Since its inception, I’ve long been a fan of the Accent AI filter in Skylum’s Luminar software. It’s helped save me a ton of time by taking tasks that would otherwise be clock intensive and making enhancements with just one simple slider.
With the new Accent AI 2.0 in Luminar 3.1.0, Skylum has said that the filter is now human and object-aware, making things like editing portraits more effective.
Still life and landscapes
I went back and took a look at some of my photographs from my trip out west for the Photofocus Writers Retreat in Las Vegas. Before the retreat began, I checked out the B&H DayTripper event at the El Dorado Canyon Mine in Nelson, NV. There we explored the mine as well as several different era-centric objects, like this old car.
It was a sunny day, so there were some harsh shadows present. There are some obvious other issues as well, like the blown out skies.
I decided to compare the old version of Accent AI to the new 2.0 version. Both versions did a great job, getting rid of the issues with the shadows. While the differences are subtle, Accent AI 2.0 definitely had an impact, bringing in slightly warmer tones and a richer sky. There also seems to be a bit more contrast present.
I also wanted to see how the new Accent AI would fare in terms of landscapes, and worked with this image from our writers outing at Red Rock Canyon, just outside of Las Vegas.
After using the Accent AI slider, I was absolutely stunned at what it was able to bring out in the photographs. While both versions did a great job, Accent AI 2.0 had the edge, making the overall image just a tad bit brighter. The shadows are boosted and the image seems a bit more finished.
All of these adjustments were done by just using the single Accent AI slider.
Portraits
Where I really wanted to see Accent AI in action was with editing portraits. After all, one of the advertised features of Accent AI 2.0 is the fact that it’s human-aware. I took a few older outdoor portraits and put them to the test. Here’s how all three photographs looked before any adjustments were made:
And here’s how Accent AI performed:
You can tell that Accent AI 2.0 has a dramatic positive impact on photographs, especially when it comes to portraits. When using the old version of Accent AI, I found skin tones got over-exposed and were unappealing. Overall the images looked a bit flat. With Accent AI 2.0, the game has changed. Skin tones either stay the same or get subtle enhancements. They’re well-contrasted, lending to a much more appealing and life-like photograph.
With the upgraded Accent AI 2.0 filter in Luminar 3, you have an even better stepping stone than ever before. The fact that a single slider can have this much of a difference is groundbreaking, and I can’t wait to use it more.
