Skylum just officially announced AI Sky Replacement – the first killer feature of Luminar 4! The AI Sky Replacement tool in the upcoming version of Luminar doesn’t just change the sky – it relights the entire photo so the lighting and colors of the original image match the lighting and colors of the sky. All this is achieved without the need for manual selections, layers, masking, overlays, smart brushes, color ranges, etc. Luminar 4 handles it all. Its machine learning algorithm even selects the best orientation for the sky so it looks and feels realistic. All with one click.

This week, Apple named Aurora HDR as the Best Mac App of 2017. Aurora HDR was recently released for Windows as well. It is one of the most powerful and successful HDR software in the world. I have compared it with Nik HDR Pro, and I find Aurora to be more precise and accurate in blending images. It allows better and smooth transitions to HDR, and more saddle corrections, so the image does not look too exaggerated. Here is a part of the official press release:

“Apple unveiled its charts and trends, celebrating the most popular apps of 2017, and named Aurora HDR 2018 as the Best Mac App of 2017. This recognition celebrates both the quality of the software for photographers and photo enthusiasts as well as how customers have responded to it with purchases and reviews. In other words, of all the apps Apple sells in their store, Aurora HDR stood out for its quality and customer response.

Adobe’s announcement that they split Lightroom to two versions – Lightroom Classic CC (the old Lightroom) and the Lightroom CC – which will be cloud based version with mobile interface made lots of noise in the photography community. People have different concerns and some of them are not without reasons. At the same time DxO announced that they acquired Nik’s plugins from Google, and will soon offer a new version with lots of new features (the current one will stay free). Another announcement, may be even more intriguing, is the one coming from Macphun – the announcement of Luminair 2018. This version will finally work on both PC and Mac, will offer RAW editor, new filters powered by artificial intelligence, digital asset management platform, and many more.