Last month, I started out on a journey to breathe new life into some of my older images by diving into the world of HDR post-processing. This led me to purchase Luminar Neo , a powerful photo editing software that has been a game-changer for my creative workflow. As I dug deeper into what it can do, I discovered how it could transform forgotten gems from my archives into stunning images. With its innovative features, I've managed to rescue images that once didn't make the cut, turning them into something special.

I took this picture in late afternoon at the end of March 2014, when a shaft of light opened at the moment of the shot, lighting up the lobster pots sitting on the harbour wall. I always liked the composition — especially the little white house, which was possibly a store rather than a home. The life ring on the wall to the right adds a nice touch of colour.

Below is an image taken many years ago on one of my first digital cameras, the Fuji X-E1.

Porthgain Harbour, West Wales — original RAW file from the Fuji X-E1 in strong afternoon sunlight — Before — the RAW image file direct from the camera

Here are the before and after shots: the original image straight from the camera, and the edited version enhanced using Luminar Neo.

Porthgain Harbour, West Wales — after HDR post-processing in Luminar Neo with dramatic sky replacement — After — the finished result after editing in Luminar Neo

Here's how I did it. I started by editing the sky, adding a dramatic replacement from the dropdown list available in Luminar Neo's edit menu. The sky library ranges from daytime blue skies with white fluffy clouds all the way through to starry nights, with more available to purchase from the Skylum marketplace. I settled on dramatic sky number 3, which had just the right amount of light coming through to match the original image.

Porthgain Harbour with the sky adjusted using Luminar Neo's sky replacement tool

Porthgain Harbour before sky replacement — original blown-out white sky in Luminar Neo

Luminar Neo dashboard showing the sky replacement tools and editing panel

Making this small tweak and seeing how easily the image could be transformed was a great experience. I've been using Luminar Neo steadily over the last few weeks and have been impressed by the range of features available for transforming images.

I put together this video showing all the steps I took to edit this image. If you find it useful, please give it a like and subscribe to my channel — I'm planning more videos showing the different features I've discovered in Luminar Neo, both new favourites and old. Stay tuned!

Get 30% off Luminar Neo using my affiliate link — download Luminar Neo by Skylum.

How to use Luminar Neo to add Sky to your Images

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