Luminar 4
May 27, 2020 21:21:34 #
Many of you may have gotten an email from Skylum with a special deal on Luminar 4? The sky replacement module really interested me.
The two images attached are from the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley. The first image is as shot, a composite of 3 images from a Nikon D810 bracketed and merged into HDR. The sky was cloudless and dull. The second image is with the sky replaced in Luminar 4. It not only drops in a replacement sky but alters the color palette to match. Pretty impressive, and a lot easier than Landscape Pro.
On the Playa, once the sun drops below the mountains to the west, the light vanishes and unless you are doing photography in astronomical twilight, is not that great.
Oh, and unless you are camping at the Racetrack campground, it is a 4 hr drive back to Stovepipe Wells.
The two images attached are from the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley. The first image is as shot, a composite of 3 images from a Nikon D810 bracketed and merged into HDR. The sky was cloudless and dull. The second image is with the sky replaced in Luminar 4. It not only drops in a replacement sky but alters the color palette to match. Pretty impressive, and a lot easier than Landscape Pro.
On the Playa, once the sun drops below the mountains to the west, the light vanishes and unless you are doing photography in astronomical twilight, is not that great.
Oh, and unless you are camping at the Racetrack campground, it is a 4 hr drive back to Stovepipe Wells.
May 27, 2020 21:53:40 #
rgrenaderphoto wrote:
Many of you may have gotten an email from Skylum w... (show quote)
I recently bought Luminar 4. I'm still learning its various features, but the sky replacement function is fantastic. I had earlier used Photoshop or Landscape Pro for that, but Luminar is clearly superior. I did quite a few sky replacements before I encountered a photo which gave Luminar some trouble - a photo of an Osprey where the top of his head was the same color as the sky. But, I'd say Luminar is batting 98%.
Skylum has a lot of videos on their web site dealing with various aspects of the program, but they seem kind of random - no obvious learning sequence. I found a series of training videos by Jim Nix on YouTube that worked very well for me.
In about a month, Rocky Nook Books will have Photographer's Guide to Luminar 4, by Jeff Carlson available in paper form. It's available now in Kindle form.
May 27, 2020 23:42:11 #
May 28, 2020 04:57:53 #
rgrenaderphoto wrote:
.....It not only drops in a replacement sky but alters the color palette to match.....
Sounds like they know how to avoid the sort of mistakes that we'd be likely to make
.May 28, 2020 06:22:38 #
Great image and backstory, Robert. That darn road liked to jar my insides loose.
May 28, 2020 06:26:03 #
May 28, 2020 06:36:38 #
Looking good and it certainly brightened up the right side just below the sky line...
May 28, 2020 07:08:36 #
One of the more subtle demos I've seen posted to UHH. It helps that there is very little sky in the frame, I think. Appreciate the post, R!
May 28, 2020 07:30:18 #
May 28, 2020 11:22:15 #
One of the things people forget about Luminar 4 is that it will replace the sky with any image on your computer. It doesn't have to be a sky
May 28, 2020 14:35:55 #
The real test of a program that replaces one portion of an image with another is an image that has more structure to the dividing line between the original and replacement.
I don't have Luminar but have done a few sky replacements and other replacements. In the examples, the mountains present a pretty clean edge between the earth and the sky, so it's not a big problem to replace the uninteresting blue sky with something else. How about some examples with some trees with leaves on them? With sky showing between the branches and leaves? There's a lot more structure in that sort of division. An extreme example is hair. And an even larger problem occurs when the background being replaced is not uniform, and even worse, when it contains colors similar to the foreground.
I believe that sky replacement occupies a relatively minor place in the universe of replacement of elements in images.
I don't have Luminar but have done a few sky replacements and other replacements. In the examples, the mountains present a pretty clean edge between the earth and the sky, so it's not a big problem to replace the uninteresting blue sky with something else. How about some examples with some trees with leaves on them? With sky showing between the branches and leaves? There's a lot more structure in that sort of division. An extreme example is hair. And an even larger problem occurs when the background being replaced is not uniform, and even worse, when it contains colors similar to the foreground.
I believe that sky replacement occupies a relatively minor place in the universe of replacement of elements in images.
May 28, 2020 15:21:05 #
Electric Gnome
Loc: Norwich UK
DirtFarmer wrote:
The real test of a program that replaces one porti... (show quote)
This was done with Luminar 4, you can refine the sky replacement with a close gaps slider and several other tools for blending etc. First image is original, second image sky replaced with very little fuss. I think it was 1 click replacement but not now sure as it was a few weeks back.
May 28, 2020 15:25:18 #
Electric Gnome wrote:
This was done with 1 click, you can refine the sky replacement with a close gaps slider and several other tools for blending etc. I have not done so with this image. First image is original, second image sky replaced with 1 click.
That is very good replacement and if you were not told you would not think the sky had been replaced..
May 28, 2020 15:29:16 #
Much better for evaluating the program.
Can it do hair?
Can it do hair?
May 28, 2020 15:47:29 #
Here's a before and after in which the sky behind bare branches is replaced with a night sky and the foreground darkened according. Took about 30 seconds.
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