Luminar Neo HDR Merge - Is it worth a look? PROS and CONS

Skylum Luminar Neo HDR Merge extension is now available. Is it worth a look and what are the PROS and CONS? Is it better than Lightroom's HDR functionality? What about compared to Aurora HDR 2019? Lets have a look.

You'll also learn how you might already qualify for a FREE copy.

In this video, you'll see how Luminar Neo HDR Merge extension works, how it performs on a portrait HDR and how it compares to Lightroom, as well as Aurora HDR 2019. Which is better?

📢 BUY Luminar Neo HDR Merge Extension

📢 Buy my Luminar Neo course

Do you do HDR photography or want to try it but have hesitated or moved away from it due to the unnatural look of most HDR?

Tell me your thoughts on HDR in general in the comment area below. If you do it, do you prefer natural looking or more of a grunge style?

Want to know more about how to shoot HDR - then check out my HDR course

📢 Table of Contents

0:00 Introduction
0:58 First example of an HDR Merge using Luminar Neo
1:52 Where to find the HDR Merge panel
2:28 Where to find the settings for the HDR Merge
3:02 Where Luminar Neo puts the HDR Merged file
3:17 Result of first example HDR merged photo
4:16 Second example of HDR Merge with Luminar Neo
7:13 Luminar Neo HDR Merge vs Lightroom HDR results
7:39 Aurora HDR 2019 version for comparison
7:59 The PROS of Luminar Neo HDR Merge extension
8:26 Do you qualify to get Luminar Neo HDR Merge for free?
8:51 The CONS of the HDR Merge extension
9:45 How does HDR Merge handle chromatic aberration?
10:29 Where to learn more about HDR photography
10:45 How does Luminar Neo HDR Merge manage portrait HDR?
12:21 How does Lightroom HDR mange the same portrait photo?
13:49 Do you currently do HDR photography yourself?

📢 Buy DPM Products mentioned in video

HDR Masterclass
How to Do HDR Photography the RIGHT way!

📷 Amazon Resources (affiliate links)

Luminar Neo Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet

📷 Related Videos to Watch

Luminar Neo Layers Tutorial

Luminar Neo Dodge & Burn HACK

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#LuminarNeo #LuminarNeoHDRMerge #HDRmerge

[WilliamWallaceRoss]

I was unaware about turning on the clipping. Thanks for that tip. Now I will try some bracketing to see how the HDR Merge looks.

[markmathews]

Thanks for the video. It was a bit helpful in my quest to understand Luminar neo. I use an earlier version of Luminar and Aurora. I sent you a note through your website. I use HDR by modifying and “bracketing” from capture one pro.

[RonaldBrown]

I’ve been into HDR photography ever since I met Trey Radcliffe many years ago. And I was using both Lightroom and Aurora to process my HDR images, but now I think I will switch to Neo with HDR Merge. Thanks for the great tutorial on the new software.

[thelongarmmarine]

I’m dabbling with Neo & 360 photos & the Z1…if you blend before stitching, it’s a complete no-go, but stitching 1st, then blending/adjusting, it seems ok…

[acneubauer]

Thank you for showing how Merge is coping with slight movement

[zivliv]

I use HDR bracketing a lot and it saves me time and enhance quality. One thing you haven't mentioned is that with Luminar Neo HDR you can also use a single image and improve the exposure balance a lot.

[CarlosSantos-occz]

We have reached version 1.2 of Luminar Neo, a program that since version 1.05 has a huge bug. After cropping a photo proportionally with, for example, the original dimensions of 5184x3456, when we finish editing if we export indicating that we want the original dimensions, Neo simply ignores the instruction and keeps the dimensions after the crop. As I mentioned the problem only arises I think in version 1.05 (or 1.06 I'm not sure anymore). And no one at Skylum detects the bug. As long as it persists, the acquisition is not justified.

[ArminHirmer]

I tried the new HDR thing in Luminar NEO and at the same time with Capture One. Totally no comparison, I can use the Capture One files, but not the Neo.... just bad

[emeregildo]

HDR Photography for me is still a great tool to capture natural images with greater detail levels, which otherwise would not be possible to capture. I believe that caption feature is likely to be included as a built in camera feature in future technologies, however, in the meantime hdr blending is still being used.

[phlotographer]

Got to the part about the toggle to show the HDR merge panel and discovered that clicking on did not work but clicking just below it and the other options they would activate. I am rather used to simply clicking on the > (turned to the R 90 degrees so it points down) just in case someone else had the same issue.

It would be interesting to see you do the edits including the one of Rob in Affinity Photo and see how their HDR and if necessary their toning would handle the issues you have found in LR compared to NEO. TIA

[ThePNWRiderWA]

It is a subset of the older Aurora. They should have included it with Neo as it is with on1 and lightroom.

[johns]

Could you demonstrate using HDR Merge with just 1 image and explain what it actually does since there are no other images to merge with?
Whatever it does, is it possible to achieve the same result just using Neo without HDR Merge?

[mikejenner]

I have upgraded my Neo to v1.2.0 I ave the icon you describe in the top right of my screen that toggles the side panel. When I select it and the side panel opens I don't have the HDR box where you are dropping your images to be merged.

[sue.Hoo]

It looks like NEO does a great job of HDR, it is clearly very powerful. I haven’t bought it yet as I really want some easy to use editing s/w that can stitch panoramas too, I’m really surprised NEO doesn’t 🤔

[venkataramanSantosh]

Does it work within Lightroom as a plugin. Currently i use Neo as a plugin since LR is my default workflow and catalog

[PhotoSnapMedia]

Real estate photographer here. I shoot all my sessions using bracketed shots. Sometimes 30-50 photos. Is there a way to HDR merge numerous shots at the same time or do you have to highlight/drag/drop 5 brackets at a time? That's very time consuming.

[adamloughran]

Question: I have a Samsung S21 Ultra and want to do some HDR. Is there a way to automate the bracketing process to use with Neo HDR?

[wolfiemedia]

Thanks for the video. I use the fully-fledged Aurora HDR, this looks a bit like a watered down version of it? Is it worth getting this Neo HDR Merge? Also, has that defringe thing been updated since this video? Thanks :)