How to make a photo brighter

If your photo came out too dark, Luminar Neo provides powerful tools to enhance brightness while preserving details. With digital photography, it’s easier to save a shot if it has been underexposed since the data is mostly retained in the dark areas. This means dark areas often contain recoverable color and texture, unlike overexposed areas where data is completely lost (clipped to pure white). In contrast, an overexposed photo loses details in bright areas because once pixels are maxed out to white, there's no color information left to recover. Nevertheless, modern digital camera sensors record subtle variations in light and color that aren't immediately visible. Luminar Neo can amplify those details, revealing hidden colors and textures. Follow these steps to correct underexposed images effectively.

Brightening the Underexposed Photo with the Develop Tool

1. Open your image in Luminar Neo.

2. Navigate to the Develop tool in the 'Edit' panel.

3. Use the Exposure slider to brighten the entire image. Be cautious not to overexpose highlights.

4. Increase the Shadows slider to bring out details in dark areas.

5. Adjust the Highlights slider to prevent bright areas from becoming too intense. The lower the setting, the darker the highlighted zones will become.

6. If the image still looks flat, fine-tune the Blacks & Whites sliders, which are accessible in a separate panel in the Develop tool.

Note: Don’t overdo the brightness. Extreme recovery can introduce noise, as darker areas have fewer photons hitting the sensor. Try to find a balance between brightness and noise. If you notice too many “noisy” patches in your photo, don’t hesitate to use the Noiseless AI tool.

1. Open the Curves section from the Develop tool.

2. Lift the midtones and shadows slightly to enhance brightness without washing out the highlights. Shadows are displayed on the left in the curves graph, so start from there.

3. Adjust the curve carefully to maintain contrast and depth.

💡 Working with White Balance

White balance (WB) is crucial for achieving accurate colors in your photos. It can be the difference between a photo that feels cold and lifeless and one that pops with true-to-life color.

What Is White Balance?

White balance is the process of adjusting the colors in an image so that the whites appear white and the overall colors look natural and accurate. Cameras don’t always interpret color temperature correctly, especially in mixed or tricky lighting (like cloudy skies, sunsets, or indoor lighting). That’s where white balance correction comes in.

🌡️ Color temperature is measured in Kelvin (K):

• Lower Kelvin (2000-4000K) = warm (yellow/orange) tones (e.g., candlelight) 🕯️

• Higher Kelvin (6000-10000K) = cool (blue) tones (e.g., overcast sky) 🌥️

Why It Matters?

Improper white balance can lead to:

• Orange or blue color casts;

• Skin tones that look sickly or unnatural;

• Landscapes that don’t reflect the time of day correctly.

Correcting white balance makes your image feel real and emotionally accurate.

📍In Luminar Neo, you can adjust white balance manually:

1. Open your image in Luminar Neo. Navigate to the Develop tool in the 'Edit' panel.

Tip: If you’re editing a RAW file, you’ll have the most flexibility with white balance. When your file is in RAW format, you will see Develop RAW.

1. Click on the ‘Color’ panel to open White Balance adjustments.

2. Adjust the Temperature Slider. Correct cool/warm shifts: Move left = make it cooler 💙 (bluer). Move right = make it warmer 🧡 (more yellow/orange).

3. Adjust the Tint Slider. Correct green/magenta shifts: Move left = more green 💚 Move right = more magenta 🩷 Useful for mixed light sources or correcting skin tones.

4. Tweak the Saturation/Vibrance sliders to boost the colors.

   

To adjust White Balance automatically, simply use the White Balance Picker (Eyedropper Tool).

1. Select the eyedropper icon and click on a part of your image that should be neutral white or gray. Luminar will automatically adjust the white balance based on that area. For example, a white shirt, gray rock, or piece of paper in the photo. In the example below, the monkey's white fur was used as a neutral white. 🤍

   
2. Fine-tune as needed. After using the eyedropper, use the Temperature and Tint sliders to tweak things to your liking.

Note: There’s no “perfect” WB - sometimes, a slightly warm or cool tone enhances the mood. Trust your eye and the story you're trying to tell. White balance isn't just a technical adjustment - it's a creative decision. Luminar Neo gives you powerful yet simple tools to control it.

Lighting up Your Photo with Relight AI

Relight AI is a smart tool in Luminar Neo that analyzes your photo and allows you to lighten or darken specific areas based on depth-like foreground vs. background. This gives you much more control compared to traditional brightness sliders. Here’s how to use Relight AI:

1. Open Luminar Neo and load the photo you want to edit.

2. In the Edit tab, scroll down the right-hand toolbar and click on Relight AI under the “Creative Tools” section.

3. You’ll see several sliders:

• Brightness Near: Increases brightness in the foreground (areas closer to the camera). Slide this to the right to brighten the front of your photo.

• Brightness Far: Adjusts the lighting in the background. Great for brightening up skies, distant trees, or rooms behind a subject.

• Depth: Controls how the near/far distinction is made. Tweak this to shift the balance of where the brightness transition starts.

1. After that, go to Advanced Settings for optional fine-tuning:

• Use the Dehalo slider to remove any unnatural glow around edges.

• Adjust Warmth Near and Warmth Far to achieve a consistent look with the newly lit scene.

1. Click the eye icon to compare the before/after, and save when you’re happy.