Luminar 1.29 Fall Upgrade: What's New for Landscape and Nature Photographers

Skylum today announced a major upgrade to Luminar, version 1.29, part of their Fall Upgrade 2026. In this article I'll talk about what is new and coming in this big release.

I've had early access to the beta, but the full release doesn't reach the public until October 28.

Enhance has always been Luminar's one-slider shortcut, and the slider is still simple. What changed is everything behind it. The new Enhance AI evaluates the image first and adapts its processing across eight different situations, accounting for exposure, color casts, sky conditions, halo risk and white balance shifts.

The part that matters most for landscape shooters is the protection: highlights are protected instead of simply pushed brighter, the brightest tones roll off instead of clipping, and color balance is guarded so a sunset doesn't turn oversaturated. The goal isn't “more AI.” It's being able to push a photo further while keeping what made it work in the first place.

Try it on: a sunset, a deep blue sky or an overcast landscape, with the slider going all the way towards 100%.

This is the most visual change in the release. The old Atmosphere tool laid flat fog textures over the photo. The new version generates volumetric 3D fog that has a position and shape inside the scene, interacts with light and shadow, and takes its color from your photo instead of always being white.

For mountain, lake and forest scenes, that means morning mist that settles where mist actually would and haze over the water that looks like it was there when you pressed the shutter, not pasted on afterward. It even behaves differently for ground-level and drone perspectives. Used with a light touch, it's a great way to bring back the mood you felt standing there.

Sometimes the best photo is already hiding inside the frame. Composition now looks at the whole scene first, including the main subject, which way it's facing and what matters most, then offers several crop options based on classic composition principles. It leaves room in front of a subject's gaze and straightens the horizon automatically.

It's a great learning tool, too. Swiping through the options and seeing the rule behind each one trains your eye to find that crop in camera next time.

Type what you want, like “make it warmer” or “remove the wires,” and the Assistant makes that edit with the right tools, on top of what you've already done. It works with 22 Luminar tools, including light, color, tone, Sky AI and Erase. Ask for something creative like “cinematic” and it offers three matched preset options.

You can also ask “how does this photo look?” and it gives you feedback: what's working, up to three issues, and a first step to fix them. It also tells you what it changed and what it couldn't do. If you're newer to editing and don't know which slider does what yet, this could be a real time saver.

When a photo deserves it, you can print straight from Luminar on your own printer or order a professional lab print delivered to your door. I've always said a photo isn't really finished until it's printed, so I'm glad to see this one.

As part of this fall's releases, Skylum also launched Luminar on Web on October 15, so you can now edit right in a browser as well as on desktop and mobile.

Masking is getting an upgrade too. It's arriving in November as part of the Fall Upgrade, and Skylum says the changes are based on feedback from photographers. The new Add Mask panel brings everything together in one place: AI masks for the subject, the background and specific objects, plus brush, linear and radial gradients, and color and luminosity masks. 

Skylum is starting its Black Friday deals early this year, and it's calling this the lowest Luminar price of 2026. Here's the Fall Upgrade pricing for new customers. You can see all the plan details on Skylum's site.

Prices at the time of writing. Skylum's offers change often, so check their site for current pricing.

Already own Luminar? Upgrade pricing depends on which license you have, so log in to your Skylum account to see the upgrade options and prices available to you.

At checkout, try my coupon code mattsuess10. Sometimes it unlocks an extra discount, but whether it works depends on what promotions Skylum is running at the time. It can't hurt to try.

If you love landscape and nature photography but don't want to spend hours at the computer, this release is aimed right at you. The new tools do more of the heavy lifting while staying faithful to what you actually saw. I'll be putting the new Atmosphere and Enhance through their paces on my own images in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.