Luminar AI Update 4 - now with Portrait Bokeh AI!
Luminar AI just got a free update to include Portrait Bokeh AI. It automatically creates a mask for any human in the photo and then allows you to control how much blur the background gets. It’s amazing! Check out my summary here and my First Look video on YouTube.
Well friends, we finally get the long-awaited bokeh AI tool in Luminar AI, which was first promised when the product was originally launched, late last year. Was it worth the wait? See sample screenshots below, and check out my full demo video as well!
My opinion? It’s quite good, and it will be really useful too!
Now, when it was first announced last year, it was just called Bokeh AI. But now it is Portrait Bokeh AI. So keep that in mind. In other words, it is designed for portraits, and not just any photo. It uses AI to recognize humans in an image - even groups of them - and automatically creates a mask over them. Then you can adjust the bokeh for the background, as well as quite a few other things: brightness, temperature and more!
I love when new products or new features come out, and even though this isn’t exactly something I need all the time (if you follow my work, you know that taking portraits is not my thing). But I do feel that with this update, they have done the impossible - they’ve made me interested in portraits! LOL
Honestly though, I am having a lot of fun with it and think you will too.
Check out my full First Look video here:
Here are some sample screenshots, showing how the mask looks over this photo. Keep in mind, this mask was AUTOMATIC and was done in a couple of seconds. It’s amazingly fast and accurate too. Of course, if you need to adjust the mask, you can do so with the brush in the Portrait Bokeh AI tool. You can paint over parts of the photo to either add focus to them, or blur them. It’s quite ingenious and of course all you portrait photographers out there are going to love it.
Unedited photo on the left. Photo showing mask in the middle. Final edit (with new sky, too!) on the right.
Click any image to enlarge.
Now here is the other thing I want to point out about this tool. This is the FIRST TIME that Skylum has actually shown us the mask with their AI tools. Take Sky AI (automatic sky replacement) for example. Sure, the sky goes in automatically and looks great, but you never actually see the mask. It’s not hard to figure out, of course, but I think this is a big deal because in the past these things have been obscured. So I think this is a positive development.
And as I said, it will also handle group portraits with ease. Here is a sample group shot. You can see the mask, which is 95%+ accurate. I think that is pretty amazing all around.
If you want to see more of this tool in action, I recommend watching my YouTube video about it. I will also be back soon with even more videos about this tool.
And just to make sure that Portrait Bokeh AI doesn’t overshadow the other big updates, I wanted to share them here. The Sky AI tool has been improved and simplified. A new on-screen tool makes it even easier to get a new sky in the right position. They replace 3 separate sliders with a new Horizon Position tool, which operates a little like an adjustable gradient. It’s quick and easy, and I cover that in the video too.
And lastly, the Texture tool was updated to include visual previews of textures. This is great because many times the name of the texture might not be very clear, so this visual preview helps a lot! There are two new sets of textures included, and you can even load your own folders of textures and get a visual preview of them, too. It’s awesome!
There are also a lot of bug fixes and performance updates to round out Luminar AI Update 4. Keep in mind this is a FREE UPDATE for current customers, so it’s no cost to you my friends. Get it and have fun editing!
The Barber
Inside an old barber shop, taking photos of a guy combing his hair. Nope, not something I normally do, but boy do I like this photo.
This is not my normal fare, but I really like this shot. I was out shooting with a client along South Congress Avenue one evening, and we wandered by the barber shop there. We popped in and asked if we could take a photo or two inside (it has a great vintage look to it), and they said sure come in and take whatever you like. After a few shots, this guy was combing his hair and we knew that was the best shot. I think we both said “hold that pose” at the same time, and captured this one. Thanks for looking!
This is Brian
Brian is an interesting dude. I met him on the beach in Corpus Christi, TX. I had seen him earlier walking around, the beard swaying in the breeze. I thought to myself "If I get a chance I would like to take his picture". I got the chance a little while later.
My first thought when I saw him was "beach bum", which is obviously the sterotypical thing to think, and I don't like to automatically jump to conclusions. But, I was on the beach, and he has the look...
Brian is from somewhere, but nowhere in particular (I believe that is what he said - he wouldn't really answer that question). He is just hanging out and is trying to make his way down to South America. He feels that we are on the cusp of a New World Order, and that South America will be at the center of it. He hopes to make it there before it all happens. He also talked a lot about religion and how America is the new Israel, or something like that. I couldn't really follow his logic, if that's what you call it. Anyways, he was kind and (seemingly) gentle, and was gracious enough to pose for a few shots.
Good luck, Brian. I hope you are making progress on your journey.
Here are a few more shots of him:
A real cowboy
Photography, to me, is a journey. Most folks I know have started with landscapes and similar subjects, and from there have moved into portrait work. When we get together and talk about it, I'm just not there yet. I take some family shots, but doing serious portrait work just hasn't gotten under my skin yet. That's ok, right? Well, I'm trying. Change or die, as they say. I am all about growing my photographic range - notice I didn't say dynamic range, haha - and in the interest of being more well-rounded I have taken some portraits "on the go", or what I like to call combat portait work. Just a quick snap of a subject that didn't necessarily know it was a subject. So, this is a real cowboy, from a real working ranch, from the real West. I know this because he led me on a horse through a 1000 acre ranch in New Mexico this summer. I regret to inform you I do not recall his name, and he deserves better than that. So, I still have work to do. The learning continues...
Archie is NOT happy
A random shot from my travels for a Friday - hope everyone has a great weekend!
I was walking around in Carmel, CA and having fun snapping some random things when I entered a courtyard between some stores, and there sat Archie. I rarely post shots like this, but I really liked this one. BTW, while I was taking his portrait, some locals walked up and called him “Archie”, so that’s how I knew his name. He was tied up to a rail, just waiting on his master I guess. Have a great weekend and thanks for looking!
A noble gentleman
This gentleman was part of the Native American pow-wow that I attended in Taos, New Mexico. We arrived early and I was lucky to get a good spot to shoot from, because once their Grand Entrance began it was suddenly elbow-to-elbow. There must have been 200 folks dressed in their tribal gear and it was quite a sight. I highly recommend going to events like this. It's obviously a great opportunity for photography but more importantly I think it is great to learn about the culture and experience it. I am not one for the typical portrait shots - for some reason I haven't caught that bug yet. But I certainly make exceptions when it comes to events like this!