We’ve covered the Skylum suite of software quite a bit since they’ve first launched a few years ago, and things got even more impressive back in 2019 when Luminar introduced a revolutionary new feature — the first fully automatic sky replacement. Powered by artificial intelligence, the AI Sky Replacement tool became extremely popular with Luminar users and even gained the interest of a lot of first-time buyers with the sole interest of testing out this incredible new feature.
Between the Sky Replacement and the improved Skin Retouching tools, Luminar actually did become a major and important part of my photography workflow, and now, they’ve gone ahead and taken this tool another step forward with a VERY impressive new update. Check out the full press release below;
Many referred to it as the industry standard when it came to sky replacement in photo editing. It got so popular that other companies followed Luminar to introduce their sky replacement tools, too.
Imagine being on vacation where that perfect moment is in front of you, only to be let down by a dull, uninspiring sky. AI Sky Replacement fixed all that, and we’re just getting started.
[Related Reading: How to Replace Skies in Seconds: Complete Lightroom to Luminar 4 Editing Tutorial]
A sneak peek of the next version of sky replacement
Today, our innovation with AI Sky Replacement continues, through the SkyAI tool in LuminarAI. We want to bring you the most innovative tools that can make your editing process quicker and easier than ever before, while also providing you with inspiration to create something truly amazing.
We’ve heard from a lot of you over the past year, saying there’s one thing missing from the sky replacement experience — water reflections. Coming in an update to LuminarAI in 2021, you’ll be able to automatically have your sky reflect in the water in your scene, without any manual work from you.
With SkyAI, you’ll be able to have your replaced sky reflect on the water automatically. That means no more duplicating your scene, flipping it, and applying a bunch of masking to make it look realistic. Instead, LuminarAI does the hard work for you, whether you’re working on that photo in front of a mystical castle you saw on vacation, or when you were at the beach hoping for a beautiful sunset. SkyAI will ensure that any water in your scene has your replaced sky reflected.
And just like your main sky, your reflected sky will adapt to your relight settings, and be blurred into the scene without any manual work from you. If you need to dial it in a bit more, you can adjust the levels of the reflection. You can even bring in things like water ripples to show some motion in your scene.
The best part? All the details in your scene stay in your scene. Ducks, leaves, beach toys … they’re all there right where they should be. SkyAI works around your scene’s objects, automatically recognizing small details to make for a hyper-realistic view — just the way you’d envisioned.
Find the right sky, every time
[Related Reading: Twice-Baked Photo Editing Technique with Lightroom & Luminar 4]
Also coming in 2021, you’ll be able to browse through your library of skies in a thumbnail viewer. Gone are the days of keeping track of which “Bright Sky” or “Dramatic Sunset” you’d like best. The thumbnail browser will show you a preview of each sky, making it easy to find the right sky for your photograph.
You can’t predict Mother Nature, but with SkyAI in the new LuminarAI, you can get that sky you were looking for. Which is important, especially during those special days that you’ll never forget.
We can’t wait to see the magical scenes you’ll create with SkyAI, and the other AI-powered tools, coming later this year only to LuminarAI.
Preorder your copy of LuminarAI.
As usual, we’d love to hear what you think about this tool, if you’ve used it and what you think about it compared to some of the announcements that adobe has made for MAX 2020. Leave us a comment below with your thoughts, and if you haven’t’ tried Luminar before, does this update make it more attractive to you?
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