With the launch scheduled for November 17 and pre-order starting on November 2, Luminar comes from the same people that made Aurora HDR and other apps: Macphun Software.
Macphun photography software is made for Mac only. The creators, based in California, believe this focus ensures they deliver the best user experience possible to their customers. With that in mind they’ve been almost secretly developing Luminar, presented as a universal all-in-one photo app designed to tackle any of your photography needs, and provide you with the ultimate photo editing comfort.
It’s the most fantastic piece of software we’ve ever created, says the team at MacPhun, and looking at the specs available one has to accept that we may well – well, Mac users may well – be about to discover a new and viable option to edit their photographs. As a starting point the team assumed that in the modern world the perfect handling of RAW format should not be something extraordinary, so Luminar gives users the assurance that their RAW files will get the necessary pixel perfect treatment.
But RAW converter is only a small part of the myriad of the amazing features and tools you’ll get with the new software, continues the team at Macphun, so “in addition to flawless RAW support, you’ll get Layers and Custom Textures, Brushes and Masking (including automatic Luminosity, Gradient and Radial Masks), pixel-perfect Noise Reduction, a Healing tool, Crop & Transform, History Panel, Selective Top & Bottom adjustments, plug-in support, and a whole lot more.
The creators explain Luminar as “a truly complete photo editing powerhouse” and add that two words are all that is needed to describe Luminar: Simplicity & Creativity. In fact, the user interface is innovative as it adapts to the skill level and preferences of the user, so it is possible to make it look exactly the way you want to access only the tools you need. The promise is that “everyone will be able to use Luminar without special training, and everyone can achieve many, many beautiful looks to their photos using only Luminar.”
Filters, Presets and Workspaces, you’ll find everything inside Luminar. The first two you already know from other programs, but the Workspaces, although the name suggests something we’re all familiar with, are a bit different. Macphun says they’re like “personalized darkrooms” that feature only the tools most suitable for your type of photography; they are saved sets of different filters, logically grouped”. Workspaces that come by default include Portrait, Black & White, Landscape and Street, and users can always add new filters to a given Workspace, or even create their personal Workspaces tailored exactly as they need. Plus, you can even share and import Workspaces by other photographers.
If you’re a Mac user, this is a good excuse to visit Macphun website and find more about Luminar. The price, again, is in line with the recent batch of RAW editors and photo editors, like Affinity Photo. Luminar pre-order will begin, as stated before, on the 2nd of November. If you own a Macphun app for Mac, you’ll pay only $49 to get Luminar & exclusive bonuses. For new users (who don’t own any product by Macphun) the price will be very compelling as well – just $59.