For more than 17 years, I’ve been a devoted fan of the Nik Collection, with Color Efex remaining my go‑to tool for editing the majority of my photos. It’s actually been since the Google-era Nik days—before the DxO acquisition—that I last did a full review. So now, I’m kicking off a deep dive into version 8.
This series will include both short and long reviews covering the different tools in the collection. To start, here’s an introduction and a quick look at how I use Color Efex, along with some of my favorite filters.
I’ll admit I went a bit overboard with this photo, but I wanted to show how powerful Color Efex can be when you start stacking its filters. You don’t need complex masking or AI replacements—simply combining and experimenting with filters can dramatically transform an image. And once you land on a look you love, you can save it as a Preset for quick reuse.
In future videos, I’ll take a deeper dive into individual filters and highlight some of the creative ways you can use U‑Point controls.
Leave a comment to tell me what your favorite filters are and what you'd like to see me discuss in more depth in a future article.
It's impressive what Adobe is doing with Photoshop via ChatGPT. It allows for advanced tasks with adjustments that are layered and can be saved as a PSD file for you to edit later. It's more powerful than you think, so check out this video to learn how to set it up and use it.
I've been using this product since it first came out and still to this date there's nothing I like more. Check out the free demo for Photoshop and Lightroom to see for yourself - it really makes skin enhancements a simple one minute step in your photo editing workflow.
If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.
I’ve been following Skylum Software since its MacPhun days and along the way they have made many products that I’d put into the camp of “good, but still not there yet”. Luminar is definitely one of those products that has a lot of great photo editing features, but it’s always lacked my beloved U-Point controls in the Nik Collection (now by DxO). This is important because often times you want to make local edits to specific features of your photo, but not globally across the entire photo. While Photoshop and Luminar offer masks to help with this, they are cumbersome to create especially along the edges of the mask against complex subjects like tree branches with leaves or hair.
Luminar 4 addresses this with what it is calling Artificial Intelligence masking and it nothing demonstrates this better than its new sky replacement feature. While this isn’t far from the only new feature in Luminar 4, it’s the one that is worth talking about first as this really is breakthrough technology that makes me excited for Luminar now and in the future.
Here’s an example of a photo of a beautiful valley in Switzerland that I took this last October. This unedited version isn’t bad, but it’s a little hazy and lacks the impact of what it felt like when I saw it in real life:
To address this, I used the AI Enhance feature with an auto generated luminosity mask with the AI Accent light filter to enhance the details and overall color of the image. I then used the Color and Details Enhancer filters to make the image feel a bit more crisp. Lastly, I used the Landscape Enhancer to Dehaze and boost the foliage a bit. This set me up for what I think is one of the biggest improvements – the AI Sky Replacement – where I used the Blue Sky 4 preset for a subtle but believable improvement:
In less than a minute I got improvements that were good enough for me to call this one done. However, I like to tinker so I kept experimenting with skies. My wife was watching me do this and she encouraged me to use the Blue Sky 6 preset for leading lines that pull your eyes into the mountains:
Changes like these are subjective so I polled my Facebook friends and most found Blue Sky 6 to be the best choice, while some aligned with me found Blue Sky 4 to be more believable.
In retrospect, I think both are believable if you don’t know of the original image. What’s more, it’s feasible for this scene to have clouds of this nature, so I don’t consider this to be a change that misrepresents the area – it just misrepresents my luck with the clouds this day.
What’s more, my sensor was as dirty as hell due to changing lenses in the wind so I lucked out and got about a hundred dust spots in the sky removed when I replaced the sky – without any effort on my part. I’ve seen Luminar 4 fans getting the same benefit by using sky replacement on power lines and other distractions in the sky. This s a huge time saver, and I find it quite believable – especially with the wealth of adjustments you can make to this filter:
So yes, I can easily say that this feature is a hit and delivers a huge value in your digital workflow making this a no-brainer investment or upgrade if you do outdoor photography.
Yeah, but what about…
Using your own sky photos? Yes, you can.
Complex backgrounds with only one click? Yep, no problem as shown here:
Now this horribly bad looking photo isn’t believable as we’ve put a bright blue sky into an overcast day, so there’s still work to do. However, I wanted to illustrate the power of the AI masking (which is more easily appreciated with darker sky colors) so I had to include it.
What about people?
Here’s a photo I took in 2015 for my RX100 IV review that I never bothered to edit because it would have been too much work to mask around Kai’s hair. With the AI Face Enhancer, AI Sky Replacement and a few other minor adjustments I got a much improved image with about a minute of editing:
Take note that I’m using the Blue Sky 4 preset in three images in this article, but the sky is different for all of them – this because this isn’t a simple image substitution but an AI application of the sky that keeps the horizon in mind. In this case it did miss a spot in the bottom left corner, so it’s not quite perfect – but it’s still pretty damn good. As I show in my video below, problems like this sometimes are easily solved by adjusting the horizon in this filter. However, this one can’t be corrected this way.
In this case, I like how the leading lines of the clouds all draw you into Kais’ face. However, you have to be careful about default processing choices because it’s easy to get dark skies like this. To address this problem be sure to experiment with the Sky Exposure setting as well as making sure that AI Sky Enhancer is 0 in the AI Enhance Essential filter.
I also use the AI Face Enhancer remove skin flaws, enhanced lips & whitened teeth (both exaggerated for effect), pulled his jaw line in and more without me doing any face masks or object mapping. It just works with no hassle and that’s huge!
Video Tutorial
To demonstrate a lot of concepts in Luminar 4, I chose this image that I thought would be the ultimate test:
If you have 10 minutes to spare, you can see how I edited this image using Luminar 4:
Conclusion
While I do think the Windows version is unacceptably slow at times on my desktop computer, it’s still usable. I’m also still a fan of Lightroom, so I don’t want Luminar to be my digital asset manager so I find having to open photos using Edit Single Image and close them by right click remove to be unnecessarily cumbersome.
With these gripes aside, this is an impressive piece of software that does appear to be doing some advanced image analysis with AI above and beyond anything I’ve used to date. This alone makes it worth a look to help speed up your digital workflow. As such, I can highly recommend this product and I look forward to great improvements to come in the future.
If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.
Page down for more articles about these products and special discount offer.
Conclusion
Noiseware has been my favorite noise reduction software ever since it won my noise reduction roundup in March 2009. I use it all the time, but a little less so these days as cameras are getting to be so good and sensor level noise reduction.
Portraiture is the only product I use for skin softening, and my Latest Version Tutorial I did for it shows more examples of how I use this awesome product.
I hope you enjoyed this and if you need either product, please support this article by using my purchase links below.
CLICK HERE to use my coupon code RONMART20when you check out. Want to get rid of noise from your images? Noiseware is the king of noise removal while preserving detail – period!
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If you read my blog over the last year or two, you'd know that I was a fan of Perfectly Clear by Athentech because it really was a one-click photo editing tool. With 3.0 the user interface got much better and with version 3.5 it hits a home run!
Built-in RAW Editor means you don't need any other software to edit your photos
The stand-alone features a raw editor that gets the job done, but I'll admit that it's not as good as other products out there. However, if you want a one product photo editing workflow, it gets the job done.
Crop tool works well and offers several different overlays
In the stand-alone version you can easily crop with some great overlay choices including the rule of thirds and the golden ratio.
New Live Presets and Looks Panels
One of the nicest improvements is that you can see what your presets and looks will do before you click them as shown here:
Even better, you can apply a look on top of your preset to get two layers of editing in just two quick clicks. What's more, you can dial down the look directly from the window using the opacity slider.
Version 3.5 Phot Editing Tutorial
Here's a quick video where I show how quickly I can edit 8 photos that come straight out of the camera with no prior edits ...
NOTE: YouTube degrades the quality of the original 4k recording so there are compression artifacts that look bad in dark areas - this does not happen in the real product:
Before & After Images
Here's some before and after edits I did using version 3.0 and in the video above you can watch the video of changes made using the v3.5 update (free to v3.0 owners):
Discount Offer
Existing v3.0 owners get a free upgrade using AppsManager!
LIMITED TIME special offer to save $40 is available when you CLICK HERE or use the coupon code RONMART40
Get my regular 10% discount on version 3.5 when you CLICK HERE.
This product has come such a long way and gets better and better with each version. I was expecting a small update with v3.5, but instead I was extremely impressed with all of the enhancements. For users of Photoshop and Lightroom, you can still integrate it in as the first and/or last step of your photo editing workflow. For those who want a single solution, it is fantastic as a stand-alone solution that allows for blazing fast one click edits of your images.
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Topaz Labs has outdone themselves with a new product that offers a ton of functionality for the best price - FREE!
Topaz Studio is a beautifully designed product that is screaming fast and scales beautifully on any display size - including the 1080p and 4K UHD screens I tested it on, with an ever quick response time throughout the UI. Seriously - it's the fast performing Topaz product I've ever used, so hopefully this is the future of what we'll see from Topaz!
There's a lot to discuss so I've covered everything I could in this 9 minute tutorial video which I highly encourage you to watch so you can quickly get a handle on the wealth of features this product offers - for FREE:
Conclusion
You can't beat free, so if you've grown tired of Adobe's subscription model or have longed for a Luminar alternative on Windows, then this is a great choice. Definitely give it a shot and if you don't like it, then just uninstall it - it didn't cost you much any time!
Personally, I'll still keep Lightroom around for its asset management features (the Library module) and other things I like about it, but this product has my attention. With a promise of an ever evolving feature set with frequent updates, this is sure to be a popular product that I expect to only get better.
If you do like it, then please do me a favor and share this article with all of your friends and on social media! I'd also love it if you used my link below if you decide to purchase the pro presets pack too!
Where to get your FREE COPY
CLICK HERE to learn more and get your FREE copy today!
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Created in Aurora HDR 2017 - Copyright Ron Martinsen - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Click to learn more about Aurora HDR
Aurora HDR 2017 Tutorial - Advanced Features
Aurora HDR 2017's improved user interface Click to learn more about Aurora HDR
While I may not be the most dynamic speaker in the world, I got a lot of emails from readers who loved what they learned in my original Aurora HDR video (found later in this article). As a result, I thought I'd cover some of my favorite new features of Aurora HDR 2017 in this new three lessons video created on October 15, 2016:
The files featured in the video were full size, and unless it was otherwise noted the processing occurs in real-time (first lesson only).
While most people bracket using a small range, for fun this tutorial includes an extreme range of three manual exposures that I blended together in Aurora HDR 2017 (see the video for more details):
I took these very long exposures in the evening in Winter 2012, but no product until now has done them justice in an HDR merge. The results you see in this article were done entirely in Aurora with no additional processing of any kind.
My new video focuses on the speed improvements and luminosity masking, as well as some of my favorite new presets. However, I'll be covering some of these other new features in a future video that is part of my full review.
I love this version way more than its predecessor, which I thought was the best HDR editing software on the market, so that's saying a lot!
Special Offer
Click to learn more about Aurora HDR
Click here to learn more, download a free trial or order today.
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While I enjoy editing photos, the sad reality is that it just takes too long to put my loving touch on every photo. As a result I have hundreds of thousands of photos that have never seen the light of day (much to my wife's chagrin) due to lack of time needed to make them look the way I want them to look before anyone else sees them. This self defeating practice of image hording is common amongst photographers, and despite great products like Lightroom which can greatly decrease the time required to make your images look great – the reality is that it always take longer than we admit to others.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a product that could do a very good job for a majority of our photos with as little as one click?
The day has arrived where you have a new tool to add to your editing arsenal that will make your unedited images look great while still giving your edited images that extra oomph to make them look better. That product is Perfectly Clear and it rocks!
Here's an example of one click awesomeness with the dehaze preset:
Dehaze preset gives images that "wow" look in one click
This preset and the details work well for most images which allows you plow trough tons of old images quickly to make them look great. In fact, Photoshop’s Ctrl+F / Cmd+F features lets you replay back the last filter you ran for zero click editing of images that can use your last preset settings. You can also select multiple photos in Lightroom and send them all at the same time to Perfectly Clear for fast editing. You can control the edit for each photo individually as shown here:
Easily navigate through multiple photos selected at once in Lightroom
The promise of one click greatness has been promised for a long time but before Perfectly Clear I’ve never seen any product deliver on it. What’s more, my images are my art. I want my finishing touches so how could any respectable photographer trust software to do this critical part of the creative process for them?
Here's a great example of a photo that I edited for hours in Photoshop that got even better with a single click of Perfectly Clear (pardon the artifacts caused by animated GIF file format):
Animated Gif / Before & After Beautify Preset (no sharpening) NOTE: Some artifacts caused by 256 color GIF downrez
This is more than just a brightness adjustment, it's more like other products Pro Contrast filter on steroids, plus it does skin softening, teeth whitening, eye enhancement and much more. This taught me to give Perfectly Clear a try every photo I edit before calling it done.
Simply put, this is a game changer so I encourage you to check out my video and try it out. A free trial is available so if you don’t like it then you’ve lost nothing, but I suspect people who take the time to learn it will find they love it – a lot.
Have you tried it before and hated it? Me too - I hated version 1.0!!! It's way better no, so give it a try it again as this latest version is the one that finally got it right – and it is very good!
Video Demonstration on 8 Images
This product works so well so quickly that it is easier to just show you than to write a lot about what it does. If you have a minute at least watch the first couple minutes of this video to see Perfectly Clear in action:
As the demo shows, this is the fastest and easiest way to make your images look great in seconds. I highly recommend you try it out (at least via the Free Trial version).
User Interface
Athentech Imaging Perfectly Clear User Interface
This product is about as simple as it gets. You simply load it from Photoshop or Lightroom and choose a preset. The big squares are the ones provided with the product and the dropdown list below are these plus ones that you have optionally created by making changes on the Adjustment panel shown below:
Adjust Panel
Often times it is one click and you are done as you’ll see in the samples in the next section, but sometimes (as shown in my video) you need to make a few adjustments. You can make your adjustments and be done or you can take a moment to create a new preset with them, but either way you don’t spend much time in this UI.
Simply put, it just works!
More Before and After Samples
Landscape preset is great for sunset shots
Raccoon Eyes Preset
Multiple Adjustments via Perfectly Clear launched from Lightroom from a super sharp Sigma 85mm Art lens shot
Here’s a common example of a shot that looks good straight out of the camera but it jumps off the screen (or print) when you do a one click edit with the details preset:
When I first heard about this product a few years back and tried to play around with it, I thought it was garbage. Its algorithms weren’t as mature as they are today so I felt like I needed more control over what it was doing. The product I’ve been using for the last month has worked on a large number of images I’ve thrown at it so I’ve began to trust it. In some cases it does make a mistake so I’ve learned to turn off settings which appear to have no effect as sometimes they can do something very unexpected (like red eye removal removing red from an area that isn’t an eye). It’s rare, but it does happen.
Aside from this one quirk, I’ve really become addicted to this product for those hundreds of thousands of images that I need to edit but will never get around to with my commercial photography workflow. I still need professional results as the edits represent my work to friends and family, but the ability to get great results quickly is pushing me harder than ever to get more things right in camera to speed up my workflow.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this product as it really has changed my life. I find that I even try it out as a last step on images that I’ve painstakingly edited because it does such a great job at final highlight and shadow detail adjustments. I do often skip the sharpening unless its for a private family photo, but other than that I trust it.
NOTE: In case you saw it already, yes I had a ronmartblog.com EXCLUSIVE flash sale recently that I got in advanced of the Black Friday deal, but the price is the same. If you missed it, now's your chance!
Where to order at a discount
Click here to learn more about Perfectly Clear, try the free demo or purchase your copy today. The Photoshop and Lightroom versions are sold separately so either pick the product you use the most or take advantage of the special bundle pricing for both versions.
Upgrades are also available for users of previous versions.
Special Offer
YOU MUST CLICK HERE to save 10% to get on the special landing page shown below:
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If you are like me, you want to send out custom holiday cards with your own photos but often times you find yourself too busy to bother. If you’ve tried it and had horrible results, then you aren’t alone either!
Fortunately, my friends at Red River Paper are experts on this subject and have done an incredible job of providing user education on this topic for use with their papers and envelopes. It’s really the one stop shop no matter if you are using Canon, Epson, or HP papers with just about any software that you can imagine (for both Mac & PC)!!!
I’ve been a fan of Red River Paper for a couple of years and have featured their products on my printing series page, but honestly I’ve never tried their greeting card products – until now. Admittedly, I was very intimidated by this whole process because I’ve had horrific results in the past when I tried to do it all solo. What’s worse, is that I often found myself without paper that could be printed on both sides (especially Luster paper), so I was never really able to do what I wanted. In the end I had to resort to throwing out my hard work and just picking up cards from a discount store. This left me both frustrated and dissatisfied.
How much will it cost to print my card?
Click here to get an estimate from Red River Paper about how much it cost to do your own cards. In most cases, it’s typically under $1 per card.
Click here to learn more both in written and video form about how to do your own cards in both vertical and horizontal orientation for Canon, Epson, and HP printers using most of the popular photo editing software for both the Mac & PC.
Yes! Click here to get envelopes, display boxes, Photoshop actions and more.
FAQ’s & Additional Help
Click here to learn more as there’s tons of questions people typically have when trying to do this themselves.
Are there double-sided luster cards?
Yes, and no. There was a 80lb. Red River Luster Card Double Sided paper, but without notice the mill discontinued this paper just as soon as Red River rolled it out.
My Experience
I have Canon iPF6450, PRO-1, PRO-10, and Epson R3000, 3880, and 4900 printers on hand, but I quickly discovered that the 3880 was the best printer for the job due its easy support for custom paper sizes. The paper I was using was 7x10 so that eliminated my printers that didn’t support custom size papers (the PRO series printers). I had no desire to do this on my 6450, so that left the Epson’s. The 3880 is the sheet paper king, so I decided to go with it.
While Red River Paper has instructions for Mac and PC with a variety of software, I decided to stay in my comfort zone and print from Photoshop CC on my Windows 7 PC. You can see my Photoshop settings and how I printed above and below.
Here’s my printer driver settings using the Red River paper profile for my test paper (temporarily not for sale):
To keep my settings handy, I created a custom setting called “Red River 7x10 Card”. This won’t exist on your printer, so don’t go looking for it.
The template was handy and I managed to print on both the inside and outside without any problem. I did heed the warning that you should print your inside text first and save your photos on the outside for the second pass through the printer.
For my test prints I did leave high speed (bi-directional) printing on and it seemed to be okay. I also didn’t wait any time before flipping the paper and printing both sides, but I managed to insert the paper in the wrong way – twice!!! This was carelessness on my part, so a heads up that you really need to pay attention when reloading your paper! I chose the sheet feeder since that was the only one that the driver would allow me to use a custom size.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to test borderless because my driver complained that I had to use a supported size if I wanted borderless.
Overall it worked great and I’m thrilled with the results. The scored groove made folding super easy, so my results look like they came from a pro print shop – just what I wanted! Here’s a snapshot photo of how my card turned out (colors displayed inaccurately due to photo of a print):
Overall, I’m happy enough that I plan to do all my cards on my own this year. Heck, I may even get creative and start doing my promo cards and create some fine art cards too! I’m also thrilled that I don’t have to cut the paper or fight to get the perfect fold thanks to the pre-scoured fold groove.
If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.
