Luminar AI serves as a plugin for popular photo editing programs like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. But did you know that Luminar AI also functions as a standalone program?

This is fantastic news for smartphone photographers who love editing photos on their phones, and especially for those who like to use more advanced programs for editing on their computers.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to edit your smartphone photos in Luminar AI on your computer. We will also recommend the best practices for editing the most common types of smartphone pictures.

Where to Get Luminar AI

You can purchase and download Luminar AI from Skylum’s official website. The standalone program will cost you a one-time payment of $79. Fortunately, it's available for both Mac and Windows computers.

Transferring Your Photos From Your Smartphone to Your Computer

Man using notebook

The transfer process will vary depending on your operating system, phone, and backup preferences. Suffice to say, the fastest way to transfer files from your smartphone to your computer is usually by using a USB cable.

However, there are a couple of different wireless strategies you can employ to transfer images from your phone to your computer as well. If you already use platforms like 500px, Flickr, Google Drive, or OneDrive to save your pictures directly from your smartphone, you can access these same programs from your computer. From there, you can download your photos onto your computer, and start editing.

A second wireless option would be to transfer your files via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth from your smartphone to your computer. Or, if your smartphone uses SD cards, you could also use an SD card reader to transfer your files to your computer.

If you’re new to transferring files from your smartphone to a computer, it’s best to consult YouTube, where you can find easy-to-follow tutorials for your particular devices.

Related: How to Create Realistic Sun Effects Using Luminar AI

Why Use Luminar AI for Editing Your Smartphone Photos?

Using smartphone

Here are several reasons why you would want to use Luminar AI to edit your smartphone photos on your computer. Most smartphones out there will have only a few of these photo editing features, if any of them:

  • 100 percent artificial intelligence smart photo editing
  • RAW file support
  • Sky replacement using Sky AI
  • A host of AI tools geared toward making better portraits and selfies (Face AI, Skin AI, and Body AI)
  • Templates and LUTS serve as great starting points for photo editing
  • Landscape enhancement tools, like Augmented Sky AI, Atmosphere AI, and the ability to add sun and sun rays
  • Enhance AI and Structure AI for exposure corrections and details enhancement
  • Compositional AI, a feature only available to those using Luminar AI as a standalone program

Using Luminar AI to Edit Your Selfies

Do you want your selfies to stand out? There are literally millions of selfies taken every single day across the globe, and almost none of these selfie-takers are using the latest AI technology to edit their photos. This is where Luminar AI comes into play.

The following tutorial is for those who take a lot of selfies on their smartphones and want to take their photo editing to the next level. We will show you a workflow that’s just as simple as any smartphone editor.

You can download this image from Pexels and follow along.

Let’s get started!

  1. To import your photo into Luminar AI, click on the Plus button at the top of the menu. Then, select Edit Single Image. Alternatively, you can access this option by going to Luminar AI > File > Edit Single Image.
    Choose edit single image
  2. Select your image from the appropriate folder, and then click Open.
    Select image
  3. Make sure Templates is highlighted. Under Essentials, choose Closeups.
    choose closeups
  4. In the Closeups Collection, choose Focus.
    Choose Focus
  5. Select Edit at the top of the screen.
    Choose edit selfie
  6. Under Essentials, select Compositional AI. Under Perspective, click the left icon to fix the horizon. Then, under 3D Transform, change the Horizon slider to 25. Lastly, use the handles to move the image all the way to the left as shown. After that, press Enter.
    Compositional AI
  7. Select Creative in the right menu.
    Select creative selfie
  8. Select Sky AI. In the Sky Selection dropdown menu, choose Sunset 3. Then, under Advanced Settings, change Sky Defocus to 50.
    Sky AI
  9. Select Sunrays. Then, click on Place Sun and move the White Dot next to the woman’s hat as shown. Change the Amount to 20.
    Choose Sunrays
  10. Go to Portrait in the menu on the right side of the screen.
    Go to Portrait
  11. Select Face AI. In this tab, change Face Light to 100.
  12. In the Eyes tab, make the following value changes to the sliders: Iris Visibility: 100Iris Flare: 50Enlarge Eyes: 40Eye Whitening: 40Eye Enhancer: 70Dark Circle Removal: 50Improve Eyebrows: 20.
    Select Face AI
  13. Scroll down in Face AI to Mouth, and click Show. Make the following value changes to the sliders: Lip Saturation: 40Lip Redness: 40Lip Darkening: 40Teeth Whitening: 80.
    Choose Mouth
  14. You’re finished! Now, select where you would like to save your image. Select Export at the top of the screen and make your selection.
    Export photo selfie

Let's see how this selfie turned out.

Selfie before:

Selfie Before

Selfie after:

Selfie After

The question you have to ask yourself is, can your smartphone editor of choice do this? Instagram influencers, take notice!

Using Luminar AI to Edit Your Food Photos

Another very popular subject for smartphone photography is food. Luminar AI is a great choice for this as well, and it will likely surprise you with what it can do.

In this tutorial, we will take an image that is already good and make it even better by enhancing the details and colors. We will also make use of Compositional AI to crop the image into a square format to remove unwanted details.

You can download this image from Pexels and follow along.

  1. Load your image into Luminar AI, and repeat steps one and two from above.
  2. Make sure Templates is selected. Under For This Photo, select Objects.
    Choose Objects
  3. Select Brilliance in the menu.
    Select Brilliance
  4. Select Edit in the top menu, and choose Compositional AI. Change Ratio to Square. Then, move the handles to center the box over the dish as shown. Press Enter.
    Choose Compositional AI
  5. Select Enhance AI, and change Accent AI to 70.
    Choose Enhance AI
  6. Select Color. Change Vibrance to 40 and Remove Color Cast to 30. In the HSL tab, choose Luminance in the dropdown menu. Make the following value changes to the sliders: Red: 100Orange: 40Yellow: 10Green: 30.
    Choose Color
  7. You’re finished! Select Export once again to save your photo.
    Export image food

Below, we'll show you how this image changed over the course of editing.

Food before:

Food Before

Food after:

Food After

Using Luminar AI to Edit Your Pet Photos

We arrive at pet photos to complete the trinity of the most popular subjects for smartphone photographers. Naturally, Luminar AI can do a lot to enhance your pet photos for pleasing results.

In this tutorial, we will take an underexposed image (a common problem), and enhance it without using the Templates tab. Instead, we’ll make use of the Creative and Local Masking menus.

You can download this image from Pexels and follow along.

  1. Load your image into Luminar AI. Repeat steps one and two from the first tutorial.
  2. Select Edit > Creative.
    Select Creative pet
  3. Select Sky AI. In the dropdown menu, choose Sunset 2. Change Sky Global to 100. In Advanced Settings, change Sky Temperature to 100 and Sky Exposure to 100.
    Choose Sky AI pet
  4. Select Sunrays. Click Place Sun and move the White Dot to the right of the kitten as shown. Make the following value changes to the sliders: Amount: 33Overall Look: 50Sunrays Length: 65Penetration: 40.
  5. Under Sun Settings, make these changes: Sun Radius: 40Sun Glow Radius: 70Sun Glow Amount: 60.
  6. In Ray Settings, change the Number of Sunrays to 57 and Randomize to 9. And in Warmth, set Sun Warmth to 50 and Sunrays Warmth to 100.
    Select Sunrays
  7. Select Dramatic. Make the following value changes to the sliders: Amount: 20Local Contrast: 60Brightness: 100Saturation: 94.
    Select Dramatic
  8. Select Mood. In the Choose LUT dropdown menu, select Palm Springs. Change Amount to 50 and Contrast to -100.
    Select Mood
  9. Select Local Masking. Click Add and choose Basic.
    Select Local Masking
  10. Hover your mouse over the cat’s face, and paint over the face area only as shown. Make the following value changes to the sliders: Exposure: 80AI Structure: 100Saturation: 40.
    Paint face
  11. You’re finished! Select Export once again to save your photo.
    Export image pet

Here's how this photo turned out after editing.

Pet before:

Pet Before

Pet after:

Pet After

Luminar AI Takes Smartphone Photos to the Next Level

Staircase in room

Using Luminar AI is as easy to learn and use as any smartphone editor or third-party app. The methods of operation are the same: all you have to do is navigate a few menus and adjust the sliders to your liking.

The best part is, you don't have to use Lightroom, Photoshop, or any other advanced editor to create stunning results in a few moments.

Image Credit: Leah Kelley/Pexels