Secret Sale! (And a fun head shot project)

Before I tell you how to save an extra 20% on Luminar Neo, on top of the already low Summer Sale prices, I gotta tell you about the two pictures below. 

I was going through my emails the other night, and came across one from ChatGTP, teasing their "pro studio head shot" skills, with the challenge: Try It!

Who am I to turn down a challenge like that, even though my days of sending resumés out were well in the past,. I wanted to see what they would do, so I just did a simple selfie with my laptop camera (left image, below), and just used their suggested prompts, and waited.

After about 30 seconds I got the result. It was not the image on the right, at least not completely. Considering it was supposed to be a "business'' head shot, they gave me a nice sport coat, with a tie-less light blue dress shirt. I decided I would prefer a more "casual Friday" look, so asked for a nice navy blue polo, and while it was at it, gimme just a bit more pecs, traps, and delts, and oh yeah, lose that wattle on the neck! I was quite impressed, mostly with the fact there were almost no visible AI artifacts. I did forget I had white earbuds in, and the AI kinda turned them into, what, white ear hair? Well, I am old, and ear and nose hair are a constant challenge! Other than that, my face stayed pretty faithful to the original, and the studio lighting and background were nearly perfect.

I wasn't going to settle for "nearly" perfect, though, was I? Of course not. So into Luminar Neo the ChatGTP image went. I primarily worked a bit more magic with the Portrait tools, face lighting, (13 on the slider), face slimming (17), iris visibility (80), iris flare (55) eye enlarge (22), eye whitening (74), eye enhancer (5), dark circle removal (25), and eyebrow  improvement (32), and I was nearly done. After a couple more little tweaks, (shine and blemish removal), I was ready to use one of the favorite toos of nearly all the Luminar Neo YouTube influencers: Mystical; and maybe the second favorite, a faint vignette. Done. And that is the image on the right.

 

So here's the Secret Sale pitch. Until the end of the month, if you use my limited time only discount code of PHOTODAN20, you can save an extra 20% on your purchase of the full Luminar Neo package, or the current Update if you're already a Luminar Neo user. The Summer Sale discounts are in the 40% off range, so this is a great deal. So make sure you get on over to the Luminar Neo sale page using THIS LINK, and do it before the end of June!!

Posts may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these, I may receive a small commission at no increased cost to you. Thanks.

Has It Really Been Four Years?

Indeed it has. Luminar Neo launched 4 years ago this month. And are they celebrating? You bet they are, with promotional pricing through the end of February. I've got your links right here (if you would be a new user), and here (if you're an existing user, and need the latest and greatest tools). Also, don't forget you can save an additional 10% over and above the sale price with my easy-to-remember code: PHOTODAN.

Speaking of the new tools, I've been using them a lot lately, editing images from old trips around the great state of New Mexico; images that have never been edited before, and I've been relying heavily on the new tools, especially the Light Depth tool which is crazy good! I've been posting a lot of these to one of the Facebook groups I'm in, but I've also been publishing them in a Skylum supported web gallery, which is another of the new tools, called "Spaces".

And now, I'd like you to have a look at my web gallery, called "New Mexico Highlights".  First, a screenshot: 

But that's just a teaser, because now I'm giving you the link, so you can see the actual web gallery, to open the individual shots, share the images with your friends or on Facebook, or share the whole gallery, whatever. If you're so inclined, you can message me to purchase any of the images, in notecards, or enlargements, etc. Whatever your heart desires. I'll be making more of these galleries, featuring different topics, and publishing them here, and on Social Media, and you can too!  Just hit the appropriate link up at the top of the page and get your copy of Luminar Neo and start making awesome images.

So, here it is: New Mexico Highlights:spaces.skylum.com/share/198d461905cfd429

You'll Never Wal... er, Work Alone (Again). Naturally

If I kept track of such things, I would put this shot of the Essex (CT) Steam Train driving wheels from back in the 1970's in my top 25 favorite images of all time. The judges of the Fotomat calendar (1981) contest seemed to like it, (though, obviously, not as much as I do.)

I post it here to demonstrate the final tool for Luminar Neo's big Fall update: The AI Assistant. Stick with me till the end of the post and I'll point you to some big savings!

Quite a few years ago I make a digital file from the original Ektachrome slide, and it's been floating here and there amongst my various computers over the intervening years. I stumbled across the file when looking for images to use for samples of the Luminar Neo Restoration tool. Ultimately it didn't get used then, but when I was fiddling around with the new AI Assistant, I had a bit of a brainstorm. 

So let's look at the AI Assistant, and see what it can do for your images (Hint: it's really useful for people who are new to editing their photographic work... watch )👇

AI Assistan spends most of its time sleeping, as a tiny icon in the bottom right corner of your Luminar Neo desktop. (Actually, it's invisible in the Catalog View, but shows up in the Preset and Edit Windows). When you want to use it, just click on it and it opens in the corner not quite as you see it here, but in it's collapsed column form. I've expanded it for easier viewing. There's a brief description of how it works,

followed by 4 different sample prompts. Let's look at them.👇

Obviously, these are just examples of the types of questions, or commands you can direct to the Assistant. I should mention here a very important point: Use of the Assistant (and the Restoration tool, for that matter) requires an internet connection! While the vast majority of the editing tools in Luminar Neo work in your computers "innards", all of the generative AI tools are uploaded to the Skylum servers for processing, and returned quite quickly (depending on the speed of your network, of course). If you have concerns, you can check the Skylum AI Guidelines & Policy, here. 

Okay, back to the prompts. You can just click on them, unless you want to do something different than what these examples offer. Ask away in the text box. In my case, I realized that my locomotive picture reminded me a lot of the work of artist, H R Giger. "Who?", one or two of you might be saying to yourself. The guy who designed Alien. The guy who designed Emerson, Lake & Palmers "Brain Salad Surgery" album cover. That guy. You can see in my text box I typed: "Make this image mimic an H R Giger art piece". 

And here is what I got back.

Essex RR, Essex, Connecticut/©Daniel Gauss

Well, not exactly what I got back, but close. Like I said before, the beauty of this program is you're never stuck with the first thing it gives you. I added a few small edits, like sharpening, and a vignette. Ah, hold on. What I meant is this was my favorite of the three results I got back. You will always get three options to choose from (see below), and the Assistant will always tell you what was done. You can take it from there. If you clicked on those Giger links I gave you, you'll see this is pretty damn faithful. 

If you're new to photography and/or editing, you can see how this can be a very valuable learning tool. If your vision for one of your images is such-and-such, you can ask, "how can I make this image look such-and-such?", and you'll get a step by step procedure to do just that. Do it often enough and you'll suddenly realize you're becoming a master of editing with Luminar Neo!

Are you ready to become a Luminar Neo master? Have I got a deal for you. Right now there's a secret sale going on, and I have a secret discount code. The window is small so you better check it out soon... it ends January 21. That's next Wednesday! Follow this link to Skylum to see the various options (they'll explain them much better than I can here). When you've made your decision and take your cart to check out, use this code: DG20 to save, you guessed it, 20%. (My normal discount code is 10%, so if you happen to miss the boat next week, you can still use that code: PHOTODAN.

Yes, I'm a Skylum affiliate, yes I get a commission. Is it a huge commission? 😂😂😂😂 Sorry. Will it effect your price? Not in the slightest. So what are you waiting for? Doesn't cost you a thing to look. Go. Go now!

Happy Christmas! The Annual Music Post.

 

Other Tools And Black Friday Transitions To, What Else, Cyber Week!

 I ran through a lot of ink raving about the new "Restoration" tool in Luminar Neo.. you know, this one:

Mackinac Bridge ©Daniel Gauss/Shot On Site

Still damned impressed with how well it works, especially in concert with the other Luminar Neo tools. Like "Sky Replacement", which is incredibly useful for these old black and whites from the 1990's with their totally blown out skies.

The other tool that has all the "influencers" and "vloggers" wetting their pants is "Light Depth".  I admit, I really didn't get this one. That is, until I tried it for my Facebook profile picture for Veterans Day. In fact, I used both Restoration and  Light Depth, and it's quite impressive. 

It's Demo Time. 

Here's the digitized scan from the original 3.5x3.5 Instamatic print from my tropical vacation in Southeast Asia in 1969...

 

and the result of the restoration: 

Not bad, right? But it's missing something (besides a better sky, I mean). That's where the Light Depth tool comes in, (You'll find it at the top of the Creative Toos on the right column)

And when I got done managing the light with the Light Depth tool, and adding an appropriate sky, and fiddling with other tools like Vignette, and Golden Hour, and Landscape... well, it looked like this:

Marine Patrol, Republic of Vietnam ©HM3 Daniel Gauss, 1969

That's a banger, huh?

Here's another:

Multnomah Falls, Columbia R Gorge ©Daniel Gauss, ~1990

...and one more for good measure: (this one's a recent, digital image from only 4 years ago)

Leasburg Slot Canyon, Las Cruces NM ©Daniel Gauss, Shot On Site

Whet your apetite? Well the Black Friday Sale ends on Monday, but is that the end of the criminally low, low prices for new users, or upgrade passes for existing users? Oh, hell-to-the-NO! Because you know what comes after Black Friday? Do ya? That's right, CyberWeek! It's exactly the same pricing structure as the Black Friday Sale. 50-77% off! You must check it out, and here's how:

If you're an existing user of Luminar Neo, click this link.

If you're a NEW customer, and want Luminar Neo so bad you're crying, click this link. 

Each link will take you to the appropriate options for your situation. Pick the one that floats your boat. Maybe you want the Luminar Neo Ecosystem, which will get you Neo and Mobile (and fun fact, you can move seamlessly between the two! Start an edit on your phone, make it legendary on your desktop!) That's one of the options that will be presented to you.

And, of course, when you've made your selection, and are in the checkout line, remember to add the my coupon code: PHOTODAN to save even more! (10%)

Full disclosure: When you purchase using my links, I receive a small commission, with no extra cost to you, so help a fella out, yeah? I knew you would.

Come back soon, because I want to tell you all about something else that's new this Fall: SPACES!

teaser: https://spaces.skylum.com/en/web-page/894eb264a4d62917

THIS SPACE COMES ALIVE! for the BIG FALL UPGRADE!

And not insignificantly for a "Black Friday" Sale that lasts for more than a month!

But, first things first. 

Remember this image?  Of course you do, it's right down there in the previous post👇It's a scan of an image of my mother taken nearly 90 years ago, give or take. It's just one of hundreds and hundreds of old images I own, most of them fading and scratched and creased just like this one.

In the  past, I could have spent countless hours painstakingly editing this image to bring it back to life, and even with all the tools in Luminar Neo, or any of the other editing platforms out there it would still look not all that satisfactory.

You know where this is going, right?

I've been fortunate enough to be able to play around with the beta version of the "Big Fall Upgrade", and all of the new features and tools that are included, and there are some great ones, like the Luminar Neo Ecosystem, that combines the mobile apps with the desktop, seamlessly, to bring your phone-edited images to the desktop for further "massaging".  There's also the  new "Spaces" where you can creat your own personal "gallery of favorites", hosted by Skylum, and completely free of charge. It's included with your copy of Luminar Neo. There's the "Light Depth" tool, which I haven't quite figured out yet, but according to Skylum, gives you "perfect control over light and depth in every image

But nothing, and I mean nothing, got my attention like the "Restoration" tool, which brings new life to those old photos with, literally, one click of a button:

Ooh, uncomfortable "Marty McFly" vibes. I'll go in to more detail in future posts, but in the meantime, here are a few more samples, including my biggest day in high school (below), and showing you all images do NOT have to be restored with color-added.

Okay, the Black Friday Sale this year runs from 11am EDT today, until December 1(!) and features the deepest discounts of the year! Up to 75% off on the new Luminar Neo Ecosystem. Whether you're a current owner (Legacy Owner) of Luminar Neo, or an existing subscriber (and I should point out here, the invisible elephant in the room is that Skylum are doing away with the subscription model- big cheer from the peanut gallery- with no big fanfare). If you're a new purchaser, you'll get all of the new elements of the Fall Upgrade included with your purchase, as well as access to Luminar Mobile (for ios or Android). Legacy owners will get most of the upgrade elements, and will get all with purchase of an Upgrade Pass. And as I said, all purchase will come with deep, deep discounts, (including additional 10% with my personal discount code: PHOTODAN). "Affiliate Link" disclaimer: as always, if you purchase anything from Skylum using the links in this post, I'll get a small commission, which in no way affects your prices.

So, go. Go now and explore your options at this link (or any of the links scattered throughout this post), and save BIG TIME! I gotta get this online, and only ten minutes late.😎

WATCH THIS SPACE. FRIDAY OCTOBER 24

This is a phot of my mother at age... I dunno, maybe 14, 15? Anyway, watch for the next post on Friday, October 24.

Meanwhile, check out the latest from Skylum/Luminar Neo, and get ready for the biggest discounts of the year!