Luminar 3 review: A viable alternative to Adobe Lightroom If you're a photographer seeking a powerful, traditionally licensed photo editing and asset-management package, Skylum Software's Luminar. Which is the best photo organizer for Mac? Adobe Lightroom is the best photo organizer for Mac users. Lightroom is a cloud-based service that gives you everything you need to edit, organize, store, and share your photos across any device.

Photo editing programs allow both amateurs and professionals to make corrections to the raw footage captured by their digital camera, by removing the errors therein.

One can, with the help of these programs, remove background (green screen effect), remove noise from images, sharpen them, blur them, and lots of other options.

When thinking about such programs, Adobe Lightroom is the first that comes to mind. However, it does not run on versions of Windows lower than version 10 (1709 or later) and also demands the latest versions of the Macintosh operating system too.

In addition to the above is Adobe's hefty price. It then becomes clear to understand why a Lightroom alternative will be needed.

Luminar's AI Sky Replacement

A quick online search reveals that there is no dearth of Adobe Lightroom competitors or an Adobe Lightroom replacement.

I would suggest that you purchase one of the best Adobe Lightroom alternatives, as they offer you value for money and provide you with the same editing power as that of Lightroom.

Free Photo Editing Software For Mac Like Lightroom

I am going to review apps like Lightroom, or apps similar to Lightroom, as this will help you determine what the best alternative to Adobe Lightroom is for your photo editing purpose.

I shall be reviewing five alternative Lightroom software that work on the Windows operating system and the Mac and review one good editing program that works on the Linux.

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The Perfect Alternatives to Lightroom (Mac, Windows & Linux)

These are perfect alternatives to Lightroom Mac, Windows or Linux. I leave it to you to determine which one of the six will be a good alternative to Lightroom for mac and the other operating systems and which will provide you with the best value for money after going through this comparison.

Skylum Luminar 4

(Mac & Windows)

Although I was quite impressed with the previous versions of this Lightroom 8 alternative, it did not have a DAM (Digital Assets Manager) in the form of an image library that allowed me to organize photographs in the same way that Adobe Lightroom does, or better.

Better Photo Library

Skylum has addressed this issue and the latest version of their Lightroom CC alternative now has an image library better than that offered by Adobe.

Similar Interface

Luminar is a cutting-edge standalone photo editing program, packed with all the features you need to edit an image from beginning to end.

Like the offering from Adobe, it also boasts of a right-hand column, in which you can make adjustments with the help of sliders. This further shows how Luminar compares to Lightroom.

You also have the option to choose which adjustments you would like to appear in that column.

This similarity makes it easier for people looking for a photo editor like Lightroom (and people who may already have been used to Lightroom) to quickly get acquainted with Luminar.

Batch Processing Ability

The DAM included in the latest version helps you keep your image organized along with options for batch processing and quick editing.

By the way, this program, which I consider to be an excellent Windows Lightroom alternative (and Mac), also includes layer masking, Photoshop-like layers, numerous filters, blend modes, as well as advanced stuff such as LUT mapping, which Lightroom does not have.

For your information, EISA voted Luminar 3 as the best photo editing software of 2019-2020.

You can simply move a single slider or even do complex stuff like masks and multiple layers, or experiment with 3rd party plugins.

An Array of Unique Filters

Luminar also boasts of unique filters such as bottom and top lighting, sunrays, AI sky enhancer, and the standard editing tools such as black & white, highlights/shadows, curves, raw develop and some others.

These, together, offer you endless opportunities for artistic and creative editing and straight-up batch processing work. This is why I consider it to be the best Lightroom alternative Windows 10 as well.

How Best to Use Luminar As A Plugin?

In order to, efficiently, use this program as a plugin, Skylum has provided Luminar Flex for this purpose.

Fast Processing

I loved the Accent AI in this new version as it has undergone a massive update. This can speed up the processing speed quite a lot.

Improved Photo Library Functionality

Luminar has also improved the way the library works. When you apply the same look to numerous photographs, the software understands that it should not transfer selective adjustments such as cropping, erasing all of the photographs, as well as cloning.

You now have the ability to copy and paste your adjustments over individual photographs or synchronize them across multiple images.

View Only the JPEG or RAW Images to Reduce the Clutter

Do you want to compare your edited images with the way your camera edits? Here's some good news for Fuji fans. You can view both of them simultaneously and use the JPEG for referencing while editing the RAW version.

Price

Luminar 4 costs $89. However, if you purchase it now, the vendor will include `Inspiration Looks,' which includes plugins such as Dramatic Landscapes, Neon Tokyo, and Analogue Film. The vendor offers a 60 days money-back guarantee.

Aurora HDR

(Mac & Windows)

I shall now check Aurora HDR in this review of best Lightroom alternative Mac to see how the former stands against the latter.

Although this program works excellently on the Windows operating system, it is the perfect Mac alternative to Lightroom.

Best for HDR Imaging

HDR is a highly specialized type of photography coded to expose details in both shadows and highlights of a specific scene by mixing multiple versions of an identical image, clicked at different exposures.

A Product of Merged Images

It is tough to do this right without overdoing it. The camera sensor cannot capture what your eyes see and this HDR technique compensates by creating the exact image you saw through your eyes.

The 2020 version of this software boasts of a new Quantum HDR Engine with AI (artificial intelligence) based tone-mapping technology. This helps produce natural results through more efficient photo merging.

A New Smart HDR Structure feature offers more realistic sharpness and precise details sans halos, noise or artifacts.

Can Be Used As A Plugin or Standalone

Free Photo Editing Software For Mac Like Lightroom Cs6

You can run this software as an Adobe Photoshop plugin or as a standalone app. It works as a plugin for Lightroom too (does this not put it ahead of Lightroom?) and even as an Apple Photos extension.

Aurora HDR supports plug-ins of Photoshop such as the Nik Collection and Imagenomic and you also have the option to combine Aurora with Luminar as a bundle.

Can Also Transform One RAW Image to HDR

Classical HDR photography mixes multiple images; however, Aurora, via its AI-based neural network, permits you to transform one RAW image to HDR as well.

It prevents ghosting and unnatural lighting, reduces noise, boosts contrast, as well as corrects colors.

Batch Processing (Quickly Identifies Bracketed or Standalone Images)

The batch processing feature of this photo editor allows you to import multiple image folders for export as single or bracketed images. It can accurately identify which images stand alone and which are bracketed. It allows you to work with different image formats, including RAW.