Glad to hear that you have retired and have more time to pursue your passion for photography.

Just a few considerations for you:

Here are some considerations:

Technical Quality: Luminar’s AI tools can produce excellent results in terms of basic adjustments like exposure, contrast, and color correction. However, some advanced editing techniques or fine-tuning may be more limited compared to Photoshop or Lightroom Classic.

Artistic Quality: Ultimately, what matters most in competitions or exhibitions is the artistic vision and execution of your photographs. If Luminar helps you achieve your creative vision effectively, then it can certainly be a viable option.

Compatibility: Make sure that the file formats and color management in Luminar are compatible with the submission requirements of the RPS or any other competitions you enter.

Learning Curve: Luminar’s user-friendly interface may make it easier for beginners to get started with photo editing compared to Photoshop or Lightroom Classic, which have steeper learning curves.

Perception: While Luminar is a capable tool, some professional photographers and judges may still prefer Adobe products due to their industry-standard status and extensive feature sets. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Luminar-produced images will be seen as inferior; ultimately, the quality of your images will speak for themselves.

Experimentation: Don’t be afraid to experiment with different software and techniques to find what works best for you. You may find that a combination of Luminar for quick edits and Photoshop for more advanced adjustments yields the best results for your workflow.

Go for it!

Sounds very frustrating, John – sorry to hear about your experiences with Skylum. I’ll pass on this comment.

Yes, cut your losses, delete the app and find a better one. There are MANY.

Yes this software is easy to get good results with, however I can’t support a company that treats their consumers like cash cows. They don’t stand by their products with enough updates. They want to provide you with a new app to milk more money. Now they’re going with a subscription base because a lot of their customers have left them for better options out there. My advice is never trust a company that doesn’t provide a free trial to let you justify the purchase. BTW, the mobile app is useless. They had a beta test last year for one that looked promising, but I bet that will be another app to purchase with lack-luster results.

I’ve sadly put more money into this software than I should have. Purchased the legacy apps along with Luminar AI thinking it was a good deal (Don’t! They will try to get you to buy it, but they’re useless!), and now Luminar Neo. Yes it does support RAW, but not apple Pro res RAW. I realize most people use their Cameras, I have a professional one too, BUT sometimes I don’t have my camera with me. They’ve been promising this for years on their forum, among other things. Suddenly they removed the forums all together because people were outraged and calling them out. I’m sure Skylum will come out and give some excuse.

I liked them until I realized they didn’t care about their customers, or their needs, or their requests. Just a lot of BS promises over and over again saying they will change, but hurting you when you learn they’re empty promises and flat out lies.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you, it’s more than I got before I wasted my money.

Hi Berbnard the answer to your question is yes and here are a few links to help you on the way:

https://shotkit.com/how-to-use-luminar-neo/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BufjrRUip-s

Very useful program … but no longer functional. The “contact” support is also nonfunctional. Anyone out there know how to fix this?

That sounds very long, John, especially considering your computer set up which is pretty powerful. 40 seconds to open is odd, even if you have a lot of filters on images, as these should only really load when the specific image is being worked on. I’d recommend getting in touch with the Skylum support to ask – let me know how you get on.

I have the same problem with speed. Luminar takes about 40 seconds to open and can take 30 seconds to save an updated image. I do have a lot of filters and stuff so maybe that impacts the load time. The CPU is a sixth gen I7 and I have 32gb of DDR4 Ram – not new but fast enough for everything else I do, including Photoshop.

Any ideas ?

Skylum seem to change the pricing and bundles frequently. Thnaks for the heads-up!

It’s also not clear on the site how “lifetime” lifetime is (whether it includes all subsequent upgrades including renamed products (Luminar this, Luminar that, and Luminar the other). This is relevant, given past industry practices of discontinuing software while releasing eerily similar products with very similar names.

There’s a subscription version at $169 CDN a year that includes the extensions.
It might well be worth it, but it’s not a small price.

As a pro who already uses Photoshop, Lightroom, and Topaz, I like some of the features of Luminar and would give it a chance. But, at $169 a year, it would have to take the place of something — and that means adding a lot of nuts and bolts functionality. It’s not going to find its way onto my desk as an add-on to Lightroom and my other software.