The Photographer's Guide to Luminar 4. Jeff Carlson

folder you choose to store your photos and make them appear in a gallery interface that lets you quickly identify them visually (Figure 1-12).

      FIGURE 1-12: Using the Library lets you browse your entire photo collection without leaving Luminar.

      Select a photo and double-click it, or press the spacebar to switch to single image mode. The Library panel in the sidebar reveals source folders you’ve added, any albums you create, and shortcuts to favorites and edited images. To return to the gallery view, click the Gallery Images mode () button, or press the G key.

      The Luminar Library isn’t a full DAM (digital asset manager). You can assign star ratings and color labels, flag or reject images, and sort based on those criteria, but that’s it. Support for IPTC metadata and text search are planned for the future.

      Even so, I’ve wanted a library in Luminar for quite some time, and even this bare-bones version makes it easy for me to sort and cull photos in preparation for editing the ones that stand out. See Chapter 10 for more details on how to use the Library.

       View Photos in the Library

      With the beginnings of a library in place, let’s look at how to navigate your photos in Luminar.

      The library appears as a grid that you can scroll to peruse your photos. Change the size of the image thumbnails by choosing a view from the menu at the center of the toolbar: Small, Medium, Large, or Largest (Figure 1-13). You can also click the – and + buttons next to it to switch between them, or choose View > Zoom In or View > Zoom Out.

      FIGURE 1-13: Change the size of the thumbnails in the grid view.

      To view a photo larger, select it and double-click it, or press the spacebar. That presents a view where the image takes up most of the window with the sidebar at right, the Filmstrip at left, and the Looks panel at the bottom (Figure 1-14). (In the Windows version, switching to this view automatically selects the Edit panel.)

      FIGURE 1-14: View a single image, but keep the library close by in the Filmstrip at left.

      Any of those elements can be hidden using the toolbar. Click the Hide/Show Looks button to toggle the Luminar Looks. Go to the View menu to set visibility for the sidebar, Filmstrip, and the Current Photo Actions strip at the bottom of the window.

       The Info Panel

      Press the I key or click the Info button at the top of the sidebar to reveal information about the image you’re viewing: capture date and time, size in dimensions and storage, the camera and lens used, white balance mode, metering method, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation, and focal length (Figure 1-15). You can also choose View > Sidebar > Info to switch to the Info view.

      FIGURE 1-15: The illustrious and illuminating Info panel. Yep, that’s all there is.

      In future versions of Luminar, according to Skylum, the Info panel will host more information, such as IPTC metadata and keywords.

       Change the Background Color

      This doesn’t quite count as an essential feature you’ll turn to again and again, but it sure is helpful to get it nailed down early. As you’re editing, the space behind the photo is often visible on the sides, especially when you’re in the Fit to Screen view. Normally that area is black, but you can change it to something more comfortable for your eyes; a black background can be especially stark when working on bright images, for instance.

      Choose View > Background and choose between Black, Dark Gray, Gray, Light Gray, and White. You can also right-click (or Control-click, on a Mac) the background area and choose one of those options from the pop-up menu that appears (Figure 1-16).

      FIGURE 1-16: Choose a more comfortable background color.

       2 The Paths to Luminar

      Luminar is hungry for your photos. To start editing, you need to feed it. Everyone has their own preference for how that happens. Perhaps you have one or two shots that need improvement, or maybe you’re using another photo-management app and want to apply some Luminar polish or use features that aren’t present in your other tool. Maybe Luminar is the center of your photo universe and you want to store all your photos in one convenient library.

      While some programs railroad you into one way of working, Luminar understands you might use several methods, depending on circumstance. With the following paths to get photos into the software, you can focus on your images and not get sidetracked by the mechanics of how to get to them:

       •Open and edit a single image, for when you don’t need the overhead of library management.

       •Edit a photo from another application. Luminar includes plug-ins for several popular apps that load the entire Luminar editing studio and keep the edited version in the original application.

       •Add photos to the Luminar Library. This option involves specifying source folders on your hard drives or network volumes, as well as importing new photos from a camera or memory card.

       Edit a Single Image

      At times you may want to edit a photo without going through the steps of adding it as a permanent part of your library—maybe you’re editing a friend’s shot, or you need to adjust something that you have no interest in saving long term.

      To edit a single image from within Luminar, do the following:

      1 1. Click the Open Button Menu and choose Edit Single Image, or choose File > Edit Single Image, or press Command/Ctrl-O (Figure 2-1).

      FIGURE 2-1: Open an image file without adding a folder to the library.

      1 2. Navigate