Luminar Neo from Skylum is a high-performance photo editor with a library of textures, overlays, and AI tools that simplify repetitive tasks. Fix skin imperfections and highlight facial features with Skin AI and Face AI. Use Portrait Bokeh AI to create creamy background blur on just about any portrait photo. Enhance AI analyzes your photos and instantly improves the color quality, details, and tone by selecting the right color balance. Other AI tools allow you to spread light across a 2D image and adjust shadows, highlights, contrast, tone, saturation, exposure, and other details.
2025 Updates
The update brings a variety of performance and workflow upgrades to improve the photo editing experience:
- Up to 30% Faster Exports: Speed boosts across tools including Optics, Body AI, Structure AI, Face AI, Water Enhancer AI, Sky AI, Portrait Bokeh AI, and Twilight Enhancer AI
- Info Buttons with Videos: Each tool now includes a quick guide with instructional video support for faster learning
- Expanded Camera Compatibility: Support for popular new models such as Fujifilm X-E5, Nikon Coolpix P1100, OM System OM-5 Mark II, and the Panasonic Lumix series
- Optimized App Size: Optimized Smart Search models make Luminar Neo take up less storage space
- Star Ratings on DNG Export: Your image ratings are preserved when exporting to DNG
- New Export Menu: Export workflow redesigned with quick export options, image count display before export, and AirDrop sharing support on macOS
- Aperty Plugin Support: Open images in Aperty directly from Luminar Neo via right-click or the image menu
- Catalog Enhancements: Added option to clear catalog cache with improved cache handling for Erase and Clone tools
- Improved Atmosphere AI: Fog effect depth maps have been refined for more accurate rendering
- Auto Adjust (with Upgrade Pass subscription: Located in the Develop RAW / Develop tool, Auto Adjust analyzes an image and automatically fine-tunes sliders for a balanced one-click result
Full-Featured Version of Luminar
Neo is the full-featured version of the Luminar application. It can be used standalone for Mac or Windows, or as a plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. Other tools include a denoiser, film stocks, black and white looks, and background and power line removal tools.
Remove Backgrounds
Automatically remove the background behind one or multiple subjects in a photo without masking. The AI functionality can detect the main subject and up to nine types of other elements in a photo, and you can select which ones to keep. Additionally, use a refinement brush to fix any imperfections.
Remove Power Lines
Automatically remove distracting phone or power lines with just the press of a button to get clear skies. Remove electrical lines and even non-electrical cables used to secure something in place. Generally, after about 5-10 seconds of AI working in the background, the lines/cables are removed, even with clouds, overexposed areas, and other details present in the image.
Color & Toning
The Color tool controls the intensity of colors in a photo with saturation and vibrance. The Color Harmony tool offers several advanced options for precise color control. You can adjust brilliance, warmth, and contrast, as well as the amount and balance of a selected color group. The Toning tool corrects overall brightness and contrast for a balanced image, while the Twilight Enhancer tool provides creative control over dawn and dusk tones, replicating the ambiance of golden and blue hours for dramatic landscapes.
Key Lighting
The High Key tool imitates the look achieved by high key lighting, where the main light source slightly overexposes the subject. It produces high-contrast portraits and is often used in fashion and beauty photography.
Optics Corrections
The Optics tool designed to remove flaws in an image caused by the lens or poor camera handling. With Optics, you can get rid of wide-angle distortion and remove chromatic aberration to achieve truer perspective, clear object contours, and more attractive portraits. This tool also offers special adjustments for raw images.
Layers
Create numerous layers for collages and overlays. Add as many layers as needed to fulfill complex ideas. Use blending and masking modes, make collages, add double exposure effects, and do more on each layer. You can make layers look completely different using Luminar's presets and AI tools.
Sunrays
You can also place beams of light with a click. The Sunrays tool creates a source of light that automatically passes through trees, around mountains, and even wraps around objects in the photo.
Masking AI
Mask up to nine types of objects with a simple click.
Automatically mask people, skies, buildings, vehicles, water, plants, mountains, and both natural and artificial ground by clicking a single button. Object Select and Luminosity Masking provide advanced control when targeting specific objects or tonal ranges for precise adjustments.
GenErase
An advanced Erase tool that removes distractions and replaces them using content-aware technology, maintaining composition integrity.
SceneExpand
Extend photo boundaries for panoramic landscapes or creative compositions.
SceneSwap
Replace elements like sky or foreground with AI-generated visuals. Transform dull skies into stunning sunsets or swap murky waters for crystal-clear azure.
Water Enhancer
Allowing the adjustment of water color, texture, and depth with ease, Water Enhancer AI amplifies water features in landscapes for greater visual impact in aquatic scenes.
Studio Light
Replicate studio lightning effects for portraits, revitalizing older photos and adding a new dimension.
Landscape
A dedicated landscape category consolidates essential tools for outdoor and scenic photography in one place for easy accessibility.
Neon & Glow
Enhance images with captivating lighting effects. Seamlessly integrate striking neon elements to overcome lighting challenges and add intrigue.
Batch HDR
Edit up to 1000 images using dynamic bracket creation and streamlined drag-and-drop organization for efficient large-scale processing.
Catalog
Catalog mode provides comprehensive photo management and organizational tools, including filtering photos by camera model, focal length, star-rating, exposure settings, and other parameters. Folders and albums can also be sorted by different attributes for fast access. The filmstrip function in the edit and presets tab allows rapid switching between images without exiting the catalog.
Key Features & Tools
- Layers
- Use raw images as layers
- Use one editing tool multiple times
- Built-in library of textures and overlays
- Management of user's textures and overlays
- Flexible user-centric order of application of tools while editing an image
- Apply any editing tool to any image layer
- Save all the layers with images and masks to a preset/look/template for double reuse
- Apply presets/looks/templates to any layer, independently of one another (this does not discard previously made changes)
- Apply a few presets/looks/templates to one image with unique own masks
- Speed of the editing tool does not depend on the number of tools applied to the image
- Waiting status animations for image loading and processing
- Luminosity masking
- AI-based masking
- Portrait background removal
- AI sensor dust removal
- AI power lines removal
- AI relight based on image depth
- Sky replacement AI
- Twilight Enhancer AI
- Water Enhancer AI
- Atmosphere AI
- Enhance AI
- Structure AI
- Skin Enhancer AI
- Body AI
- Face AI
- Portrait Bokeh AI
- Mobile sharing with mobile assistant
- Ability to import and manage photos in catalog
- Sync editing state
- Export multiple images
- Works as plug-in for Adobe Photoshop
- Works as plug-in for Adobe Lightroom
- Raw file support