I recently bought a house, so I was looking at loads of real estate pictures. Most are simply informative pictures, and most are made with a smartphone. Real estate pictures can be fun to make, however, and when done well they can help sell a house more quickly. HDR is a great tool to make good real estate photos, but if you let your imagination run away you can end up with a picture that belongs more on a movie poster than the MLS. Let me share a few ideas to help you make the most of your HDR's for real estate. Time of day As with all … [Read more...] about How to NOT ruin real estate HDR’s
Skylum
Aerial HDR Photography using a UAV with Aurora HDR 2019, part 1
This article consists of 2 parts. This is part 1 of 2. In this 2 part article, we're going to explore creating a 3 image HDR merge in Aurora HDR 2019. I’m using RAW photographs from my Inspire 2 X5S camera shot in DNG RAW shooting AEB (auto exposure bracketing) mode taking 3 photographs. One challenge in shooting multiple exposures with a drone is that there can be a slight change of position between the photographs, even at faster shutter speeds because of GPS drift, wind, and other variables. Because of this, I will use a high ghost … [Read more...] about Aerial HDR Photography using a UAV with Aurora HDR 2019, part 1
Luminar 3 First Look video and exclusive deal
We've got an in-depth look at what Luminar 3 can do with Photofocus Publisher Rich Harrington. https://youtu.be/TcThfN1rKbM Plus Save $20 on Luminar 3 — https://photofocus.tips/L3Special Join Richard Harrington as he walks you through a detailed overview of getting results with Luminar 3. You'll learn how to set up a library, use workspaces, get results with filters and harness artificial intelligence. You'll also discover how Luminar works as a plugin with Lightroom Classic and Photoshop. Rich is the publisher of Photofocus.com and also … [Read more...] about Luminar 3 First Look video and exclusive deal
First look at the new Luminar 3 with Libraries
Skylum Software is releasing the much talked about photo editing tool, Luminar 3 on Dec. 18, 2018. Luminar 3 is an all-in-one photo app designed to offers everything a modern photographer needs for photo editing. That sounds great, but what makes this version special is Skylum has added the number one most requested feature from users; the ability to organize and view their images. This added feature is a game changer for experienced users looking for an alternative to their current editing tools and it’s a simple solution for photographers … [Read more...] about First look at the new Luminar 3 with Libraries
Finishing color photos for perfect tones in black and white
Like many of you, I started photography learning to shoot and process black and white in high school. It was amazing to see a photograph materialize in the chemicals, and it was incredible how much detail I could see in the scenes. Back then I only shot 35mm Tri-X film, but the tones and contrasts were captivating. Now, using tone mapping on a single image I can get similar tones. The details Aurora HDR 2019 can reveal are incredible. I'll use this panorama from Montana to show demonstrate. I shot it with a 200mm lens on my Lumix … [Read more...] about Finishing color photos for perfect tones in black and white
Last chance — get Luminar and Aurora HDR on sale!
See all the holiday deals and our favorite gifts in our Holiday Gift Guide! Skylum is still offering the best deal you can get on all of its software. But hurry, these deals are only available through today! Luminar and Aurora Skylum is offering a Luminar and Aurora HDR Bundle for just $119, which gives you a $49 discount off the retail price! Click here to learn more and get started. Luminar 2018 Skylum is also offering a $49 special on Luminar 2018, which comes with a special Black Friday Creative Collection of bonuses: 1 year of … [Read more...] about Last chance — get Luminar and Aurora HDR on sale!
Last chance to save BIG on Photolemur 3
See all the deals and our favorite gifts in our Holiday Gift Guide! Photolemur 3 makes your photos perfect with cutting-edge AI technology that automatically analyzes and adjusts your photos to restore lost details, boost lighting and increase color. It also comes with a ton of styles to make your images unique to you. Photolemur is offering 83% off through Nov. 28, 2018, and better yet, it comes with a FREE Picaboo photo book — a $50 value. Perfect for making all your Christmas memories awesome! The deal also includes three new … [Read more...] about Last chance to save BIG on Photolemur 3
Time is running out! Take advantage of cyber savings on Luminar and Aurora HDR
See all the holiday deals and our favorite gifts in our Holiday Gift Guide! Skylum is still offering the best deal you can get on its Luminar 2018 and Aurora HDR 2019 software. Through Nov. 28, 2018, you can get a Luminar and Aurora HDR Bundle for just $119 — that's $49 off the retail price! In addition to that, Skylum is offering a $49 special on Luminar 2018, which comes with a special Black Friday Creative Collection of bonuses. Click here to learn more and see all that you get! You'll also get a free upgrade to Luminar 3 when it … [Read more...] about Time is running out! Take advantage of cyber savings on Luminar and Aurora HDR
Save big on Luminar and Aurora HDR
See all the Cyber Monday deals and our favorite gifts in our Holiday Gift Guide! Now's the perfect chance to get some great Skylum software at a discounted price. Skylum is offering sales on both Luminar and Aurora HDR products. Deals are available through Nov. 28, 2018. Luminar 2018 Luminar is a great all-in-one editing tool, offering RAW processing filters like you're used to, but also tools like Accent AI Filter, AI Sky Enhancer, Foliage Enhancer, Sunrays and more. New users can purchase Luminar 2018 for just $49 through … [Read more...] about Save big on Luminar and Aurora HDR
Save 83% on Photolemur 3
See all the deals and our favorite gifts in our Holiday Gift Guide! Photomeur 3 makes your photos perfect with cutting-edge AI technology that automatically analyzes and adjusts your photos to restore lost details, boost lighting and increase color. It also comes with a ton of styles to make your images unique to you. Photolemur is offering 83% off through Nov. 28, 2018, and better yet, it comes with a FREE Picaboo photo book — a $50 value. Perfect for making all your Christmas memories awesome! The deal also includes three new … [Read more...] about Save 83% on Photolemur 3
Understanding and creating Aurora HDR 2019 Looks
Think of Aurora's Looks like a recipe you would find in a cookbook. You follow the instructions describing how to combine ingredients, prepare the food and then cook it to make a meal. Along the way, you learned how each ingredient affected the flavor. You experiment by adding or removing ingredients and now the recipe has become your own. Sounds delicious right? Well, instead of a cooking lesson, that's the concept behind understanding and create Aurora HDR Looks. What are Aurora HDR Looks Aurora HDR Looks are made up filters whose settings … [Read more...] about Understanding and creating Aurora HDR 2019 Looks
Using LUTs in Aurora HDR 2019
You’ll find Aurora HDR 2019 at a special price along with a bundle of training videos, Looks, and LUTs designed for Photofocus readers, here. The new Aurora HDR 2019 offers you many new features one of which is the ability to use LUTs in processing your photographs. In this article, I'm going to take a look at the new feature and I will be using this image with Aurora HDR 2019 initial processing on it, but I will not make any other changes. Then I will apply 9 different look up tables or LUTs to it so you can see how much variety LUTs can … [Read more...] about Using LUTs in Aurora HDR 2019
EyeEm and Skylum team up for photography scholarship
Premium stock provider EyeEm and Skylum, makers of Luminar and Aurora HDR, have teamed up to offer a photography scholarship. Ten talented photographers will be selected to share their editing style in a special edition EyeEm Creators preset pack on the Skylum Marketplace. The chosen photographers will also receive $1000 each to support their work and create own preset to be sold by Skylum. Revenue from preset sales will be shared with the creator, supporting their future works. EyeEm registered users are eligible for submission, which is … [Read more...] about EyeEm and Skylum team up for photography scholarship
How to use Luminar’s looks to be creative differently
If you subscribe to the Photofocus newsletter, then you just got an announcement about a huge pack of looks for Luminar that add all the looks from Skylum's wonderful Tonality plugin to Luminar. Tonality is a tool made especially for black and white finishing and it used to be my favorite black and white tool — now I use it in Luminar. This pack of looks gives you a whole bunch of options to instantly create various looks in your black and white photos. But why should you use looks? My question is, why would you want to use a look that makes … [Read more...] about How to use Luminar’s looks to be creative differently
Free Luminar 2018 update: Get the new AI Sky Enhancer filter
(Editor's note: Rich Harrington is both the publisher of Photofocus and also offers consulting services to Skylum to help them improve their software.) I am super excited today about a brand new filter called AI Sky Enhancer. What's it do? That's simple, it makes skies look AMAZING. How Do You Get AI Sky Enhancer? The new AI Sky Enhancer filter is part of Luminar 2018. It's included in the 1.4 free update released on November 1, 2018. If you already own Luminar just launch the application or plugin and follow the update … [Read more...] about Free Luminar 2018 update: Get the new AI Sky Enhancer filter
Hands-on with Luminar’s new AI Sky Enhancer
Earlier today, Skylum released a Luminar update that adds a new AI Sky Enhancer feature. As a photographer in less-than-sunny Michigan, I was pretty excited to hear this, as it would make boosting my sky much, much easier. I was able to play around with the tool in advance of its release, and I must say it's downright impressive. No more blown-out skies In the past, I'd use a workflow to either replace the sky in Luminar, or use Luminar's gradient tool to tone down the highlights and increase the saturation and contrast in the sky. While … [Read more...] about Hands-on with Luminar’s new AI Sky Enhancer
Luminar gets a tonal makeover for B&W photographers
A few years back, a company called Macphun (which has evolved into Skylum) released a very popular application called Tonality. It offered a complete workflow for black and white and color-toned photographs. < One of the things that made Tonality so popular was its incredible monochrome presets. But this app is Mac-only. It also doesn't have as many controls as Luminar for adjusting raw photos or enhancing details. Plus Tonality is a legacy product, which means no more updates.\ The perfect solution It turns out that Luminar has every … [Read more...] about Luminar gets a tonal makeover for B&W photographers
Tonight’s the night — join us for a NYC photowalk!
We hope you can join us tonight, Oct. 26, for a New York City photowalk! We'll start in Times Square, help each other make great pictures and have a fun time in the Big Apple. We'll begin in Times Square and venture upon some of the iconic places within walking distance. We'll have trial units and prizes from our friends at Lume Cube to help us make pictures like never before. We'll use these to photograph buildings, people — even cops — as we walk around. Several of our Photofocus authors and publisher, Richard Harrington, will be there. We … [Read more...] about Tonight’s the night — join us for a NYC photowalk!
Striking the balance between creativity and efficiency
Creativity is a spice of life. It’s what keeps us excited It keeps us at the top of our game. Being creative often requires experimentation which can take up a lot of time. Here’s how to strike a balance between creativity and efficiency. Don’t reinvent the wheel, modify it When I suggest "Don't reinvent the wheel", I'm not advocating stifling your creativity, I'm suggesting to modify the wheel to become proficient. Start with a solid base, technique or lighting pattern then slightly modify it. Once it’s to your liking, modify it some more! … [Read more...] about Striking the balance between creativity and efficiency
Join us Friday night for a New York City photowalk!
We hope you can join us this Friday night, as we photowalk around Times Square in New York City! Come join us for this FREE event, as we help one another make great pictures and have a fun time. We'll begin in Times Square and venture upon some of the iconic places within walking distance. We'll have trial units and prizes from our friends at Lume Cube to help us make pictures like never before. We'll use these to photograph buildings, people — even cops — as we walk around. Several of our Photofocus authors and publisher, Richard … [Read more...] about Join us Friday night for a New York City photowalk!
Skylum announces the Smart Sky Enhancer filter coming to Luminar on 11/01/18
Skylum Software of Bellvue, WA is adding an exciting new filter to its flagship image editor, Luminar 2018. Smart Sky Enhancer joins Accent AI and Foilage Enhancer which are both artificial intelligence-driven features. https://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?a=OeZYIPP2rw0tOX_n&u=/watch%3Fv%3DScbyevtYiiE%26feature%3Dem-comments In a press release, Skylum CEO Alex Tsepko said, "We are extremely proud of the tremendous solutions our AI Lab has developed to help photographers quickly correct images. Boring skies can minimize the … [Read more...] about Skylum announces the Smart Sky Enhancer filter coming to Luminar on 11/01/18
How to get perfect detail and tones in environmental portraits
Making pictures of people who are good at their craft while they are doing their craft is one of the best subjects you can ever find. They are passionate, you are passionate, and the pictures always turn out well. When I make environmental portraits, I do my best to control the light. However, since I'm invading someone's space and interrupting their day, it's best to be as quick as possible. That means that I never get to set up four lights with gels and grids to highlight and isolate the interesting stuff. Fortunately, you can use tone … [Read more...] about How to get perfect detail and tones in environmental portraits
Aurora HDR 2019 available now… Yes, it’s shipping
Aurora HDR 2019, Skylum's latest update to its venerable HDR software, has officially been released. The update lets you easily apply and customize HDR looks to both bracketed sets and single images. New to the 2019 update are several features, including a new tone-mapping technology powered by Skylum's Quantum HDR Engine, a new HDR Smart Structure, a new LUT Mapping filter as well as 11 new integrated color grading sets to use with the LUT Mapping Filter. It also features improvements to the HDR Details Boost filter, Adjustable Gradient … [Read more...] about Aurora HDR 2019 available now… Yes, it’s shipping
Aurora HDR 2019 bootcamp video and last minute pre-order savings
Richard Harrington has created a great deep dive into Aurora HDR 2019. It covers how to make these great enhancements for single image long exposures, single image environmental portraits, and bracketed exposure landscapes. Time is almost up to pre-order Aurora HDR 2019. Act now to get a special price on Aurora HDR 2019 – CLICK HERE. Pre-order today and you'll receive a special bonus pack described at the end of this post. This offer is only good for a very limited time. Single Image Long Exposure Single Image Environmental … [Read more...] about Aurora HDR 2019 bootcamp video and last minute pre-order savings
Is your workflow compatible with MacOS Mojave?
Apple has officially released its latest MacOS — Mojave, version 10.14. This new version highlights features such as a system-wide Dark Mode, Stacks, Dynamic Desktop backgrounds and several new apps. It also introduces a great new feature for photographers — gallery and EXIF information views in the MacOS Finder. In my testing, the new OS has been very stable and without any major problems. But that doesn't mean that there won't be some compatibility issues in terms of third-party apps and devices. Software Update: There are some minor … [Read more...] about Is your workflow compatible with MacOS Mojave?
The Traveling Photographer — Route 66 meets Aurora 2019
Create amazing HDR photographs with Skylum’s Aurora HDR 2019. Purchase today and save plus get a free bundle of training, LUTs and Looks too! What do Route 66 and Aurora 2019 have in common? Both provide countless opportunities for enthusiastic photographers to explore the realms of High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. Why? Because high contrast subjects, such as vintage buildings shot under a mid-day sun, night scenes with neon signs, and magical landscapes photographed during the golden hour are the heart and soul of Route 66 and of … [Read more...] about The Traveling Photographer — Route 66 meets Aurora 2019
Using Skylum’s Photolemur to quickly deliver social media images
Create amazing HDR photographs with Skylum’s Aurora HDR 2019. Purchase today and save! Being a community and corporate event photographer, I often have to deliver photos in a hurry. I offer a "top 10" photo batch for my clients within two hours of the end of the photoshoot, which means I have to run home, offload my photos to Lightroom, cull through the photos and edit 10 of them. Phew. While I usually manage to make the two-hour promise, it's not without some anxiety on my behalf. Recently, I discovered Photolemur 3 — a tool that … [Read more...] about Using Skylum’s Photolemur to quickly deliver social media images
Mind Your Own Business Podcast with Scott Bourne | Photofocus Podcast September 14, 2018
https://soundcloud.com/photofocus/mind-your-own-business-podcast-with-scott-bourne-photofocus-podcast-september-14-2018 Get the show here or get it on iTunes — Please, post a review on iTunes. Welcome to the Mind Your Own Business Podcast! Today we chat with photographer, author, educator, Olympus visionary and President of Skylum, Scott Bourne about the following topics: Staying cutting edge in your technique, as well as how you run your business Fine-tuning your skillset The importance of education … [Read more...] about Mind Your Own Business Podcast with Scott Bourne | Photofocus Podcast September 14, 2018
Aurora HDR 2019 now available for pre-order
(Editor's note: Aurora HDR 2019 is now available. Create amazing HDR photographs with Skylum’s Aurora HDR 2019. Purchase today and save plus get a free bundle of training, LUTs and Looks too!) Aurora HDR 2019 is the latest update to Skylum's venerable HDR software. It is now available for pre-order. Upgrade and full version deal links appear at the end of this post. Set to be released in early October, Aurora HDR 2019 lets you easily apply and customize HDR looks to both bracketed sets and single images. This update includes several new … [Read more...] about Aurora HDR 2019 now available for pre-order
Discovering Luminar’s workspace
(Editor's note: Aurora HDR 2019 is now available. Create amazing HDR photographs with Skylum’s Aurora HDR 2019. Purchase today and save plus get a free bundle of training, LUTs and Looks too!) It has taken me a while to figure out how, when and why to use Luminar to make fantastic images. Mostly this is due to my adverse reaction to change. I figure, if I like what I am using, why change it? Well, you just don’t know what you are missing until you’ve tried. So, I am giving Skylum’s Luminar a go and am enjoying the results I’m getting so … [Read more...] about Discovering Luminar’s workspace
