Sky AI
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If the sky in your photo isn’t compelling, you can easily replace it with the SkyAI tool. This tool is designed to work with flat or blown-out skies but can be refined to work with most skies using sliders. Using the power of artificial intelligence, SkyAI automatically analyzes an image identifies where the sky begins and ends, recognizes if water is featured in the image, and then seamlessly replaces the sky and adds reflections to any body of water to create a realistic look.
Sky Selection. Visually select the sky you want from the dropdown list and instantly have an idea of what your final result will look like. You can add your own skies individually or in bulk.
To add a single sky, click the + icon at the end of the sky list and browse your computer for a sky to add.
Select Show Custom Skies… from the Sky Selection dropdown list to add a group of skies. Then drag and drop your custom skies to the folder that opens. We recommend keeping fewer than 50 skies loaded at a time for better performance.
Horizon Position. Grab the center-line of the pin to move the new sky vertically to freely place it exactly where you want it in the scene.
Vertical Position. You can freely offset your new sky vertically and place it exactly where you want it in the scene. SkyAI will perfectly scale it to fit while keeping it aligned with the horizon. The Vertical Position slider controls the Textures in the sky and water areas but moves them in opposite directions in relation to the Horizon Position line until you get the ideal match between your new sky and its reflection.
Horizontal Position. With this slider, you can freely position the sky horizontally and place it exactly where you want it in the scene. SkyAI will perfectly scale it to fit while keeping it aligned with the horizon.
Flip. Flips the new sky to change its direction in the frame. Beneficial when a photo has shadows that you’re trying to match.
Shift. Set the desired position of your horizon line
Rotation. You can rotate the new sky on the Z-axis for perfect placement.
Global. This slider affects how the texture is mixed into the scene. A higher value will increase the amount of new sky that is added.
Close Gaps. This slider fixes small details and holes not initially filled by the replaced sky. You may need to adjust it if the image has refined details such as trees or wires.
Fix Details. This slider fixes small imperfections around the edges of your new sky.
Relight Strength. This slider adjusts the exposure of the scene to match the new sky.
Relight Saturation. This slider adjusts the saturation of the relighting effect to realistically add the color from the new sky to the scene.
Relight Human. This slider controls relighting for any people in the scene, matching people to the new sky for a more realistic effect. Use it on environmental portraits and lifestyle photos to see the drastic difference!
Reflection Amount. Allows you to adjust the intensity of the reflection to your liking.
Water Blur. Allows you to blur the reflected sky to better match an uneven water surface due to waves or ripples.
Defocus. This slider defocuses the sky and is useful when a shallow focus is used with a foreground object.
Grain. Use this slider to match new skies to the grain in the original photo for a seamless, realistic effect.
Atmospheric Haze. Use this slider to add a soft haze to the sky. Haze is helpful in matching a replacement sky to the original image, especially if there’s moisture in the sky or environmental pollutants.
Warmth. Use this slider to adjust the color temperature of the image.
Brightness. This slider darkens or lightens the new sky. It’s useful for matching the original scene.
You can load your own skies into Luminar Neo from the Sky Selection drop-down menu by choosing Show Custom Skies … and copying your own JPEG files into the folder that opens. We recommend keeping fewer than 50 skies loaded at a time for better performance. You will see the skies from your Custom folder in the main list of skies available for SkyAI. To remove skies from this list, remove them from the Custom folder.
FAQ: Why can’t I use Sky Replacement?
I’m trying to use SkyAI, and the sliders are greyed out. How come? If the Sky Selection menu is disabled, the sky is likely not visible enough in the image.
Follow these guidelines to achieve the best results with the SkyAI tool in Luminar Neo. Doing so will give Luminar Neo the most information possible and ensure the best results. While the SkyAI tool includes sample skies for you, many photographers will want to use sky photos of their own creations.
In order to use a sky photo with the SkyAI tool, it must meet these requirements:
Minimum of 1,200 pixels on the short edge (higher resolutions preferred)
JPEG format. You can export an image as a JPEG file in Luminar Neo by clicking the Export tab, the Save Photo to Disk button, and the JPEG format. You can use a quality setting of 60–85 to keep file sizes smaller.
Keep the image size below 10 megabytes for the optimal performance of the tool.
The sky replacement technology in Luminar Neo requires skies to be photographed in a specific way to achieve realistic results. You can also pre-process existing sky images to meet these guidelines and export new JPEG files for use by the SkyAI tool.
Once the sky is replaced, you can take advantage of useful options like to improve the overall scene.
