Enhancer treats different images differently. It applies a custom set of adjustments to a sky in a photo, depending on the look of that particular sky. This means that a blue sky will get a treatment far different from a grey sky, and a sunset sky will be enhanced differently from a mid-morning one.
Note
If the controls are grayed out after applying the filter, the artificial intelligence could not recognize the sky in the photo. Skies that are very out of focus or blurred may not be detected automatically.
Tip
If you apply a preset look that uses the AI Sky Enhancer filter and no sky is detected, Luminar will skip the adjustment. This allows you to create your own custom preset looks containing the AI Sky Enhancer filter and still apply them to images whether they include any sky or not.
Black & White Conversion
The B&W Conversion filter converts a color photo to black & white. It also contains a number of controls to manipulate the monochrome look.
Develop & Raw Develop
The Develop and Raw Develop filter let you adjust the primary image. This filter is usually run first. To learn more about it, see the section titled "How to Develop a RAW Photo.â
Saturation/Vibrance
This filter is a useful way to control the Intensity of colors in a photo. It is often used in conjunction with Exposure or Tone adjustments.
Structure
This tool allows adjusting of image detail and clarity. Using this tool you can get a classic HDR effect with great detail or get a smoother picture with less detail. This is the main tool to increase contrast of the image and visualize more details in the image.
Amount. The strength of the effect. By moving the slider to the right, the amount of visible detail in the image increases. Moving the slider to the left will cause the image to lose detail and flatten. The âzero stateâ in the middle means that the amount is not applied by default.
Softness. Controls the overall softness of structure and textures in the image. Moving the slider to the left will cause parts of the image to become less smooth and more unrealistic. This produces the so-called classic view of the HDR effect. Moving the slider to the right, on the contrary, the details become more global and the image is more realistic. This is very useful slider to adjust realistic details.
Boost. Adjusts the overall display of details. When moving the slider to the left, the images will become more realistic and âcalm." Moving the slider to the right will accentuate details and make the image more unrealistic.
Tone
The Tone effect is a precise way to adjust overall brightness and contrast. It helps to provide tonal balance and a unique signature style to your photos. Tone is one of the most important filters to give your photos the necessary look. This filter is similar to the Develop filter. However you may have only one instance of the Develop filter in a recipe, you can have multiple instances of Tone.
A recommended workflow is to start with a light touch with Exposure and Contrast, then Smart Tone. Then proceed to setting Shadows and Highlights and finally fine tune the contrast of the image using the Whites and Blacks sliders.
Note
Whites and Blacks can be used to fine-tune of contrast of the image. Strong raised Shadows can lead to a strong dark areas and loss of contrast.
Vignette
A Vignette darkens or lightens the edges of your image. This is quite an old technique to emphasize the accents on photos. The effect typically leaves the central area unaffected while the edges are shaded or lightened. Luminar goes further by letting you place the center point of the vignette anywhere in the image you like.
Note
This tool allows you to highlight key points in the photo, making it more interesting. A slight edges shading always provokes the viewer's eye to consider the lighter central part of the photo. For a realistic picture, donât lower the Amount below -50. As a rule, this effect is used only with darker shading. Highlights are rarely used except for some vintage looks.
Issue Fixers Filters
This set of filters is designed to solve image problems. They are useful to enhance detail, sharpen an image or remove glare and unwanted color. These filters can be useful to compensate for camera issues or challenges in the shooting environment.
Clarity
Adjusts the overall image clarity. By increasing the value of the slider, the number of visible details increases. If values are much larger, halos may appear on the contrast edges of the image. A best practice is to be careful when raising the value of the slider above 50.
Dehaze
This filter provides a proprietary blend of contrast, clarity and color adjustments to help eliminate the effects of fog and haze often found in cityscapes, landscapes and aerial photos. It's especially helpful when editing photos shot through glass or if there is a lot of mist or fog in the scene.
Denoise
Upon close inspection, you may notice unwanted and distracting noise or grain in your digital image. Often, This is typically caused by shooting photos with a high ISO setting on a digital camera, but it can also be caused by underexposure or a long shutter speed. A lower-quality consumer camera is also more likely to exhibit noise problems. Fortunately Luminar offers an easy filter to reduce or remove noise.
Details Enhancer
The Details Enhancer filter helps you create dramatic photos and brings crystal-clear sharpness to your images. With the proper detail enhancement, you can make your photos look great and sharp with no halos or extra artifacts.
Foliage Enhancer
Enhances the colors of foliage and greenery automatically, making them more vivid and natural. A good choice for nature and lush landscape images.
Hue. Modifies the hue of the affected foliage. Useful to dial in the right amount of green.
Amount. This controls how strong the adjustment is for the image.
Polarizing Filter
On a camera, a polarizing filter can provide more color depth and cuts atmospheric haze, resulting in richer, bluer skies. The same holds true with the Polarizing Filter in Luminar. The effect will produce deeper blue skies and more contrast in clouds. With a light touch of this filter, almost any landscape image can be improved.
Note
It is not recommended to use this tool on night photos or images with no sky in them. Most times, keeping the effect intensity under +50 will yield the best results.
Remove Color Cast
Automatically removes undesirable color casts in your images by detecting and adjusting the hue. You can also make manual adjustments to fine tune the result.
Sharpening
The Sharpening Filter helps focus soft edges in a photo to increase clarity or focus. Use this tool to significantly improve image quality. Keep in mind that too much sharpening can give your photo a grainy look. Please note: on most screens sharpening results can be seen at 100% or more Zoom.
Creative Filters
The Creative Filters are designed to unlock mood or emotion in an image. A wide range of choices can be used as individual filters or in combination to create new looks.
Brilliance/Warmth
Use the Brilliance/Warmth filter to a. dd rich color and warmth to any scene. The filter offers very responsive controls which makes it easy to use. Positive values can be used to warm the image. Plus you can use negative values to tone down an image as well.
ĐĄross Processing
Reproduces a color cross-processing effect once commonly used in developing film to create unnatural color and interesting contrast shifts.
Dramatic
The Dramatic filter is a creative filter that lowers saturation and increases contrast, helping to achieve a gritty cinematic look in your photos, similar to the darkroom technique âBleach Bypass.â It is often used in stylized fashion shoots, urban images, or grungy athletic portraits.
Fog
Allows you to add a strong softening or blurring effect to part of your photo, simulating the high humidity weather phenomenon commonly known as âFogâ. You can add Light Fog or Dark Fog to an image and adjust its intensity with the Amount slider.
Golden Hour
Use the Golden Hour filter to bring warmth, softness, and golden glow to all of your photos. Simply dial in the amount of warm toning using the Amount slider and use the Saturation slider to introduce an even more overall color vibrancy. Quickly emulate the magic that happens just after sunrise or just before sunset.
Grain
Emulates the structure of analog film stock by introducing a random, stylized grain into your image. Keep in mind that grain and photo noise are different things. Use grain to give your color and black & white photos a cool analog feel.
High Key
Emulates the look of a high key lighting set-up where the main light source slightly overexposes the subject. This produces bright high contrast images. Often used in Fashion & Beauty photography.
Hue Shift
This filter lets you roll the hue in a photo for subtle or dramatic changes. A little is perfect to eliminate unwanted color tints while a big adjustment is perfect for dramatic style.
Image Radiance
This filter provides for an overall âdreamyâ look to your image by softening image luminescence, and increasing contrast & saturation. It can create a dreamy, fantasy look for photos by increasing contrast and adding a creative glow, prioritized to the lighter areas of the image.
Note
At a low setting, this effect will give the image more contrast and can increase color in the image. Use the Smart Colorize slider for better control.
Matte Look
This filter can give your photos an aged look with flat color and high contrast. This works well for both landscape and portraits to change the emotion of your image.
Orton Effect
The Orton Effect allows enhancements to an image that includes glow and focus which produces photos that are sharp and blurry at the same time. This is a great way to add a unique look to your photos.
Soft Focus
This filter emulates a soft focus lens effect or diffusion material placed across your lens. It is perfect for adding a creative glow to portrait and wedding photos.
Soft Glow
This effect us useful for creating a lighting effect in photos. It is especially useful for bright areas in your image such as streetlights or sky.
Split Toning
A powerful creative tool, Split Toning offers the ability to introduce color toning to black and white images. Toning a black and white image can transform the mood of the resulting image and also help in some printing processes.
Sun Rays
Add a whole new light source to your photo, the sun! You can control its position, the warmth, and amount of glow for a subtle or even dramatic change in lighting. Combine the filter with blending modes for even more control to your lighting.
Texture Overlay
Enables custom images and textures to be blended as a layer into the current image. Textures can easily give your photos new unique looks, especially when youâre trying to achieve a vintage or grungy look.
Professional Filters
For complete control over your image, professional filters allow fo precise adjustments. This filters offer more control for fine adjustments in an image.
Advanced Contrast
Precisely adjusts tonal contrast with six distinct controls spanning highlights, midtones and shadows, making for more detailed results.
1. Use the Highlights, Midtones, and Shadows sliders to refine the amount of contrast in each zone. Dragging to the right increases contrast.
2. Use the three Balance sliders to define the midpoint for each zone. This allows you to refine which area is treated as a Shadow, Midtone, and Highlight.
Channel Mixer
Digital images are comprised of Red, Green, and Blue information. These components are called channels and if they are not balanced properly an image can show color casts. By modifying channels you can choose to emphasize or deemphasize certain details. The Channel Mixer filter allows fine-tuning adjustments and mixing of the Red, Green and Blue color channels (RGB) to create highly customized images. Many users will also use the effect in combination with their black & white conversions workflows.
TIP
If you press and hold the Option key and click on a slider value in the sidebar, moving the cursor to the left and right will let you set the values of the slider with high accuracy. Slider sensitivity is higher than with its normal movement. This allows you to fine-tune to small numeric values.
ĐĄolor Balance
The Color Balance filter is useful to change the overall mixture of colors in an image for general color correction. It can also be used for creative control within different tonal regions of an image.
Color Contrast
This filter lets you choose a color range to which to apply contrast. The color selected will cause objects of that color to become lighter, while opposite colors on color wheel will become darker. This effect can help make flat images pop based on the colors in the image.
TIP
Double click on any slider name resets the value to the default. In most cases, double-clicking returns it to 0.
ĐĄurves
One of the most powerful tools for adjusting tones to brighten, darken, add contrast and shift colors. Curves can usually be applied to all channels together in an image, or to each channel individually. Curves can help you manually fine-tune the brightness and contrast of the image.
Most users will either use Curves a lot or they wonât use it at all. The Curves interface is a bit complex and allows for up to 10 control points. This can significantly open up more options when adjusting color and exposure. The primary advantage of Curves is that you have precise control over which points get mapped for tonal adjustment.
Dodge & Burn
Dodge & Burn tools are known as toning tools. They allow for finer control over lightening or darkening an image. These tools simulate traditional techniques used by photographers. In a darkroom, the photographer would regulate the amount of light on a particular area of a print.
1. To Dodge and Burn, apply the Dodge & Burn filter in the Filters list.
2. Click the Start Painting button to open up your canvas.
3. Choose either the Lighten or Darken tools in the top Toolbar to select the desired brush.
4. Use the Size slider in the Toolbar to control how large the brush is.
5. Use the Strength slider to control its impact.
6. If you get an accidental stroke, the Erase tool can be used to remove it.
7. Click Reset if you need to start over.
8. Click Done to apply the adjustment.
9. Use the Amount slider in the filter control group to further refine the global intensity of the filter and blend it back with the original image.
NOTE
This is a tool that is meant to be used creatively and by feeling. It is more about the looks and results than it is specific numbers and sliders. Feel free to experiment as you can always adjust the mask of the Dodge & Burn effect as well as its overall opacity.
HSL
Selectively adjusts Hue (color), Saturation (color purity), and Luminance (intensity) of individual colors in the image for color correction to balance tones and explore creative possibilities. Allows you to create unique looks with selective coloring.
There are 3 tabs present in the Color Filter panel.
NOTE
This is a powerful tool for fine-tuning of colors in the image as well as a means for creative image processing. Examples of using this tool:
LUT Mapping
Use professional lookup tables to change the appearance of your photo quickly. Choose from film stocks, black and white looks, and create color grades to unlock a new style in seconds. Youâll find several built-in stylize in the pop-up list, you can also load your own lookup tables in the .cube format.
Microstructure
Improves the sharpening of your image in small areas of fine detail and texture. Advanced parameters allow you to fine tune this subtle yet dramatic effect. Use this tool to get some creative, HDR-like effects.
Photo Filter
This filter simulates color filters that traditionally are attached to a camera lens. Professional photographers often place glass filters in front of the camera lens to âcoolâ or âwarmâ a picture, or to add special effects. These can also be used to accentuate complementary colors, and add creative toning to your photos.
Split Color Warmth
This filter can be used to selectively enhances cool and warm tones in your image. Allows you to get increased color contrast and vibrancy or create creative toning effects. You can separately adjust the Warm Colors and Cool Colors. Drag to the left to reduce Saturation in a target and to the right to add more in.
Utility
These filters are designed for making functional changes to an image. They are often useful for adjusting the lighting in an image, or tone.
Adjustable Gradient
The Adjustable Gradient filter allows you to selectively adjust exposure, contrast, vibrance and warmth for 2 different parts of the image. You can adjust the mask orientation for selective adjustments. This effect is very well-suited for adjusting the sky and ground regions in a photo.
Bi-Color Toning
This filter simulates a traditional glass bi-color filter. It uses two colors and a soft transition to tone the image. This is a good choice for enhancing seascapes and landscape photos.
Brightness/Contrast
This is a basic filter which adjusts the overall lightness or darkness of an image (brightness) and the difference in brightness between areas and objects (contrast). This filter is easy to understand and works well for new users. For best results consider using the Tone or Develop filters.
Color Temperature
This filter modifies the color temperature of the photo, making it cooler (more blue) or warmer (more orange). It helps you fix incorrect color temperature on your photos.
White Balance. Use the White Balance preset list to choose from a variety of presets that are similar to a cameraâs white balance menu.
Temperature. Use this slider to warm or cool a shot. This adjustment essentially adds Cyan or Yellow to an image to change its color temperature.
Tint. This adjusts the amount of Green or Magenta that is added to a shot. It is useful for removing color casts from an image.
Exposure
A simple filter to adjust the overall Exposure of the image. This filter only offers one slider. For more control consider using the Tone or Develop filters.
After adjusting the Exposure filter you may need to use a Saturation/Vibrance filter. Increasing exposure will desaturate the image. Decreasing exposure will boost the saturation.
This filter works well with filter masks for precise adjustments to exposure.
Highlights/Shadows
Provides adjustment for highlight and shadow by changing the brightness of each region independently. Youâll often need to combine this filter with a Saturation/Vibrance adjustment to restore washed-out color in recovered areas.
Top & Bottom Lighting
This filter allows selective adjustment of lighting for the top and bottom parts of the image. Controls permit shifting the transition area, rotation angle and blending gradient. This effect is widely used in landscape or architecture photography with a distinct horizon. The effect flexibly and separately controls the brightness and other aspects of the top and bottom of the image. This enables you, for example, to lower the brightness of the sky and raise the brightness of the foreground. Thus, your image can be significantly improved without resorting to creating layers and masking.
Whites/Blacks
This filter is a simple way to adjust the white and black point of an image. This gives you finer control over the contrast in a photo. Drag a slider to the right to brighten a zone and to the left to darken.
Using Blending Modes with Filters
The use of filters can be significantly extended with blending modes. Each filter supports the use of its own blending mode, which allows for very complex combinations of results. Blending modes are both a mystery and a source of great design power. Each blending mode controls how a filterâs results are blended with the image below.
Applying a Blending Mode to a Filter
To access Blending Modes for a filter
1. Apply a filter to an image.
2. Click the triangle next to a filterâs name.
3. From the drop-down menu choose Blending Mode.
4. Select a blending mode from the list.
Definition of Blending Modes
How do blending modes work? The simple answer is, it depends. Your response is likely, depends on what? Simply put, the effect achieved by blending a filter varies with the contents of the original layer and the filters applied. A blending mode compares the content of two and enacts changes based on the content of both.
Here are the modes supported by Luminar:
Note
To get the most from blending modes:
image and change to Hue or Color mode. Need to drop out white in a layer? Just set it to Multiply mode. Blending modes are available for every filter.
Additional Filter Controls
If youâd like to take additional control over how filters behave, try these two advanced options.
Download the full Luminar 2018 User Guide for Mac in PDF Format
Download the full Luminar Neptune User Guide for Mac in PDF Format
Thank you for downloading
Aurora HDR
Preparing your download...
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Oops! Something went wrong. Don't worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Step 1
Find & Open
Aurora HDR Installer
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install Aurora HDR
Step 3
Step 3
Enjoy new photo
editing experience
Thank you for downloading
Aurora HDR
Preparing your download...
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Oops! Something went wrong. Don't worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Step 1
Find & Open
Aurora HDR Installer
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install Aurora HDR
Step 3
Step 3
Enjoy new photo
editing experience
Thank you for downloading Luminar 4
Preparing your download...
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Oops! Something went wrong. Don't worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Run the
Luminar 4 installer
Click the downloaded file at the
bottom left corner of your screen
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install Luminar
Step 3
Step 3
Enjoy new photo
editing experience
Thank you for downloading Luminar 4
Preparing your download...
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Oops! Something went wrong. Don't worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Run the
Luminar 4 installer
Click the downloaded file at the
bottom left corner of your screen
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install Luminar
Step 3
Step 3
Enjoy new photo
editing experience
Thank you for downloading Luminar 4
Preparing your download...
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Oops! Something went wrong. Don't worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Run the
Luminar 4 installer
Click the downloaded file at the
bottom left corner of your screen
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install Luminar
Step 3
Step 3
Enjoy new photo
editing experience
Thank you for downloading Luminar 4
Preparing your download...
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Oops! Something went wrong. Don't worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Run the
Luminar 4 installer
Click the downloaded file at the
bottom left corner of your screen
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install Luminar
Step 3
Step 3
Enjoy new photo
editing experience
Thank you for downloading Luminar 4
Preparing your download...
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Oops! Something went wrong. Don't worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Run the
Luminar 4 installer
Click the downloaded file at the
bottom left corner of your screen
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install Luminar
Step 3
Step 3
Enjoy new photo
editing experience
Thank you for downloading Luminar 4
Preparing your download...
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Oops! Something went wrong. Don't worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Run the
Luminar 4 installer
Click the downloaded file at the
bottom left corner of your screen
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install Luminar
Step 3
Step 3
Enjoy new photo
editing experience
Thank you for downloading Luminar 4
Preparing your download...
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Oops! Something went wrong. Don't worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Run the
Luminar 4 installer
Click the downloaded file at the
bottom left corner of your screen
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install Luminar
Step 3
Step 3
Enjoy new photo
editing experience
Thank you for downloading Luminar 4
Preparing your download...
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Oops! Something went wrong. Don't worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Run the
Luminar 4 installer
Click the downloaded file at the
bottom left corner of your screen
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install Luminar
Step 3
Step 3
Enjoy new photo
editing experience
Luminar Flex
Use Luminar Flex for free for 30 days.
Success
Please check your inbox.
We've sent you a copy via email.
Sorry
Looks like you're subscribed already
Error
This is sad. Looks like youâve earlier unsubscribed from Skylum emails. Please resubscribe here.
Thank you for downloading Luminar Flex
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Step 1
Find & Open
Luminar Flex Installer
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install Luminar Flex
Step 3
Step 3
Enjoy new photo
editing experience
Thank you for downloading Luminar Flex
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Step 1
Find & Open
Luminar Flex Installer
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install Luminar Flex
Step 3
Step 3
Enjoy new photo
editing experience
Thank you for downloading AirMagic
Preparing your download...
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Oops! Something went wrong. Don't worry, just click here to try again.
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Step 1
Find & Open
AirMagic Installer
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install AirMagic
Step 3
Step 3
Launch AirMagic
and start enhancing your images.
Thank you for downloading AirMagic
Preparing your download...
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Oops! Something went wrong. Don't worry, just click here to try again.
Did your download not start?
Dont worry, just click here to try again.
Step 1
Step 1
Find & Open
AirMagic Installer
Step 2
Step 2
Follow the instructions
to install AirMagic
Step 3
Step 3
Launch AirMagic
and start enhancing your images.