Luminar Neo (Windows, macOS)
Luminar Neo pros:
- AI is legitimately integral to the whole app
- Designed for photographers, so you get a lot of control over how strongly any effects are applied
Luminar Neo cons:
- Very expensive for a standalone photo-focused app
One of the first photo-editing apps to go all in on AI was Luminar Neo. And of all the apps on this list, it has the deepest AI integration across the whole app. Of course there are the headline features, like the AI-powered enhance (which automatically adjusts tone, contrast, and color) and the AI sky replacement (which really works, especially with blown-out or boring gray skies).
But then there are all the smaller touches. Luminar Neo automatically detects the subject of your image and suggests appropriate presets as a starting point. The AI crop generally does a good job of cutting out extraneous elements without going too close to your subject. And features like the AI face and skin adjustments focus in on the relevant areas of the image, and quickly allow you to do things like brighten your subject’s eyes to draw more attention to them or tone down shiny skin.
Luminar Neo is almost exclusively an app for photographers,
or people who really, really care about taking high-quality selfies. As a result, you get a huge amount of control over how the various effects are applied. There isn’t really any one-click magic here: for every tool, you get a slider, so you can control how strongly any edits are made to be sure your photos look how you want. It makes for a great, balanced workflow: the AI lets you work quickly, without pushing things too far.
Strangely, Luminar Neo is the only app on this list that couldn’t exist without its AI features. They’re so integral to the whole experience. While you can make simple edits, and often will to make final tweaks, it’s almost impossible to edit a photo without heavily relying on the AI at some point.
Luminar Neo pricing: From $9.95/month for the Explore plan; from $14.95/month for the Pro plan that includes additional AI-powered features like noise removal and upscaling.
