

A power user with a significant library want to keep Lightroom as the catalog manager, and use Luminar AI as a plugin just for the stuff it’s good at. And the catalog management, frankly, is a trainwreck, virtually unusable. On the other hand, eliminating Layers demands finding new approaches for sophisticated edits. Its palette of tools for manipulating sharpness, contrast, and color tones make these kinds of things far easier and enjoyable than with Lightroom.

Its strength is in building mood and environment in an image. For the kind of thing that Luminar 4 worked well for, Luminar AI is in most cases a step forward for this approach. I’m enjoying using Luminar AI, but I don’t feel that it’s the revolution that it’s being marketed as.
