Colour is one of the most important factors in photography. It has the ability to create mood, emotion and narrative. Luminar 3 has several filters that you can use to help utilize colour within your imagery. You can adjust the colour to improve the vibrancy of a photo or reduce its saturation to create a more sombre tone.
Change the camera profile in Luminar 3
Once you have selected the image you want to edit, the first thing to do is check you are using the correct Camera Profile. You should always make sure that the Camera Profile you select matches the make and model of the camera you used to shoot your image. If not, your image could appear quite different to what you saw through the viewfinder when originally capturing your photograph. The colourimetry could be way off making the photo appear flat or alternatively, over processed.
However, although it is recommended to align your camera profile to the correct setting, you may want to use a completely different profile to achieve a new contrasting look you weren’t expecting. It’s open to invention.
Work on the saturation and vibrance in Luminar 3
The main colour adjustment filters you will use in Luminar are Saturation and Vibrance.
These are the most straightforward colour editing tools in Luminar and will get you the quickest results. When you use either Saturation or Vibrance, you move the sliders to increase or decrease the effect the filter has on your image.
Saturation will affect the overall vividness of your image and adjust all the colours in the frame.
Vibrance only increases the intensity of the muted colours in an image and does not enhance the already saturated colours in your photo. This should, in theory, creates a much more natural-looking image, leaving elements like a subjects skin tone unaffected.
How to use the HSL panel in Luminar 3
The HSL filter in Luminar allows you to selectively adjust the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance of individual colours. It has eight different colour channels to choose from, and each of these can be adjusted accordingly.
The HSL is particularly useful if you want to hone in on one particular colour channel. For example, if you want to increase the red in a bunch of flowers or reduce the intensity of a particularly bright item of clothing
Hue – This will adjust the hue or basic colour shades of your image
Saturation – This controls the intensity of a colour. Moving the slider to the left removes all colour to the point where it will eventually make the image black and white.
Luminance – This set of sliders to adjusts the brightness of the colours in your photo. Sliding the control further to the right results in a brighter colour within the image. When pushed further to the left, the colour in that image becomes darker.