What is Luminar Neo

by

GARY DETONNANCOURT

Photography Educator.

Luminar Neo is a powerful image editor for Mac and Windows, powered by AI technologies that can simplify complex photo editing tasks, making them fast and fun. It offers an array of features that make it stand out from other photo editors. Some of the key features include:

Click on the image to buy Luminar Neo. Use the Coupon Code AFS-tMnVUz to get an extra 10% off the sale price, which ends on June 14, 2023.

• AI-powered tools to quickly and easily enhance photos with one click.

• Modular workflow for customizing your editing experience.

• A library of presets to get you started quickly.

• professional-grade filters and effects to create stunning images.

• Advanced masking tools for precise edits.

• Support for popular RAW formats like DNG, CR2, NEF, etc.

• Easy sharing options to share your work with friends and family.

Luminar Neo is designed to be easy to use yet powerful enough for professional photographers and enthusiasts alike. With its intuitive user interface and AI technology, it makes editing photos faster than ever before!

Revolutionize Your Image Editing with Adobe Photoshop's Generative Fill: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering this Powerful Tool

by

GARY DETONNANCOURT

Photography Educator.

What is Generative Fill in Adobe Photoshop?

Generative Fill is a feature in Adobe Photoshop that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and deep neural networks to analyze an image and synthesize new pixels. This allows photographers to edit photos with a click and a few words, making it easier to create stunning results with less editing time.

How Does Generative Fill Work?

Generative Fill works by using Adobe Stock images to add appropriate shadows, reflections, lighting, and perspective to the original photo. This helps photographers create more realistic images without spending hours manually editing each one. The AI engine also helps fill in any gaps or missing pieces of the image, giving you a complete picture that looks like it was taken from the real world.

Use Cases for Generative Fill

Generative Fill can be used for a variety of purposes, including removing objects from photos without leaving weird glitches in the result. It can also be used to expand album cover artwork or create unique artwork from your own photos. Photographers can also use this feature to quickly enhance their images with realistic lighting and shadows that would otherwise take hours of manual work.

Step-by-Step Instructions on Using Generative Fill

1. Open your photo in Adobe Photoshop

2. Select “Generate” from the top menu bar

3. Select “Fill” from the dropdown menu

4. Choose which elements you want to add or remove from your photo

5. Adjust any settings as needed

6. Click “OK” when you are satisfied with your edits

To get the best results with Generative Fill, make sure you have selected high-quality stock images as well as adjusted all settings correctly before clicking “OK”. Additionally, try experimenting with different combinations of elements to see what works best for your particular project!

Sources:

• https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/generative-fill.html

• https://www.makeuseof.com/photoshop-generative-fill-ways-to-improve-photos/

• https://beebom

How to Create Brushes for Photoshop

If you would like to learn more about Photoshop CC, you should become a Snapshot Member, so you can get access to all ten of my online classes plus free digital content like brushes. Now 50% off with this link.

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Do Photographers Need a Tablet for Editing in 2022?

In this video I discuss my experiences with tablets and if photographers really need to have one.

Here is an affiliate link to the tablet I just purchased.

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Become a Snapshot Member now for 50% off and get all of my online courses plus free bonus digital clipart and brushes every month.

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Hidden 1-Click Actions in Photoshop

This is an interesting photoshop video by Anthony Morganti about one click actions. To use them hit Command or Control J to duplicate your layer then click on Help>Photoshop Help>Select a quick action.

OCTOBER 2021 UPDATE OF ADOBE PHOTOSHOP

Here is a link to the full update information page on Adobe’s website.

How to Back-Up Your Images and Edit Them From Amazon Photos

This video is part II of my series on cloud services. If you haven’t read my previous article on the Top 5 Best Cloud Services I recommend you check it out as well. To get started with Amazon Photos sign up for Amazon Prime.

October 2021 Update of Adobe Lightroom

Latest updates in Adobe Lightroom

Let’s have a look at the major enhancements and new features of Lightroom Classic’s latest version below:

Enhanced editing with masking:

Masking is the headline addition in the latest lightroom version. Arguably, it is a complete game-changer.

Masking Icon

Masking Options

The local adjustment tools have merged into a solo masking icon. The icon is available in the tool strip. Clicking it will let you have a popped-up selection tools list, that includes the prior local adjustment tools that are known as Radial Gradient, Linear Gradient, and brush tools. This list also includes the Color Range mask, Depth Range Mask, and Luminance Range Mask.

Two new options in the list Select Subject and Select Sky:

These two new options are based on Artificial Intelligence to select an animal, sky, person, animal, or any other object that’s a clear part of your selected image. This one-click solution really performs well.

Select Subject

Inverting this mask selects the background.

Improved workflow for metadata

The customize button allows you to select what fields are in your metatdata.

Even though this feature isn't as exciting as masking, the metadata panel has gotten a redesign. Now it will allow you to control which field you want to customize completely. You can open and customize the metadata panel by clicking the customize button.

Batch edit improvements

Adobe Lightroom’s recent release has also brought performance improvements because you can now apply editing to a batch of images easily. This way, you can quickly update previews in Survey, Secondary Grid, and Grid mode.

When you will apply batch editing on a larger number of images, you can put the metadata panel in Edit-Only mode to speed up performance.

Auto-Save in XMP

The recent release also offers several enhancements when you select write changes into XMP automatically. The XMP file will be automatically saved when there is any change in any image’s metadata. You can also pause this auto-save feature in the Catalog Settings.

Additional Features:

New Premium Presets sets are also available in Lightroom Classic to let you achieve your creative vision effectively. Premium Presets are now available with 8 new categories, Black & White, Food, Landscape, Urban Architecture, Lifestyle, Retro, Travel II, and Cinematic II. Adobe Lightroom has also come up with camera matching color profiles for Canon Picture Styles.

You can now filter your content by a specific date as well.

File storage has also been optimized. You can now find the “.lrcat-data” file in the same folder of the catalog file. This file will have essential information about your images.

All of these amazing enhancements are now available to use after the October 2021 release of Adobe Lightroom.

The Top 5 Best Cloud Services for Backing Up your Photos

1. Amazon Photos:

Cons:

• Must be a Prime Member

• 5 GB of Video Storage

• Additional video storage starts at $1.99/mo

• If you end your Prime membership your storage is reduced to 5 GB for photos and videos.

Pros:

• Unlimited photo storage

• Accept uncompressed files including raw files

• Secure off-site backup for all of your devices

• Free Shipping when you order prints

• Allows you to use your photos as a slideshow on

  Echo Show or Fire TV

• Allows for photo sharing in private

  groups

• Nice widget creates videos and

  thumbnails so you can revisit past memories

• Advanced search and filters to help

  find photos

• Auto-Save makes sure your photos are

  always backed up from all of your devices.

• 24/7 Customer Support

2. SmugMug:

Pros:

• Unlimited full resolution photo storage including raw files

• Great for portfolios & websites

• Advanced Search

• Easy to upload and access photos

  and videos

• Connect a photo lab to your site for

  print sales

• Custom Photo sharing and Privacy

• Auto-upload

• Sell your images with sales tools

• Human support

• 14 Day Free Trial

Cons:

• $5-$42 per month

• If you plan to sell prints, you can’t designate yourself as the printer

3. IDrive:

Cons:

• They draw you in with an inexpensive price for the first year, then it goes up.

• $80-$150 a year

• Technically more complex than the other solutions on this list.

Pros:

• Multiple Device Backup

• Online File Sync

• Backup and retrieve data in less

  then a week via physical storage

  shipment

• Snapshot & Versioning of your

  backup

• Web-based console to manage

  backup

• Incremental and compressed

  backups will ease network

  bandwidth by transferring the

  modified portions of a file.

• IDrive automatically recognizes

  the modified parts of files and

  backs them up.

• Access files backed up from PCs

  and Macs or synced from connected

  devices; protect mobile data with

  apps for iOS and Android.

• Search and restore files from the

  a desktop application or via any browser;

  provision to recover deleted files

  from Trash within a period of 30 days.

• No data is deleted from the IDrive

  online account until you manually

  delete or run 'Archive Cleanup' to

  match your computer data to your account.

• Activity reports, backup status reports,

  share reports - all keep you informed.

Graphic provided by Crazy Egg

4. Flickr:

Cons:

• You can’t upload raw files

• The interface is outdated

• Its future is questionable

Pros:

• There is a free version

• Flickr Pro is just $5 a month

• Advanced Statistics

• Ad-free browsing

• Automatic Photo Uploads

• Unlimited uncompressed images

  for Pro members.

5. Google Photos:

Cons:

• Google compresses your phones and videos.

• You have to pay for Google Drive to get uncompressed file storage

Pros:

• Securely backup photos and videos

• Auto-backup

• Access on almost any device

• Photos & videos are auto-organized and

  searchable.

• Editing tool & smart filters

• Printing services

• Free for compressed files

Of course, there are other great clouds services out there like Adobe Creative Cloud and 500px, so please post in the comments below what your favorite is and why you like it. Also, stay tuned, for a future post where I will show you how I use Amazon Photos as part of my mobile editing workflow.