Lumenzia Support

If you're just looking for information on the latest updates, please see the following resources:

New feature demos: v10 v9 v8 v7 v6 v5 v4 v3 v2
Release notes (and download link if needed - these can both be found in the flyout at top-right of the v10+ panel)
Written manual You are highly encouraged to check out the written manual as it has an organized table of contents, additional information, and links to the videos with each section (available by clicking the flyout at top-right of the v10+ panel, or in the ZIP download).

Comprehensive courses:

I highly recommend watching the "Quick Start" video below first (as as the demos for v3 and v4, which show some newer features not in the Quick Start video). After that, you can click through the various support topics to learn more about specific features.

If you're new to luminosity masking, I recommend starting small and building from there. See written manual section titled "A note for beginners..." for a suggested learning plan. Trying to skip straight to exposure blending is likely to create confusion, and you may miss out on many of the other great things luminosity masks can do for your images.

There are several recommended settings to optimize Photoshop for luminosity masking. Go to Utilities / Optimize (via menu at top-right of Lumenzia in Photoshop CC, or <ctrl/cmd>-click the "Tutorials" button if you have Lumenzia for CS6). This will automatically check for and recommend the following settings as needed:

The Gray working space should be set to Gray Gamma 2.2. This allows a modest improvement in the quality of luminosity masks, as layer masks are grayscale. This choice has no other effect on your RGB working space or image.
Uncheck: Preferences / Tools / Double Click Launches Select and Mask Workspace (only applies to the latest versions of CC). With this option unchecked, you can double-click layer masks to open their properties and adjust the feathering, as shown in the Lumenzia tutorial videos.
Preferences / Performance should have >70% RAM to allow Photshop to operate efficiently.
Preferences / Performance should have hundreds of history states. >300 is ideal, as you will create lots of history states while brushing on masks for exposure blending or dodging and burning.

Many Lumenzia buttons offer extra options by holding a modifier key (such as <alt/option>) while clicking the key. You can see what these options are by simply hovering over a button to see the “tooltips”, or by consulting the written materials included in te download ZIP file.

Additionally, there are many keyboard shortcuts for Photoshop that you may find handy while working with Lumenzia. Here’s a quick list of many helpful shortcuts:

Working with Masks:

<alt/option>-click a layer mask to view it. This is a helpful way to paint on a mask to refine it.<alt/option>
Drag-and-drop a mask to move it to another layer:
<alt/option>-drag-and-drop a mask to copy it to another layer
<shift>-click layer mask to disable/enable it. This is a great way to see hidden parts of the layer or a get a sense of what something would look like if you paint with more white on the mask.
To delete a layer mask (without deleting the layer), click the mask and then click the trashcan icon

Working with Selections:

To create a masked adjustment layer that isn’t part of Lumenzia (such as a Color Balance layer), just click the “Sel” button to load the mask as a selection, and then use Photoshops normal button to create a Color Balance layer. The selection will automatically be turned into a mask on the new layer. Alternatively, use the “remask” button to load a mask preview onto an existing layer.
<ctrl/cmd> <h> to hide/show marching ants
<ctrl/cmd> <d> to deselect (get rid of selection)
<ctrl/cmd>-click a mask or channel to load it as a new selection

Dodging and Burning on gray/transparent pixel layers:

<b> to enable the paintbrush. Paint with white to lighten, black to darken. You can also paint with color to enhance or shift colors (set the lightness value to 50% if you want to change color without lightening or darkening).
<d> to load the default black and white paint, <d> then <x> to switch which is the foreground color for painting
<e> to enable the eraser and removing dodging and burning.

Other common shortcuts:

<shift>-<alt/option>-<ctrl/cmd> <E> to “stamp visible” or create a new layer that is a merged copy of all the existing layers. (Lumenzia Basics includes a button for this).
<space> to temporarily use the hand tool to move around the image. This is very useful when working on a zoomed-in portion of the image.

If Lumenzia seems to run more slowly than your demo videos:

One additional step you can take to speed up Lumenzia is to close or hide the histogram and properties panels. Properties is what displays curves, BW mix, etc. If either of these are open, Photoshop will slow down as it tries to update this display while running Lumenzia’s scripts. I like to leave properties docked as an icon (that keeps it out of the way, but easily accessible).
Lumenzia’s speed is primarily determined by your computer hardware and Photoshop settings. Please see this article on optimizing Photoshop.