HDR in Luminar Neo Review - Nice results quickly, but lacks Aurora HDR's flexibility.

Apologies - 10% discount - not 15% as stated in the video. (details below).

• Luminar Neo Promo Code $10 off: SILENTPEAKNEO10

What is HDR in Luminar Neo

HDR in Luminar Neo is a simple and effective way to merge multiple exposures to create a single high dynamic range image.

But unlike other Luminar Neo updates, the HDR Merge pack is an optional extra, costing US$49. And while HDR in Luminar Neo is as effective as Skylum Software’s Aurora HDR – it lacks its stablemates’ vast feature set and creative freedom. So, is HDR in Luminar Neo worth it?

Conclusion

HDR in Luminar Neo is relatively affordable and easy to use. More importantly, it produces attractive, natural-looking HDR images.

Too Simple?

However, Luminar Neo’s HDR lacks the vast array of manual adjustments present on other HDR applications such as Skylum’s own Aurora HDR.

Whether this matters to you depends on your needs. If you seek the quickest, easiest route to an attractive HDR image, I strongly recommend you check out Luminar Neo’s HDR Merge pack.

On the other hand, you might find Neo’s lack of HDR adjustments restricts your creative freedom. In which case, I recommend you pick up a copy of Aurora HDR while you can.

Is HDR in Luminar Neo worth it?

Yes. Although Luminar Neo’s HDR merge pack lacks the creative freedom offered by other products such as Aurora HDR, it does the essentials very well. Its image alignment is excellent, and it handles moving subjects very well. But most importantly, it’s easy to use and produces natural and attractive-looking HDR images.

[jasonnewton]

Skylum should offer Aurora HDR as a “professional “ level plugin for Neo. Currently, I use Aurora as my starting point for HDR processing, then send it into Neo for finishing. When done, click Apply in Neo to return the edited photo to Aurora. A little backwards, but you can make it work if you find the file named “LuminarNeo.8bf” in the Neo directory.

[JoeB_BSc]

Hi Richard, you mention Aurora HDR, which if I recall correctly was able to function whilst having images sent from Luminar and after adjustment back to Luminar a bit like Luminar Neo to Photoshop. Have you tried sending images to Aurora HDR to see if it works please. (I would but have a broken bone in my thumb)? I look forward to your reply. Thanks and Regards Joe