Export Image

When you edit an image in Luminar Neo, a record of all the tools you apply, the adjustments you make in those tools, and everything else you do to the image is saved in the Catalog. When you export a final image, Luminar Neo applies those adjustments to your photo and generates a finished file ready to send to clients, upload to social media, or print.

As you work with an image, you’ll want to export an image file at some point. This file might be an in-progress save to capture work to date as you edit your photo. Or perhaps it’s to prepare your file for printing or sharing. Luminar Neo offers many options for exporting images to meet your needs.

When you’re ready to export a finished image, click on the Export icon in the top right corner, or Right-click on a photo > choose Export.

Here’s what you’ll see when you click the Export button in the top right corner:

🆕New Export...

The New Export window gives you full control over how your image is saved and shared. Here’s a breakdown of the available settings:

📁 Format

Choose from six file formats:

• JPEG

• PNG

• TIFF (8-bit and 16-bit)

• PSD

• DNG

Some formats, like TIFF and JPEG, offer additional options for setting compression and bit depth, giving you more control over file quality and size.

High-quality Archives. To archive a photo, save it as a TIFF file. TIFF files preserve all the details and colors in an image and are great for printing.

🔍 Sharpen

Enhance your exported image by applying sharpening. This setting increases edge definition and helps reduce compression artifacts—especially useful when exporting in formats like JPEG.

📝 File Name

If you are exporting a single file, you’ll see a File Name field at the top of the Export Image window. You can use this to rename your image before saving it.

If you’re exporting multiple images, this option won’t appear, and the original file names will be retained.

📐 Resize

Export your image at its original size or customize the dimensions. You can set new values based on:

• The long side

• The short side

This is also where you can set the resolution in pixels per inch (PPI).

Note: Dots per inch (PPI) Dots per inch (or more accurately, pixels per inch) describe an image’s effective resolution. For example, a 3,000-pixel-wide image would produce a 10-inch print at 300 PPI. If you don’t modify the PPI setting, Luminar Neo will export the image at its original resolution

Please note that the maximum export size is 15,000 px.

🌈 Color Space

You can export your image in one of the following color spaces:

• sRGB – Best for web use; ensures broad compatibility

• Adobe RGB – Common in graphic design and professional software

• ProPhoto RGB – The widest color space, ideal for preserving all colors captured in raw files

📉 Quality

Some file types, like JPEG, allow you to set the quality level, which affects the degree of compression and the resulting file size. A higher quality setting preserves more detail but results in a larger file.

⏮️Export with Previous

Quickly export your image using the same settings and location as your last export — whether it was done via New Export, Quick Export, or any other method.

If you haven’t exported anything before, this option will be disabled.

⚡Quick Export

Use one of the ready-made presets to export your image instantly:

• JPEG – 100% quality

• JPEG – 80% quality

• TIFF – 16-bit

• TIFF – 8-bit

📤Share options

Send your exported image to another app or device with just one click:

• Airdrop (macOS only) – Instantly send your image to nearby Apple devices using Airdrop.

• Messages – Share your image through the Messages app on your computer.

• Mail – Open your default mail app with the exported image automatically attached.

• Connect – Transfer directly to a mobile device.

  When you click Connect, a QR code will appear. Scan it using your phone’s camera to open or install the Share for Luminar Neo app from the App Store or Google Play.

  Once your device is connected, you can send images from Luminar Neo to your phone or from your phone to Luminar Neo.

  ⚠️ Important: Your computer and mobile device must be on the same Wi-Fi network for the connection to work properly.

📚Learn more about export formats:

JPEG (.jpg)

The Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format is the most commonly used file format to display continuous-tone images (such as photos) on the internet. Most digital cameras use JPEG because it provides excellent compression; the maximum quality setting provides comparable image quality to much larger file formats like TIFF. Occasionally, the print industry (especially newspapers) will use JPEGs. JPEG offers lossy compression, however, which means that some data is discarded during compression. JPEGs should not be used as an archival or production file format. You should generally only save JPEG files once, as re-saving, a JPEG continues to discard data and lower the image quality.

PNG (.png)

The Portable Network Graphics format provides lossless compression. It is increasingly common on the internet, as most web browsers support it. The PNG format was created to be a patent-free alternative to GIF. Its major advantage is the PNG-24 file, which allows for 24-bit images (8 bits per channel) and embedded transparency. It is technically superior to GIF.

TIFF (.tif)

The Tagged Image File Format is one of the most common and flexible formats available. It’s widely used to exchange files between applications and computer platforms and has a long legacy of compatibility. Additionally, TIFF works with a depth of 8 bits or 16 bits per channel.

JPEG 2000 (.jp2)

The JPEG 2000 format is an update released in the year 2000 by the Joint Photographic Experts Group committee. Its intent was to replace the original JPEG format. It uses a newer and more efficient wavelet-based image compression method.

Photoshop (.psd)

Photoshop is a common file format used in the computer graphics industry. Luminar Neo cannot write a layered file, but it can export a file that can be opened by Adobe Photoshop and other software packages that support the PSD format.

PDF (.pdf)

The Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format invented by Adobe that was intended to be an extension of PostScript. A PDF can be viewed on virtually every operating system and portable media player or phone. PDF is an open standard, which means anyone can create applications that can read or write PDFs without paying Adobe. This openness led to the quick adoption of PDF, and it is used extensively online.

DNG (.dng)

The Digital Negative (DNG) is a publicly available raw image format developed by Adobe. It was designed to serve as a universal format for storing raw files from digital cameras. DNG preserves all the original image data and metadata, making it ideal for long-term archiving and non-destructive editing. As an open standard, DNG can be used freely by software developers and is supported by many photography and editing applications across platforms.