Editing a Single Image

The Edit Single Image command makes it easy to work with individual photos in Luminar. It is also useful for images that don’t exist in your Luminar library. This is similar to using previous versions of the Luminar standalone application.

When to Use the Edit Single Image Command

When you want to edit a single image or several images, but not Add or Import them into your library, you can use the Edit Single Image function in Luminar. This is great in situations where someone wants you to develop a few of their photos or even when you have a photo you want to quickly process, but not have it remain in your Luminar Library after you are done editing it.

When you open an image with Edit Single Image, it remains in its original location on your hard drive. It is put into a special collection in your Library Panel under Shortcuts called Single Image Edits. (The Single Image Edits shortcut will not appear unless you have added a least one photo using the Edit Single Image command.)

1. You can open a photo using one of four ways.
   • Click the Open Button Menu (+) to choose Edit Single Image
   • File > Edit Single Image
   • Press Cmd+O (MacOS) or Ctrl+O (Windows)
   • Drag an image onto the application icon
2. A system dialog box appears. Navigate to where the image(s) you want to edit is located.
   
   
3. Select the image you want to edit. (You can select multiple photos using modifier keys like Shift or Cmd/Ctrl.
4. Click Open. The images appear on the Filmstrip sidebar. If multiple images are selected the first image selected will be opened in the main window ready to edit.
   
   
5. To select another image to edit you can scroll through the Filmstrip on the left or switch back to the Gallery View (The G key will also switch your layout to the Gallery Images Mode.)
6. Select the image you want to process and develop and export it as you would any other image in your Library. Remember to File > Export to save your edited image for use in other applications.
   
   

Note
The File menu and shortcuts may be grayed out until you’ve opened your first image. Be sure to use the + menu to add an image.

Managing Images in the Single Image Edits Collection

Images will stay in your Single Image Edits shortcut collection until you remove them. This is a collection that builds automatically You can use the Showing and Sort By menus at the top of the window to reduce the number of images shown or change their display order.

1. To remove an image from the Single Image Edits collection, right-click on the image.
2. Then select Remove from Single Image Edits from the dropdown list.
   
   
3. This removes the images from your library but keeps them safely in their original location.

Note
You must have the Single Image Edits shortcut selected to manage your Single Image Edits collection.

Tip
Images in the Single Image Edits shortcut area can be treated like any other image in your Library. They can be Tagged, Rated, and labeled as well as added to albums.

If you decide you want to keep a Single Image Edits photo in your Library, you can simply drag it onto any of the folders in the Library Sidebar. The original photo will be moved on your hard drive into the corresponding folder in your Library. Even though the image is now part of your regular library, it will still show up under the Edit Single Image shortcut until you remove it.

Note
There is no need to set the PPI (pixels per inch) or DPI (dots per inch) when opening the file. Luminar always reads the full resolution of your source image. If desired, you can set this when exporting your image.