With Skylum’s generous Cyber Week sale ongoing and a major fall update, there’s never been a better time to pick up Luminar Neo. The latest edition of the popular photo editing software has brought with it a whole new cross-platform workflow and some powerful AI-infused tools, but there’s one addition that I keep coming back to: the Light Depth tool. This innovative feature replaces the Relight AI tool, enabling users to add realistic depth and light separation to images via an intuitive, three-dimensional map.
Housed within is an automatically generated luminosity mask, which can be moved and resized accordingly, all while conforming to a bespoke 3D map of the image in question. This allows you to brighten portions of the image while maintaining contrast and shadows. It’s an incredibly powerful tool for landscape photographers who want to instantly add depth to a flatly-lit scene or use the dimensional lighting to draw the viewer towards the focal point of the image.
I was skeptical about how well the Light Depth tool would perform with busier scenes, so I chose an image with a large bridge in the foreground. The mask had no problem working around the complicated structure, illuminating the forest behind. And while I did notice a slight halo around a few of the hot-air balloons above the bridge, I was easily able to rectify this by using the tool’s masking option, so the dimensional lighting only affected the foreground and midground.
That’s not all. The lighting effect can be tweaked further by increasing the Softness slider. This softens the mask's edges, so light begins to stray beyond its parameters. You also have two throwbacks to the Relight AI tool, Brightness Near and Brightness Far, which increase the brightness of the area in front of the luminosity mask and beyond it, respectively. Finally, each parameter has its own Warmth slider, so you can adjust the color temperature of the foreground, background, and the luminosity mask independently from one another.
Luminar Neo can be used standalone or as a plug-in with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic. As an Adobe user myself, I’m looking forward to introducing the Light Depth tool into my own workflow. However, if you’re a more casual user who enjoys using the Sky AI tool, the two work beautifully in tandem, because the Light Depth tool can be used to highlight areas of the image, as per the positioning of the sun in your new sky.
I decided to put this to the test by selecting an image from my library that I’d never normally deem suitable for editing. The sky was boring and the lighting was flat, but in minutes, I was able to use Luminar Neo to transform it into something I was much happier with.
I started with the usual optical corrections in the Edits panel, before moving onto the Tools panel and adjusting the powerful Enhance AI slider, which adjusts a huge range of standard tonal adjustments in one fell swoop, including color, sharpness, and contrast. I then used Sky AI to automatically replace the sky with my preferred option (no manual masking necessary). A few tweaks to the Relight Strength and Relight Saturation sliders within the Sky AI tool allowed me to better match the hue of the lighting in the foreground with my new sky. Then it was onto the Light Depth tool.
It’s a subtle effect, but I was able to place the luminosity mask, so it appeared as though light from the setting sun was hitting the rock pools, just in front of the jetty. What sold the illusion further was the ability to warm up the dimensional lighting, using the dedicated Warmth slider.
Overall, I think the Light Depth tool is a tantalizing prospect for professionals and serious enthusiasts, but it’s also simple enough for beginner photo editors to enjoy, too. Combine it with Luminar Neo’s Sky AI tool, and casual photographers are going to have a blast.
Landscape photography, in particular, can be extremely time-consuming; professionals and serious enthusiasts visit the same locations time and again in search of the perfect conditions. If you’re a hobbyist who enjoys heading out with your camera but struggles to find the time and/or opportunities to capture beautiful sunrises and sunsets, Luminar Neo is a fantastic solution to yet another flatly-lit exposure or dull sky.
Right now, you can enjoy up to 77% off Luminar Neo in Skylum’s Cyber Week sale with prices starting at just £69 / $99. What’s more, these come with a year of free updates and are perpetual licenses. Existing users who wish to upgrade can also take advantage of a special custom offer.
