Luminar NEO: How to use Supercontrast Tool

The Supercontrast tool precisely adjusts tonal contrast with six distinct controls spanning highlights, mid-tones, and shadows, allowing for finely tuned results. Join us in this blog and learn how to master this professional tool to get even more control over your edit. 

GIFT 🎁: Download your Free Luminar NEO Shortcut Cheatsheet and immediately speed up your editing workflow in Luminar NEO! Click here to get your gift!

In this article:

• What is the Supercontrast Tool
• Introducing Supercontrast Tool sliders
• Getting started with the Supercontrast tool
• Video tutorial
• Luminar NEO

What is the Supercontrast Tool

Supercontrast is part of the Professional tools of Luminar NEO. It has been designed to precisely adjust tonal contrast with six distinct controls spanning highlights, mid-tones, and shadows, allowing for finely tuned results. This tool really provides detailed control over your edit.

Introducing Supercontrast sliders

Highlights, Midtones, Shadows.

These sliders refine the amount of contrast in the highlights, mid-tones, and shadows, respectively. Dragging them to the right increases contrast.

Highlights Balance, Midtones Balance, Shadows Balance

These three Balance sliders define the midpoint for each respective zone. They allow you to define which areas of your image are treated as Highlights, Midtones, and Shadows. These sliders will become available to use after using the contrast sliders first.

Note: Highlights are the brightest parts of your image, shadows are the darkest parts, and midtones are the ones in between.

Getting started with Supercontrast Tool

1. Open your image and move it into the Edit module (E).
2. Open the Supercontrast tool located in the Professional section.
3. To start, push the contrast sliders one by one all the way to 100 to see the maximum effect they can produce. Once you've done that, refine them to your liking. We suggest starting with the Highlight slider, followed by Midtones and lastly Shadows.
4. Then, adjust the Balance sliders to define the midpoint of highlights, mid-tones and shadows.
5. At any time during the edit, click on the Eye icon to see the before and after results.

Supercontrast Tool 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.

Use one of our discount codes: CPNEO10 will give you a 10% discount - CP10 will give you a $10 discount.