Luminar Neo Review | Is it A Game Changer for Beginners?

Luminar Neo Review

For the past few weeks, I’ve been testing new editing software based in part on artificial intelligence. My in-depth Luminar Neo review walks you through the workflow, pros and cons, AI-powered tools, and ethical editing.

💡 Are you looking for my Luminar Neo Tutorial with lots of step-by-step guidance and before and after images? Check it out here: Mastering Luminar Neo: A Comprehensive Tutorial for Beginners

Your Images, Your Way

You love photography and have a treasure trove of images on your computer or hard drive.

But you’re not always sure what to do with them. Editing seems like the obvious next step, but free editing software often seems clunky, and, well, let’s face it, not all of you can justify the annual cost of Adobe Lightroom.

So what do you do with your treasured photo collection? Let them languish on your computer? No, you want them to shine, to tell stories, to evoke emotion.

That’s what photos are meant to do. Of course, creating them is great, but photos love to be shared with the world. And to do that, you need an infrastructure.

👉 In this Luminar Neo review, we’re going to discover together if Luminar Neo is the infrastructure for you!

​Luminar Neo vs Lightroom

So let’s start with the obvious question for a Skylum Luminar Neo review. How does the latest version of Luminar Neo compare to Lightroom?

That’s a little hard for me to say. I’ve been using Lightroom pretty much since its inception. So the tool has no secrets for me, there is nothing to figure out.

I also love Lightroom. It has always been an integral part of my photographic process. No image ever sees the light of day without going through Lightroom. Of course, this is also important because I always shoot raw. And raw files always need post-processing.

💡 Find out why shooting in raw is important: Raw vs Jpeg: 9 Irresistible Reasons To Shoot in Raw

I’m telling you this to make it clear where my alliance lies :-), especially since Lightroom has been adding more and more AI-powered tools to the software lately.

On its Own Merits

Although I set out to be open-minded in my Luminar Neo review, I found myself being quick to judge while using Luminar and things didn’t work as I expected.

I soon realized that if I wanted to give Luminar Neo a fair chance and write an honest Luminar Neo review, I needed to look at it from a new perspective. I needed to review it on its own merits and not how it compares to Lightroom or Photoshop.

👉 It’s a tool in its own right, designed with a different goal and a different audience in mind. So let’s look at it that way.

And I’m happy to say, that after my initial hesitation and doubt, I enjoyed image editing with Luminar Neo and ended up embracing it for what it is.

What is Luminar Neo and Who is it for?

It is a very smart, easy-to-use tool for beginners and advanced photographers that takes the overwhelm out of editing by using AI.

User-Friendly Interface

It has a user-friendly interface that makes editing easy, especially for newbies.

👉 It guides you – the budding photographer – smoothly through the editing process, making sure you’re in control every step of the way.

AI-Powered Tools for Easy Enhancements

Luminar Neo shines with AI-powered tools that quickly enhance images. I was able to enhance a photo in just one click using Luminar Neo’s AI-powered tools.

One of the things I hear from my students is that technical overwhelm is a real thing, both when it comes to using your camera and editing your images.

👉 That’s why it’s so great that Luminar Neo’s AI-powered tools offer the new photographer quick and easy improvements that make you feel confident and motivated to edit the next image…and the next…and the next.

Creative Tools to Find Your Voice

Because Luminar Neo offers non-destructive editing – just like Lightroom – you can experiment to your heart’s content. Any creative exploration is reversible with a single click, allowing you to try a new approach.

Luminar Neo offers a wide variety of creative tools for endless inspiration that will keep you exploring. I encourage you to dive deep into this exploration because it allows you to easily discover your preferences and find your voice.

Lightroom Integration

For the Lightroom addicts, it comes with a feature that I know I will definitely use. It integrates with Lightroom and Photoshop.

👉 This allows you to do your Lightroom or Photoshop edits the way you’re used to, then open the file in Luminar Neo and apply some AI magic like Noiseless or Supersharp.

Just so you know, some features like Supersharp are add-ons that you have to pay for. But I’d say they’re well worth the investment. Other extensions are Magic Light and Noiseless for AI-powered noise reduction.

I especially like the Supersharp extension because sometimes it’s just unavoidable and I’ve missed the optimal focus, resulting in a soft look. Supersharp is an AI tool that can help you remove the softness and create a sharp, crisp image.

To be clear, this isn’t something you should rely on when photographing.

The best way to get a sharp photo is still to get it right in-camera, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen in-camera and that’s when we have AI to help us out.

💡 Discover the steps to sharp photos: 8 Critical Steps to Get Tack Sharp Photos

The Ethics of AI in Photography

An obvious concern that might pop into your head – I can assure you it popped into mine and hasn’t left since – is the ethics of using artificial intelligence in photography.

Integrating AI-powered tools into the photographic workflow opens up new possibilities for creativity and convenience, but it also raises concerns.

Rather than go down the rabbit hole of philosophical and theoretical discourse, I’d like to keep it very practical, because that’s where it’s ultimately going to play out.

In this Luminar Neo review, I wanna take a look at two specific areas where I think ethical concerns arise: replacing the sky and body enhancement.

Sky Replacement

I’m very reluctant to use this tool, to be honest. I can clearly see its appeal. Who doesn’t want to add a little drama to a boring sky? It’s a matter of seconds and boom…there’s drama. Really, it works wonders.

I think it’s one of those tools that allows you to play around, get creative, and have a lot of fun. You should definitely do that, especially if the images are for personal use. And that’s the keyword, I’d say… personal.

👉 If you’re submitting this photo to a contest, exhibition, publication, or any other form of presenting your photos to an audience, you should be transparent and disclose the sky replacement.

When replacing a sky, always consider the ethics and find a balance between your creative expression and the authenticity and emotion of the original scene.

Body Shape Enhancement

Let’s just say that when it comes to changing body shapes, I’m super clear. I have never and will never change the shape of anyone’s body or face. Not even a little bit. That is my personal feeling.

I suppose in the society we live in today, small changes might be acceptable, but changing bodies to an extreme degree has harmful effects.

We should tread very carefully here. As soon as the mouse hovers over the Abdomen slider, we’re taking on a responsibility to the person whose body shape we’re changing. Think about the message you’re sending.

Let’s Promote Authenticity!

I also urge you to consider the broader societal implications of promoting an idealized perfection that doesn’t exist. Why not promote authenticity instead?

Don’t get me wrong, this is not a crusade against Luminar Neo. They were not the first to offer such a tool.

I just want to encourage you to be cautious. Just because it’s available doesn’t mean you should use it.

I’ll close the ethical considerations in this Luminar Neo review with a few guidelines.

Ethical Editing Guidelines

👉 Transparency: Once your AI-altered image reaches a wider audience, or if accuracy is important, disclose the changes you made to the image.

👉 Authenticity: Preserve the authenticity and integrity of the original scene as much as possible. This is especially important in genres such as documentary, storytelling, portrait, travel, etc.

👉 Mindfulness: Be mindful of the changes you’re considering. Is it really necessary? Try to avoid changes that promote perfection.

👉 Ethical editing is about balancing your creative expression with the authenticity and integrity of the scene as you found it. 

A Luminar Neo Review wouldn’t be complete without giving you a basic understanding of how to work with it.

💡 Let’s have a look at how to get started once you’ve purchased your copy of Luminar Neo in my Luminar Neo Tutorial.

Is Luminar Neo Worth It?

The goal of editing is that the final result represents the feeling and mood of the original scene.

What we want to do in editing is to bring out the feelings of the scene, the subject, or the situation. To make visible the reason why we wanted to make the photo in the first place.

👉 Photography is about capturing moments, but what comes after is just as important. We want to make sure that we can preserve those memories in an accessible way that allows us to find the moments we are looking for quickly and easily.

And then we want our images to come to life, we want them to evoke the emotion of the moment, and we want them to take us back in time. To do that, we have to edit, we have to enhance, we have to tinker until we’re happy with the memory staring back at us from the screen.  

Does Luminar Neo help you do that? Yes, it does, every step of the way and then some. It allows you to extract the essence of a scene, situation, or subject almost effortlessly, and that’s what editing software needs to do, AI-powered or not!

Let us know in the comments what your take is on artificial intelligence in photography. Which way are you leaning?

When you purchase through the links in this article I earn a small fee at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support 🙂

💡 Don’t forget to check out Luminar Neo Part 2 where we dive deep into the editing process with lots of before and after images!