• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Organizing
  • Editing
  • Explainers
  • Photo-editing A-Z
  • About

Life after Photoshop

  • Lightroom Classic
  • Capture One
  • Nik Collection
    • Analog Efex
    • Color Efex
    • Silver Efex
    • HDR Efex
    • Viveza
    • Sharpener
    • Dfine
    • Perspective Efex (retired)
  • DxO PureRAW
  • ON1 Photo RAW
  • Exposure X

How to carry out Single Image Edits in Luminar 4

June 22, 2020 by Rod Lawton

Luminar has evolved from a regular image-editor into an all-in-one photo cataloguing, browsing and editing program. In the old days, you opened an image, edited it, then saved it as a new file in the Luminar format (to keep your adjustments intact) and/or exported it as processed JPEG or TIFF image.

  • Luminar Neo review
  • Luminar AI review
  • Luminar 4.3 review
  • More Luminar articles
  • How to get/download Luminar
  • Luminar tips

With the new integrated image library, however, you import whole folders and then choose images to edit within the library window.

So does that mean you can no longer open and edit single images in Luminar? Do you really have to import a whole folder just to work on a single image?

In fact you can still edit single images in Luminar. It doesn’t quite work in the old way, with separate Luminar image files, but the outcome is much the same and you don’t have to import a hundred images in a folder just to edit the one you want.

Here’s how it works.

How carry out Single Image Edits in Luminar 4

How to open and edit one image at a time

  1. Click the ‘+’ button

    You will find this in the top left corner of the Luminar Library window. Normally you import whole folders into Luminar, but this time use the Edit Single Image option.

  2. Locate the image on your computer

    It doesn’t have to be in any specific location. Luminar will simply work with the picture wherever it is.

  3. Make your adjustments

    Now you edit the photo just as you normally would in Luminar. Here, I’ve applied a Look and used the Details Enhancer filter. (Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash)

  4. The Single Image Edits shortcut

    So how do your find your photo again when you finish editing and you’re back in the Library? Look for the Single Image Edits shortcut in the top section of the Library panel. This will show all the single images you’ve added and edited in this way, including the last one you worked on.

  5. So where is the image?

    It’s still in its original location on your computer. You can check this at any time by right-clicking an image and selecting ‘Show in Finder’ (Mac OS).

  6. Moving single images

    If you want to move the edited image to a new location in one of your imported folders, that’s easy. All you have to do is drag its thumbnail from the main window and into one of the folders in your library. Be very clear, though, that you are moving the photo to a different location on your computer.

Important: Where your edits are stored

There is a key difference between Single Image Edits in Luminar 4 and the custom Luminar file format used in Luminar 2018 and earlier. In Luminar 4 you are not creating a new image file with your adjustments saved into it. The original photo is not modified in any way, and the adjustments you make are stored in your Luminar catalog, not within the file itself. If you open the file outside of Luminar, it will look completely unaltered. If you want to created a permanent JPEG or TIFF version of the edited photo, you must export it from within Luminar.

Related

Filed Under: TutorialsTagged With: Luminar

Rod Lawton has been a photography journalist for nearly 40 years, starting out in film but then migrating to digital. He has worked as a freelance journalist, technique editor (N-Photo), channel editor (TechRadar) and Group Reviews Editor on Digital Camera World. He is now working as an independent photography journalist. Life after Photoshop is a personal project started in 2013.

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to this site

Enter your email address to subscribe to Life after Photoshop and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Adobe Lightroom: what is it, where do you get it, what does it cost in 2025?

Adobe Lightroom is not one program but three. You could … [Read More...] about Adobe Lightroom: what is it, where do you get it, what does it cost in 2025?

The best photo editing software for organizing, editing, RAW and effects

Choosing the best image editing software used to be easy. … [Read More...] about The best photo editing software for organizing, editing, RAW and effects

Layers explained

Layers explained: what they do and how to use them

Layers are a central part of many photo editing processes, … [Read More...] about Layers explained: what they do and how to use them

BAN adjustments… Basic And Necessary image corrections to do first

Photo editing software does two quite different jobs. It can … [Read More...] about BAN adjustments… Basic And Necessary image corrections to do first

More Posts from this Category

Mission statement

Life after Photoshop is not anti-Photoshop or anti-subscriptions. It exists to showcase the many Photoshop alternatives that do more, go further, or offer more creative inspiration to photographers.

Affiliate links

Life after Photoshop is funded by affiliate links and may be paid a commission for downloads. This does not affect the price you pay, the ratings in reviews or the software selected for review.

Contact

Email lifeafterphotoshop@gmail.com

Copyright © 2025 Life after Photoshop · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OK