Luminar NEO: How to use Studio Light Tool

The Studio Light tool empowers you to craft intricate studio lighting effects for your portrait photos, eliminating the requirement for costly studio gear. This robust feature enables you to modify the overall lighting in your scene and incorporate up to 5 individual light sources to illuminate your subject(s) entirely. Each light source comes with its own set of controls, granting you precise control over the outcome.

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In this article:

• What is Studio Light
• How to get Studio Light
• Introducing Studio Light Controllers
• Getting started with Studio Light
• Video tutorial
• Luminar NEO

What is Studio Light

The Studio Light tool is the latest addition to the Portrait tools in Luminar NEO. It comes after the success of the Portrait Bokeh AI, Face AI, and Skin AI, among others, and it brings another level of portrait editing. The interface is simple but highly customizable, allowing you to create an immediate impact on your images or create a complex set of lighting using multiple lights, color filters, textures, and patterns.

How to get Studio Light

The studio light tool comes as an advance update for the Luminar NEO subscribers and the holders of the current creative journey pass.

Currently, there are three ways to get it:

• Purchase it as part of the Creative Journey Pass 2023 here.
• Subscribe to the Luminar NEO Subscription plan here.

TIP 👍: Are you planning to purchase the pass or subscribe to Luminar NEO? Use our discount code CPNEO10 and get 10% off your purchase.

Introducing Studio Light Controllers 

Brightness

This setting lets you adjust the overall brightness of an image.

Smooth

Use this option to adjust the shape and direction of shadows.

Light Contrast

This modification alters the contrast level in the overall image by adjusting the brightness of the light applied.

Light Controllers (Plus Icon)

Click the plus icon to add light sources. You can also right-click a square to hide/remove it.

Amount

You can adjust the amount slider to control the strength of the selected light source that illuminates the subject.

Hue

Adjust the Hue slider to change the color of the light source that illuminates the subject.

Saturation

The saturation slider determines the intensity or strength of the selected light hue.

Depth

This setting allows you to adjust the softness or sharpness of the light's texture and Pattern on the subject.

Light Customization

The Light Customization switch button opens additional light settings for the currently selected light.

Texture

Open the drop-down box and select the element (GOBO) you want to apply between the light source and the subject. You can choose from various textures or even add your custom ones.

Pattern

The Pattern drop-down menu allows you to select between Strips or Dots to control the shape of the light source on the subject.

Scale

You can use this slider to increase or decrease the Pattern applied to the subject.

Position

This feature enables accurate positioning by adjusting the light source along the XY axis.

Light Position (On image)

Once the Studio Light tool is open, you can control and adjust each light individually by interacting with the image. To move a light to a specific location, drag its icon to the desired position on the image. If you want to hide a particular light, right-click on it and select the "Hide" option. Additionally, you can add up to 5 lights by clicking on the desired location on the image.

Getting started with Studio Light

The Studio Light tool is a specialized feature for portrait photography, located in the Portrait section of the main editing toolbar within Luminar NEO's Edit module. To activate the tool, simply increase the Amount slider. Once activated, the tool will scan the image and identify any human subjects to create a 3D mask that will be used to apply the light source(s). Furthermore, the tool includes a standard Masking option that enables you to apply the effect to a specific location within the image.

1. Open your image and move it into the Edit module.
2. Apply essential development with the Essentials tools.
3. Navigate to the Portrait section of the toolbar and open the Studio Light tool.
4. Start by increasing the amount slider to activate the tool.
5. Adjust the overall scene using the Brightness, Smooth and Light Contrast Sliders.
6. Add and adjust individual lights using the "+" sign or your mouse directly on the image.
7. Adjust the Amount, Hue, Saturation and Depth individually for each light.
8. Optionally adjust the Texture, Pattern and Scale in the Light Customization settings.
9. Once finished, close the tool and continue editing your image with other tools available in the application.

Studio Light video tutorial

Watch the full video tutorial covering all controls in this tool.

Luminar NEO

Luminar Neo is the latest editing software from Skylum. It was announced back in September 2021 and has been highly anticipated.

Luminar Neo is an AI-powered photo editing software. Skylum has said that Neo isn’t replacing their previous release—Luminar AI. But Neo sets out to fix some of the issues users faced with Luminar AI.

We were impressed with the AI tools in Luminar AI. But like many others, we encountered performance issues. Luminar Neo uses the same AI tools, but the new high-speed core engine improves speed and performance.

Luminar Neo isn’t just more of the same. We’re happy to see Skylum has taken Neo in a different direction, adding layer and mask AI tools to the program. This broadens Neo’s appeal, taking it in an Adobe Photoshop direction.

Learn more about Luminar NEO here.

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