So....Luminar Flex

[pierces]

Well, this was an easier choice than I thought. While browsing the website to decide whether to try Flex out right away or not, I randomly checked the "My Software" page on my Luminar account and it turns out I already own it. It was a bundled option with my original Luminar purchase back in 2017 so you might want to check your own license page if you are interested in Flex and owned a previous version of Luminar. All I had to do was download the new version, install it with the plug-in function pointing at Photoshop and Lightroom and activate it using my license code. 

 

It was just about that easy. Download - Install - Activate.

 

It is invoked like any other external processor by right-click > Edit in > Luminar Flex. This brings up the Edit Original/Edit a Copy/Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments dialogue. If either of the make a copy options is chosen, an -edit copy is made and the Luminar interface opens. Once editing is done, clicking Apply in Luminar saves the changes to the copy. If you change your mind and click Cancel instead, the Luminar interface closes but the -edit copy remains, unchanged. (You can re-use it by right-clicking and choosing the Edit Original option the next time or just delete it.)

 

It would be a real breakthrough if instead of editing a copy, it would create an adjustment layer over the original, but I imagine that would take some form of cooperation from Adobe or some pretty extensive reverse engineering. I can dream.

 

I will run my next batch of photos through the AI Auto in Luminar and see if it does well enough to justify creating a copy and editing rather than just doing my usual editing in Lightroom. As of now, I can see using a favorite Luminar "look" on a number of images in a themed project but not as a daily driver due to the necessity of creating multiple redundant files. I will have to do some more extensive testing before sliced bread is threatened as the best of ideas.

 

To be continued...

 

Dave

Edited April 19, 2019 by pierces

[spthealien]

I share the same sentiment as you with regards to editing a copy. I hate having to edit a large-sized uncompressed TIFF file the moment I want to invoke a plugin like that. If it can work like a layer--that would be great. But something about modifying the TIFF (thereby increasing the demand on my storage by multiple magnitudes) and NOT being able to sync the edits across all my other files really discourages me from using these plugins. I like the Luminar set, though--but if it could coexist in a more transparent form, that would be excellent.