Skylum have recently announced their latest piece of software which is known as Luminar AI. In releasing this piece of software it created a number of concerns amongst users around the direction of the company given that Luminar 4 was released on the 18th of November 2019 and had a number of features that were listed as in the works based on the roadmap. Given this piece of software was less than one (1) year old at the time of announcement of Luminar AI, people were frustrated and concerned that it felt like the previous product was not fixed before the next one was announced.

In a recent community post, Alex Tsepko Tsepko wrote;

When we launched Luminar 3, we made a mistake: we said that our goal was to develop a great Lightroom alternative. Therefore some people have purchased Luminar as a subscription-free alternative to Adobe products.

We quickly understood that we’re not in love with that mission statement. Moreover, that idea to make a subscription-free Lr alternative has no value for most artists around the world. The world doesn’t need a cheap Lightroom clone (there are already several companies who make those).

Our goal is to make something much bigger than just another photo editor. To bring unique solutions to the most challenging problems creative storytellers face.

There are many photo editing tools out there that look the same, offer the same features (including IPTC & EXIF), and create the same problems. Traditional photo editors take a lot of time, with several manual and repetitive tasks.

This helps explain the change in direction, to create a tool that is not a digital asset manager or lightroom clone (which Luminar 4) in some ways was trying to be, but rather creating a tool that allows visual communicators to make great photos, faster than traditional photo editors, and free up time. In essence it is about creating a product that helps people get the results, without worrying about the path that is required to be taken to get the results (e.g. the compex, repetitive photo editing).

So with the change in direction understood, that is LuminarAI and how does it differ from Luminar 4?

Luminar AI is not an upgrade to Luminar 4, it is a brand new product which has been built from the ground up to offer a new, non-conventional approach to the world of photo editing. It is designed to simplify repetitive and complex editing tasks without sacrificing the professional quality. In short it lets visual communicators focus on the results to get great pictures rather than worry about the process which is required.

As Luminar AI is rebuilt from the ground up, your catalogue in Luminar 4 will not be transferable to LuminarAI. You will see a number of tools you already know as well as some changes in process, but also the addition of a number of new tools within LuminarAI which include AtmosphereAI, BodyAI, FaceAI, IrisAI.

As the software is not yet released, I can't show much more detail however, once it becomes available I will write some more posts and do up a few YouTube videos.

Skylum's Luminar AI is currently open for pre-orders, whilst the layout and design has not been fully finalized it is reported to be slated for release over the holiday season.

For those that are interested in pre-ordering LuminarAI;

• LuminarAI is starting from just US$59 with the loyalty discount (for those who have purchased any previous version of Luminar or Aurora HDR) and includes access to the LuminarAI Insiders community.

• LuminarAI is starting from just US$69 for new customers and includes access to the LuminarAI Insiders community.

• Once 30,000 copies have been sold, LuminarAI will start from US$74 for new customers. A US$10 loyalty discount will continue to be offered.

You can pre-order using the link here.