Luminar 3 with libraries was released earlier this month and includes a number of upgrades over its predecessor, Luminar 2018.
The library feature is certainly the biggest news in the most recent version of Luminar, though there are plenty of other features that prove valuable for photographers of all skill levels and abilities.
In the video above, Jim Nix offers a detailed look at Luminar 3 and offers ten tips for getting to know the software a little bit better.
Jim's pointers will help you get settled in Luminar and develop a faster and more efficient workflow.
Have a look at the video for his hands-on Luminar tutorial, and for a quick breakdown of each of Jim's tips, read on below!
See the Editing History of an Image in a Single Click
Can't remember what edits you applied to an image?
In Luminar 3, viewing the editing history is as simple as a single click.
Located above the histogram, you'll see a clock icon. Just press that, and the editing history for the image will appear, as shown above.
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How to View File Names in Grid View
As you can see in the image above, when viewing your images in grid view, the individual file names do not appear with the photo.
To see the file names in Grid View, simply go to View > Show Tab Bar.
The screenshot above shows that once you enable the Tab Bar, the image file name will appear at the top of the screen.
Just click on an image to see the file name!
How to Add More Space to the Luminar 3 Editing Window
The Luminar 3 UI offers you a wealth of information while still giving you plenty of room to see the image you're editing.
As shown above, the filmstrip on the left shows the images you have in your library while the editing workspace on the right offers you the tools needed to process your image.
At the bottom are tools for starring and favoriting images, and of course, the at the top of the window are the various menus for accessing different features and functions of Luminar 3.
But what if you want a little more space dedicated to the image you're editing?
By going to View > Hide/Show Filmstrip, you can gain more real estate for editing your image by hiding the filmstrip from view.
Going to View > Hide/Show Current Photo Actions allows you to hide the bottom panel for rating images as well.
Just doing those two things opens up the editing window with much more area to view and inspect your image. Of course, reversing those actions is a simple matter of toggling the Filmstrip and Current Photo Actions back on.
Quick Tip: You can also toggle the Looks Panel on and off by going to View > Hide/Show Looks Panel. Hide the editing sidebar by going to View > Sidebar > Edit for a large-screen view of your image.
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Change the Background of the Editing Window in Luminar 3
Though changing the background color of the editing window isn't a new feature in Luminar 3, if you aren't sure how to do it, you can access that feature in the View menu.
Just go to View > Background and change the background to white, various shades of gray, or black.
Moving Images to the Trash
Let's say that you have duplicate images in your grid view and you want to trash one of them.
By clicking on the image and dragging it to the Trash icon on the right side of the screen, you can remove that item from the grid.
However, though the image will no longer appear in the grid view, it will still appear in your folder. This is handy if you decide later that you don't actually want to trash the image.
To completely delete the image from Luminar 3 and the folder on your computer, you must go to Trash > Empty Trash, and then select "Empty Trash" from the pop-up window. At that point, the image will be moved to the system trash folder.
This is a thoughtful system of deleting images because it provides you with opportunities to reverse your decision - once in the Luminar 3 trash and again in the system trash folder.
Adding Folders and Albums
Luminar 3 makes it easy to create folders and albums for simplified image organization.
To create a new Folder or Album, simply press the "+" button next to Folders or Albums on the right side of the screen, as shown above.
Folders in Luminar mirror the folder on your computer, so adding images to the folder in Luminar will add the images to the same folder on your hard drive, and vice versa.
Albums, on the other hand, are virtual collections of images. That means that you can add and delete images from an Album without impacting what images are or are not in the folders in Luminar or on your computer.
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How to Move Presets from Luminar 2018 to Luminar 3
If you've used Luminar 2018 and have created presets (called Looks in Luminar 3), they should be automatically imported for you into Luminar 3.
However, if that doesn't happen, you can manually add your Looks and Workspaces by going to File > Show Luminar Looks Folder, as shown above.
On the next screen, find the Luminar 2018 Preset folder (highlighted in blue above) and click on it to reveal its contents.
By selecting the Looks and Presets subfolders, you can drag their contents into the Luminar 3.
Quick Tip: Follow a similar procedure as outlined above to import your custom Workspaces as well. Just go to File > Show Workspaces Folder, and copy and drag the workspaces from the Luminar 2018 folder to the Luminar 3 folder.
How to Rate and Color Label Photos in Luminar 3
Rating your images can be done by clicking on the star icons at the bottom of each image.
Alternatively, you can go to Image > Set Rating and select the appropriate rating that way.
From the Image menu, you can also flag an image, reject it, or leave it unmarked.
Luminar has color labels as well, so you can utilize a color rating system to further organize your images (i.e., labeling unedited images as red, edited images as blue, and so forth).
You can also sort your images by any of the criteria mentioned above.
In Grid View, click on the drop-down menu next to "Showing" at the top of the screen and select the criteria you wish to use for sorting images.
This gives you an abundance of control over the organization and sorting of your images, which will speed up your workflow by allowing you to find the images you want more quickly.
See the Image Information in a Jiff
Can't remember when you took an image or the camera settings you used? Accessing that information can be done by going to the Info Panel at the top-right of the screen.
Opening that panel reveals an abundance of information about the image, including its name, the date the image was taken, the file size, camera and lens details, as well as the exposure settings used to create the photograph.
Quick Tip: You can search your images in Luminar by date. Just right-click on an image and select Go To > Images from the Same Date. Functionality to search images using keywords, EXIF information, and file names will be added in 2019 as well.
How to Move Images from Luminar 3 to Aurora HDR
If you have both Luminar 3 and Aurora HDR, you can easily move a set of bracketed images from Luminar into Aurora HDR.
As shown above, simply highlight the bracketed images you wish to open in Aurora HDR, and then drag those images to the Aurora HDR icon on your desktop or dock.
The images will move as RAW files, that way you have all the sensor information you need to create an HDR image.
With that, you have a tour of some of Luminar 3's features that speed up your workflow and simplify how you go about editing images.