Make Wildlife Photos Pop – Start to Finish in Luminar Neo – AM

Applications, Cheat Sheet, Luminar, Mind Map, Morganti

Summary – https://youtu.be/cTzRQmj-8QY

Anthony Morganti reintroduces a new series of Luminar Neo tutorials, starting with a wildlife image workflow. He stresses the process reflects his personal approach, not a universal standard, and aims to give viewers ideas for developing their own.

Wildlife Image Workflow Steps

  1. Noise Reduction
    • Done first using Noiseless RAW (Low setting) to avoid amplifying noise later during contrast or texture edits.
    • Especially important due to higher ISO (800 in this case).
  2. Cropping
    • Uses manual crop, avoids Composition AI.
    • Maintains original aspect ratio unless printing (e.g. 4×5 for 8×10).
    • Adjusts composition to center subject (bald eagle) and preserve important details like white feathers.
  3. Profile & White Balance
    • Leaves default Luminar profile.
    • No white balance change needed.
  4. Tone Adjustments (Light Panel)
    • Highlights/Shadows: Open shadows, reduce highlights for clarity.
    • Blacks/Whites: Uses clipping indicators (J key) to avoid blown highlights (red) or crushed shadows (blue).
  5. Color
    • Slight boost to Saturation (no people in image).
    • Explains difference between Saturation (affects all pixels) and Vibrance (more selective), useful for portraits.
  6. Structure vs. Details
    • Structure tool skipped — undesirable effect.
    • Instead, uses Details tool (small, medium, large) cautiously to avoid over-sharpening.
  7. Eye Enhancement (Masking)
    • Masks eagle’s iris using a brush.
    • Applies slight brightness and saturation to bring out the eye.
  8. Vignette
    • Adds a dark vignette to guide viewer attention to the subject in the center.
    • Explains how darker edges discourage eyes from wandering and enhance viewing experience.

Tools & Tips Mentioned

  • Noiseless RAW, Crop, Develop/Light, Color, Details, Vignette, Masking with Brush
  • Clipping Indicators (J key) for exposure control.
  • Free keyboard shortcuts PDF available via his website.

What’s Next

Upcoming videos in the series will cover:

Portrait (with portrait-specific tools)

Landscape

Macro

A pdf ‘Cheat Sheet’ may be found here.