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Posts Tagged ‘‘Skylum’’

Skylum teases Luminar DAM module, synchronized edits in new videos

03 Oct

Skylum has released multiple teaser videos revealing aspects of its digital asset manager (DAM) for Luminar. The videos detail the DAM’s speed in a pair of speed tests and edit sync feature in a third.

Last month, Skylum CEO Alex Tsepko stated the Luminar Digital Asset Manager update would be available by the end of 2018. Tsepko likewise confirmed plans to provide the DAM for free to existing Luminar 2018 customers, saying:

We know that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people are waiting for this update. But mainly because there are so many people who need this tool, we wanted to take just enough time to make everything right.

We promise we will ship the DAM this year. I know it has been a long wait, but we don’t want to ship a product that we would not use ourselves. The new Luminar (with DAM) will bring you great speed and the most incredible user experience available. Your photos will play the main role. Our software aims to get out of the way.

The update will be free for everyone who has Luminar 2018.

In past updates, Skylum indicated that the DAM will take its Luminar product “in a new direction,” bringing with it customized workspaces, a cleaner interface, speedier workflows, and more.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Skylum software launches Aurora HDR 2019

13 Sep
A screen shot of Aurora HDR 2019.

In May Skylum Software set up the ‘Skylum AI’ artificial intelligence lab. Now we are seeing the first product results coming out of the new lab. Today Skylum has announced the latest version of its high dynamic range editing software, Aurora HDR 2019, which comes with a new AI-powered Quantum HDR Engine.

The new HDR engine is the core element of this new update and provides AI-powered tone mapping technology that analyzes your images for optimized merging. The Quantum engine was fine-tuned by testing it against thousands of images in order to ensure natural-looking results. Skylum says the new software can be used to reduce highlight and channel clipping, loss of contrast, noise and ghosting artifacts and works with both single images and bracketed shots.

Before and after processing in Aurora HDR 2019.

Other new features include Smart Structure technology, which Skylum says can bring out detail without creating artifacts. There’s also a new LUT mapping tool with instant preview for color-grading your images. Aurora ‘HDR Looks’ replaces what was called ‘Presets’. And the company has also commissioned a number of professional photographers to develop their own Aurora HDR Looks.

Aurora HDR 2019 is available for pre-order from today and costs $ 89 for a new purchase and $ 49 for an upgrade. When released on October 4th, prices will increase to $ 99 and $ 59 respectively. More information is available on the Skylum website.

Press Release:

Aurora HDR 2019 introduces AI-powered Quantum HDR Engine

Aurora HDR 2019 has Skylum’s new AI-powered Quantum HDR Engine with new tone mapping technology to create the most realistic, immersive high dynamic range photographs possible. Pre-orders for the Aurora HDR 2019 start September 12th.

Bellevue, WA – September 12, 2018 — Skylum Software is excited to open pre-orders for the fourth major version of its award-winning HDR program Aurora HDR — the most sophisticated version since being released in 2015. New users can purchase the new version for $ 89 and current users of Aurora HDR may upgrade for a limited time at a special price of $ 49 at skylum.com/aurorahdr.

Skylum’s ultimate goal is to give photographers an easy-to-use yet powerful tool to create vivid, captivating, and incredibly dynamic images. The company is to deliver on that goal with the all-new Aurora HDR — an impressive HDR photo editing tool that blends power and intelligent technology with intuition and a seamless workflow.

With a press of the button, you get amazing images that look as natural as they did when you pressed the shutter. To achieve your own creative vision, Aurora HDR’s many powerful filters, tools, and Aurora HDR Looks are also on hand for you to utilize. It’s a capable HDR editing software designed not only for professional, experienced and beginner photographers, but also as a solution for real estate marketing.

At the core of this update is Skylum’s revolutionary Quantum HDR EngineTM, an AI-powered tone mapping technology that’s been three years in the making within Skylum’s AI lab. Now, when creating an HDR image using multiple bracketed shots, Quantum HDR Engine meticulously analyzes the photos and intelligently merges them. Not only does it minimize the major issues that other HDR merging tools have, but it also generates stunning results, producing images that are dynamic yet natural-looking.

Specifically, whether you’re working with bracketed shots or a single image, the Quantum HDR Engine reduces burned colors, loss of contrast, and noise, as well as mitigates unnatural lighting caused by halos and unstable deghosting. To do this, Skylum developers tested thousands of bracketed shots through a neural network and took those findings to develop the technology needed to create incredible HDR photographs. The result is an editing software with a solid performance for even the highest end architecture and real estate photography projects.

“We are incredibly excited to get Aurora HDR 2019 into the hands of photographers from around the world. The results are so accurate and natural that the final images appear as though you’re looking at the scene with your own two eyes. Simply put, it’s HDR finally done right.” — Dima Sytnyk, CTO and co-founder of Skylum.

A new HDR Smart Structure technology gives you the precise amount of details, structure, and sharpness in an image without creating excess artifacts that can make an HDR image look over-the-top. This allows Aurora HDR to produce images with the incredible details and realism favored by architecture and real estate photographers.

To deliver creative color toning, perfect black and white conversions, and digital film looks in seconds, Aurora HDR 2019 also boasts new LUT mapping integration with instant preview. Utilizing the same tools used in motion pictures, you can now stylize your images through color grading, giving your images the perfect look and toning to bring out the awe in each and every one of your photos.

To give that perfect finishing touch to an image, or to create a signature look you’re going for, the new Aurora HDR 2019 introduces Aurora HDR Looks to replace Presets as well as offer more selective aesthetic choices and more refined toning. Aurora HDR Looks can also include textures and masks, making for an almost infinite number of HDR editing possibilities.

World renowned photographers have created their signature Aurora HDR Look packs exclusively for Aurora HDR 2019, among which are Aurora HDR Looks for Real Estate by Randy Van Duinen, and signature Aurora HDR Looks from Trey Ratcliff, co-developer of Aurora HDR 2019, and Serge Ramelli.

All in all, Aurora HDR 2019 is designed to create the natural-looking HDR images without the need for a complicated workflow. Whether you’re working with a single exposure or twelve bracketed shots, Aurora HDR 2019 gets it done.

Aurora HDR 2019 is available for pre-order starting September 12th. Pre-orders include bonus downloadable content and costs $ 89 for a new purchase and $ 49 for an upgrade. When released on October 4st, the price will jump to $ 99 new and $ 59 for an upgrade.

The bonus pack includes:

  • Video tutorial “Getting the Most from Aurora HDR 2019” by Trey Ratcliff
  • The Landscape Photography Handbook by David Johnston
  • Exclusive interior Aurora Looks by Richard Harrington
  • Burning Mood LUTs by Richard Harrington
  • 3-month 500px Pro membership
  • $ 300 OFF a multi-day Iceland Photo Tour

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Skylum Luminar 2018 1.3.0 update brings many improvements, new camera support

15 Jul

Skylum, the company previously known as Macphun, has released Luminar 2018 update 1.3.0. The Lightroom alternative has received numerous changes across both its Mac and Windows versions, primarily improvements to existing features, as well as support for additional cameras from Fujifilm, Sony, Olympus, Panasonic, Canon, and Pentax.

Luminar 2018 is the latest evolution to Skylum’s image editor for Mac and Windows. The 2018 version added a variety of features, improvements, support for Photoshop plugins, and UI changes. Update 1.3.0 builds upon this, adding additional plugin support for Mac, DNG Camera Profiles (DCP) and new features for Windows, and more than a dozen improvements that vary based on operating system.

The Windows version of Luminar 2018 can open Raw files faster post-update due to Raw engine improvements. This version also brings a new White Balance feature with eyedropper to Develop, Raw Develop, and the Color Temperature filters, better filter performance, simplified blending mode selection, and more.

The Mac 1.3.0 version, meanwhile, brings improvements across eight features in addition to support for plugins from the following software: Imagenomic Noiseware 5, Imagenomic Portraiture 3, Imagenomic Realgrain 2, and DxO FilmPack 5. Luminar 2018 for Mac also now has improved support for eight languages, additional file format export options for batch processing, better filter and JPEG controls, and more.

In addition, Luminar update 1.3.0 adds support for the following cameras:

  • Canon EOS 3000D / Rebel T100 / 4000D
  • FujiFilm X-H1
  • FujiFilm X-A20
  • FujiFilm X-A5
  • FujiFilm X-E3
  • Olympus E-PL9
  • Pentax K-1 II
  • Panasonic DC-GF10 / Panasonic DC-GF90
  • Panasonic DC-GX9 / DC-GX7MK3
  • Panasonic DC-TZ200 / DC-ZS200 / DC-TZ202 / DC-TZ220 / DC-ZS220 / DC-TX2
  • Sony A7 III

The full changelogs for the Mac and Windows update are available here. Existing Luminar 2018 users can update from within the software by choosing the “Check for updates” option, which is found under the “Help” menu on Windows and the “Luminar 2018” menu on Mac. Luminar 2018 is available from Skylum for $ 69 USD.

Via: PhotoRumors

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Skylum announces creation of ‘Skylum AI’ artificial intelligence lab

24 May

Skylum Software, formerly known as MacPhun and the developers of the Luminar photo editing application, today announced the creation of a research and development division dedicated to artificial intelligence in imaging. The division is called the Skylum AI Lab, and it is a collaboration between Skylum and its sister company, Photolemur, makers of an AI-powered image editor.

The team at Skylum AI Lab, which will be headed by former Let’s Enchance CEO Alex Savsunenko, is already working on a number of new AI solutions. These include artificial intelligence- and machine learning-powered image upscaling, tagging and segmentation, as well as automated image enhancement systems.

As Skylum CEO Alex Tsepko explains:

By using AI-based technologies in our products, our customers save time vs. manual editing, and can often get better results. Our neural networks are being trained on millions of images taken by cameras from Fujifilm, Sony, Olympus, Nikon, Canon and many others, which means outstanding results for all photographers, regardless of what style they shoot and what gear they are using.

There is clearly a lot of buzz around artificial intelligence in imaging lately, and the possibilities do seem endless. It’s still early days, but with most major smartphone manufacturers implementing AI-powered functions in their smartphone cameras, it only makes sense to push the technology on the desktop and other platforms as well.

Whether it’s improved auto-tagging or lossless upscaling of images, we’re looking forward to the ideas and solutions coming out of Skylum AI lab in the future.

Press Release

Skylum Software doubles down on Artificial Intelligence by creating new Skylum AI Lab and joining forces with leading AI-based image editor, Photolemur

Skylum also hires Alex Savsunenko, former CEO of Let’s Enhance, to lead AI-based photo technologies to the next level.

May 22, 2018 — Bellevue, WA — Today, Skylum Software announced the formation of a new research and development division dedicated to the advancement of artificial intelligence technologies in image processing. The Skylum AI Lab leverages the company’s prior work developing smart filters in its award-winning Luminar software, as well as technology from its “sister company” Photolemur, which was founded in 2016 by Dima Sytnik and Alex Tsepko, co-founder and CEO of Skylum respectively.

“Clearly, AI can simplify our lives. By using AI-based technologies in our products, our customers save time vs. manual editing, and can often get better results,” said Alex Tsepko, CEO at Skylum. “Our neural networks are being trained on millions of images taken by cameras from Fujifilm, Sony, Olympus, Nikon, Canon and many others, which means outstanding results for all photographers, regardless of what style they shoot and what gear they are using.”

To spearhead the new Skylum AI Lab, the company has hired Alex Savsunenko, former CEO of Let’s Enhance, a leader in machine learning for visual content. Savsunenko will manage all research and development for technologies based on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and neural networks. Promising results will ultimately be implemented in Skylum products and solutions for image and video enhancement, with the aim to help users make their workflow faster, smarter and more efficient.

Currently, the Skylum AI Lab is testing over a dozen of new solutions, including:

  • Image upscaling:uses deep convolutional neural networks to improve low-resolution images and scale them up for superior viewing and printing.
  • Tagging: generates tags that describe the image and its objects based on image recognition.
  • Segmentation: smart recognition of image areas that can be automatically enhanced using different filters and corrections based on the type of object.
  • Automatic enhancement: applies smart image corrections to photos based on a variety of issues

To further reinforce its AI prowess, Skylum has also joined forces with Photolemur, creator of the world’s first fully automatic photo enhancement solution. Photolemur app has been sold for several years, with hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide. It enhances images utilizing artificial intelligence without the need to use any manual controls. Development will continue on Photolemur, with the next evolution of the app likely to be a cloud solution that helps high-volume users enhance images as batch process.

About Skylum Software

Skylum Software (formerly Macphun) is a Washington-based photo software developer with the mission to make complex photo editing simple and user-friendly. Thanks to its innovative approach and high-end proprietary technologies, Skylum products have won dozens of various awards, including “Best of the Year” awards by Apple for six straight years. Luminar was honored with the “Best Imaging Software 2017” award by TIPA and “Best Software Plugin” in October 2017 by the Lucie Technical Awards. Aurora HDR was selected as the “Best Mac App of 2017” by Apple.

To learn more about Skylum, please visit http://skylum.com/.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Macphun has changed its name to ‘Skylum’ now that it’s not Mac-only

02 Nov

Macphun—the Mac-based software company that launched about seven years ago—branched out onto the Windows platform this year with the debut of its HDR and Luminar products for PC. In light of that, Macphun has decided to change its name to the platform-agnostic moniker Skylum, explaining in a blog post that, “we think that this name is a better fit, since we’re no longer a Mac-only developer.”

The company will fully transition to the Skylum name in early 2018.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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