Get to Know the New Luminar 4

LUMINAR 4 ARRIVED LAST MONTH, and sees Skylum’s image-editing app really come into its own with new “AI” cleverness and a general overhaul of its features. It still resembles Lightroom more than Photoshop, with its ability to display every image in a folder and let you take your pick of which to edit. It’s non-destructive, so you never save over your original file, instead exporting a new one that represents your changes.

The AI features are particularly interesting, providing image analysis and improvement options that can be applied as a one-shot “Look” or as an “Edit” that gives you more control over the outcome. There’s everything from all-over image enhancement to smart sky replacement and portrait-centered tools.

A free trial of (drop down the Luminar menu at the top), where you’ll also find a full beginner’s guide. We produced this tutorial using a pre-release version of Luminar 4, and while the basic functionality will be the same, some interface features may look different on the final release.