Luminar Neo – The Complete Course

With this course you'll also get 4 additional bonuses:

- A Luminar Neo keyboard shortcuts PDF cheat sheet
- 2 Sky images to use for Sky replacement
- 2 Texture Overlays
- 2 Bokeh Overlays

Course content:

Section 1 – Getting started

Lesson 0: Introduction

Lesson 1: Getting started and navigating Neo
Plugin installation
Preferences
Catalog
What is a Catalog? How does it work?
Where are my edits?
How do I save my edits?
Modules (Catalog, Edit, Export)
The Luminar Neo interface
Keyboard shortcuts
The library module
Left side panels (Shortcuts, Folders, Albums)
Flag (Favorite) and sort
Filter
Thumbnail size
Image info panel
View modes (full screen, etc.)
Your Skylum account and support

Section 2 – Essentials tools

Lesson 2: Adding images and first steps
Opening an image
From Photoshop or Lightroom or another program
Inside Luminar as a standalone app
Open one image
Drag and drop it
Adding a folder of images
Making an album (kinda did that already)
Presets
Using them
Setting up your favorites
Importing new ones
Essential panel tools
Develop panel (raw versus non-raw and why to use raw first)
Enhance AI
Erase – dust spots, power lines, general use

Lesson 3
Structure
Color
B&W

Lesson 4
Curves

Lesson 5
Details
Denoise
Landscape
Vignette

Section 3 – Creative tools

Lesson 6 – Adjusting the light
Relight AI
Apply it twice!
Accent AI, Sky Enhancer AI
Curves, Highlights, Shadows
Dodge/Burn with Develop (2x)
Face AI

Lesson 7 – Sky
Sky AI

Lesson 8 – Atmosphere
Sunrays
Atmosphere AI

Lesson 9 – Adding drama
Dramatic
Mood
Toning

Lesson 10 – Effects
Matte
Mystical
Glow
Film Grain

Lesson #10.1 - Masking tools
Radial mask - how to use it
Linear gradient - how and when to use it
Mask actions
Lesson #10.2 - The new Mask AI tool
Where to find the Mask AI tool
How to use it
Getting the most out of the AI functions
Solving issues when the Mask AI misses the mark

Section 4 – Portrait tools

Lesson 11 – Portrait tools part 1
Face AI
Skin AI

Lesson 12 – Portrait tools part 2
Bokeh AI
Body AI
High key

Section 5 – Advanced

Lesson 13 – Pro tools
Supercontrast
Color harmony

Lesson 13.1 - Dodge and Burn
The sliders explained (size, softness, strength)
Lighten versus darken versus erase
The Amount slider
How to use this tool effectively
Drawbacks and pitfalls to avoid
Other better options

Lesson 13.2 - Clone
What are the source and target areas
How to set the source
When to lower the Strength or opacity level
Using a duplicate layer to get a different blend mode
Using the Clone tool in conjunction with the Erase tool
How to tackle a big job

Lesson 14 – Layers part 1
Texture Overlays
Bokeh Overlays

Lesson 15 – Layers part 2
Other uses for Layers
Merging 2 or more images
Adding a moon
Adding steam (coffee cup example)

Lesson 16 – Layers part 3
Adding a logo or watermark
Adding text (workaround trick)
Transparent objects

Lesson 16.1 Layers new stuff
Rearrange the layer order
Fit, scale, size new layer
Duplicate layer

Lesson 16.2 Portrait Background Removal
Doing simple cutouts
Dealing with complex edges
Handling complex backgrounds
How to save as a transparent PNG
Choosing the right background
Matching the background and image (tone, color, sharpness)
Resizing layers to fit or crop

Section 6 – Workflow

Lesson 17 – Saving an image and using the Luminar Share app
Save to Lightroom/Photoshop next lesson
To disk
File format (JPG, PDF, PNG, TIFF)
Color space
Quality
Mail or email
Message (iPhone)
Share App

Lesson 18 – Plugins
Using Neo as a plugin for
Lightroom
Photoshop
macOS Photos
Using Photoshop plugins inside Neo
Open in PS or Elements
Open in Aurora HDR
Others like Topaz coming later

Lesson 19 – Backup and hardware
Backing up
Catalog (macOS and Windows)
Images
Hard drives
Backblaze
GoodSync
Mouse versus graphics tablet
Mac Magic Mouse
Wacom tablet
Hard drives
Monitor calibration Why and how to do it (devices)

Section 7 – Fixing things

Lesson 20 – Fixing common overall issues
Optics in Develop Raw
3D perspective (Transform) in Develop Raw
Erase
Crop
Denoise (in Develop Raw vs Denoise)
Talk about what happens if you overprocess and create noise (think of the images Al posted in the new group)
Details (sharpness) in Develop Raw vs Details tool
Raw format not supported (show Adobe DNG converter)

Lesson 21 – Fixing color issues
Color
Landscape
Mood
Toning
Color Harmony
Basic tool masking with the brush

Lesson 22 – Fixing contrast and tonal issues
Develop Raw
Relight AI
Enhance AI
Dehaze
Light / Curves
Supercontrast
Vignette

Lesson 23 – Advanced tone control
Using Develop to Dodge/Burn
Vignette

Section 8 – Start to finish examples

Lesson 24 – Street photography image
Structure and Details
Dramatic
Look and Toning
Grain and a grunge edge border

Lesson 25 – Sunset

Lesson 26 – Night image

Lesson 27 – Portrait

Lesson 28 – Landscape

Section 9 - Extensions

Lesson 29 - HDR Merge
Where to find the extension
HDR merge settings and options
Where the merged images go and how to move them
How to bracket images properly
Pros and cons
Single image HDR for high-contrast images
HDR for portraits
Don’t go overboard!!

Lesson 30 - Focus Stacking
How to get the extension
Where to find it
How many images to use
Settings
Pitfalls to avoid
Create abstracts!

Lesson 31 - Background removal AI (coming soon)

Lesson 32 - Noiseless AI, Upscale, and Sharpen AI (coming soon)

Lesson 33 - Magic Light AI (coming soon)