Luminar Neo: Recovering highlights and shadows with Develop RAW

Demo summary
The creator demonstrates how to use the Develop RAW tool in Luminar Neo to recover sky detail and brighten dark shadows without washing out the image.
Step-by-step
- Open the Develop RAW tool
- Navigate to the Light panel
- Decrease the Highlights slider to recover detail in the sky
- Increase the Shadows slider to reveal detail in dark areas
- Fine-tune the Shadows slider by bringing it back down if the image appears too flat or washed out
Options
- Adjust overall Exposure to brighten or darken the entire scene
Watch out for
- Pushing sliders to extremes (e.g., 100) can make the photo look flat and washed out
- Adjusting exposure to fix highlights will negatively impact shadows, and vice versa
Tips
- Leave the overall exposure alone and target highlights and shadows directly for better control
- Only raise the shadow amount to the point where you just start to see detail
- Be more aggressive with the highlights slider than the shadows to ensure all sky information is recovered
- Avoid overcooking the shadows to maintain a natural look
Highlights
“the key here is to raise the shadow amount just to a point where we start to see detail... We don't want to go overboard if we don't have to.”
All demos from “Luminar Neo for Beginners: A Complete First Landscape Edit”
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25:551:26Fine-tuning colors with HSL slidersThe creator demonstrates using the HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) panel to darken green leaves specifically so the waterfall stands out more.Luminar Neo· AI Photo Editor
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33:242:04Object removal with Erase and GenErase AIA demonstration of removing distracting objects using the standard Erase tool and the generative AI 'GenErase' tool for more complex areas.Luminar Neo· AI Object Remover/Eraser
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8:460:37Portrait retouching with Skin and Face AIThe creator uses Skin AI for shine removal and smoothing, and Face AI for eye enhancement and lip saturation in Luminar Neo.Kieran Hayes Photography
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7:050:43Targeted noise reduction with AI maskingThe creator applies the Denoise tool to a specific area of the image using Luminar Neo's AI masking to clean up digital noise in the sky.Anthony Turnham
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2:521:51Recovering highlights and shadows with Develop RAWCurrentThe creator demonstrates how to use the Develop RAW tool in Luminar Neo to recover sky detail and brighten dark shadows without washing out the image.Anthony Turnham
4:531:36Sharpening and noise reduction in Luminar NeoA demonstration of zooming into a photo to apply sharpening and luminosity-based noise reduction to clean up grain in flat areas like the sky.Anthony Turnham
6:491:00Enhancing photos with Accent AI and Sky EnhancerThe video shows the application of Enhance AI's 'Accent AI' and 'Sky Enhancer' sliders to automatically balance tones and boost blue sky saturation.Anthony Turnham
Luminar Neo