In this Photolemur review, we combine the latest AI technology with film photography from the 1950s in New Zealand shot on Kodachrome. Just one click and your image is ready for you!
The way we edit photos is changing, and Photolemur is at the forefront of these exciting new changes. Using the latest AI technology and super-smart algorithms, this photo editing software takes care of the editing process for you. No longer do you need to fiddle around, making manual adjustments. Just one click and your image is ready for you!
We couldn’t want to take a close look at this program and see whether it would meet our expectations. So here in our detailed review, we put Photolemur through its paces. We were excited to discover what this software has to offer and who its ideal users are. Want to find out if this automatic photo software is worth it for you? Then read on!
All of the photos used throughout this article were shot in the 1950s in New Zealand on Kodachrome. They were scanned and edited in Photolemur.
Contents
ToggleWhat is Photolemur?
Photolemur is an automatic photo editing computer software that will significantly improve your post-processing system. It aims to completely remove the user from the editing process by running your images through an incredible automated algorithm. Just seconds later, the program will have analysed all your photos, identified any issues within them, and fixed them – all with the click of a button!
You can see our picks of the Best Computer for Photo Editing here.
First released in 2016, this photo editing software is currently on its third version. It rapidly grew in popularity in the first couple of years, and in 2018, the brand was acquired by Skylum [1] (see their Luminar AI Review and Aurora HDR review here). Skylum has shown an increasing interest in cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence technologies, incorporating them within their own products. In fact, the AI filters within Luminar are one of its major selling points.
It’s no mystery to see why Skylum was interested in Photolemur, then. There’s a lot of potential for an app that allows anyone to create incredible, polished images without any prior knowledge or experience. In fact, Photolemur actually takes the controls out of your hand. There’s no option to override the machine learning algorithm and add your own manual edits.
Photolemur is a powerful program, with exciting features like unlimited batch processing, face enhancement for portraits, and a streamlined user experience. And you get all this just for a one-time, affordable payment of $35 for one license, or invest in a family license for $55. It’s compatible with Windows and Mac, but there’s no mobile option yet.
How Does Photolemur Work?
Using Photolemur is very simple and straightforward. First, you need to install it and open up the program. Then, you can select the image or images that you want to edit or drag and drop them into the window. A message saying ‘Processing images’ should pop up, but it doesn’t take long to import your photos.
During this time, the app will run your photos through its unique algorithm. Not only will it be able to tell the kind of image you have shot, but it will pick out all the problems and apply edits to fix them. Seconds later, you’ll be presented with an improved image!
You can instantly see the difference between your original image and the final result with a cool, vertical slider. Move this back and forth across the photo to see the effects.
If you want to increase or decrease the enhancement level, use the Brush icon. You’ll see another simple slider that allows you to increase the vividness of the image or make it look more realistic and natural. The other options available to you are to crop (free-hand or using a ratio), rotate, or zoom in and out of your image.
And it’s as simple as that! There are no other settings to think about or tutorials to watch to master this minimalist but powerful program. You can upload your images directly to social media or SmugMug, as well as exporting to your computer or sending by email.
Photolemur’s Features and Benefits
Although Photolemur has a very streamlined interface, it also has powerful automatic features. Here’s the lowdown on everything that Photolemur has to offer, from noise reduction to colour, light, and exposure retouching.
Advanced AI Technology
Only the most up-to-date, powerful AI technology powers Photolemur. It’s based on the concept of machine learning, so as more and more photos are uploaded into the software application, it gets better and better at identifying problems with exposure, lighting, and more. It’s incredible to see what an effect this AI algorithm has when retouching your photos. The result is high-quality images that look impressive but natural.
Simple Interface
One of the massive advantages of using Photolemur is how simple and streamlined it is. In fact, there are very few buttons or icons for you to click on at all. Essentially, Photolemur does all the work for you. We all know how important it is to edit your photos, so they made it easy [2]!
You just need to load your photos in and let the algorithm take care of the editing. It’s possible to select the extent of enhancement you would like for each image using a handy slider, plus you can turn on or off specific tools such as the Eye Enlarger or the Auto Lens Correction. Otherwise, this minimalist app is very easy and quick to use.
Batch Processing
In the latest edition of this app, Photolemur 3, Skylum introduced a new and exciting feature: Cloud-based batch processing, with no limit on the number of photos you can process at any one time!
This update has been very popular in recent Photolemur reviews, particularly among those who take a lot of 90mm photos. It’s never before been easier to edit them all, and with the power of cloud servers, there’s hardly any waiting time.
RAW Photos Processing
The fact that Photolemur can process your RAW files is one of the reasons it’s so popular. Not every photo editing software can handle processing RAW images, but Photolemur can. Import and export are super speedy, and you can batch process an unlimited number at one time.
Photolemur offers you a way to improve and enhance your RAW photos a lot quicker than if you were to edit them manually. Even a professional photographer doesn’t have time to edit every single image they capture, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great shot. That means that your photos aren’t sitting around on your computer, doing nothing. You can use them, print them, upload them to social media, and more.
Colour Recovery
Using top-of-the-range technology, Photolemur will make your colours like bright but realistic. We all know that sometimes, our photos don’t come out quite how we imagined they would. The colours seem off or underexposed. But when you use the Photolemur, your images will be vivid, without seeming over-exaggerated or unnatural.
The fun before/after slider demonstrates the significant improvements to your image. This slider is a feature we love! It’s amazing to see what a difference this app can make to your shots, with no input whatsoever from users.
Exposure Compensation
There’s nothing worse than a beautifully composed photo that had the wrong exposure settings. That’s why Photolemur has settings that allow it to automatically compensate for this situation, correcting images so that they have the perfect exposure.
Face Enhancer & Eye Enlarger
If you like to take portrait photos, you’ll be a big fan of this. Using their clever Face Enhancer, you can remove all irregularities and blemishes from your portraits. It’s possible to smooth out skin tones, enhance the facial details, and retouch images to remove imperfections. And this isn’t just limited to close-up portrait photos; you can use it on any image featuring people’s faces (even selfies!).
Try out the Eye Enlarger, too. It highlights the eyes, making them look bigger. This tool creates a unique look that won’t appeal to everyone, but it does it in a very natural, convincing way.
Auto Lens Correction
The lens on your camera doesn’t always capture images in the same way that we see the world with our eyes. For this reason, Photolemur has in-built editing tools that will fix any lens distortion issues such as chromatic aberration and vignetting. They will compensate for any distortion by your lens or camera, resulting in excellent photos that look natural to the human eye.
Photoshop & Lightroom Plugin
You can use the Photolemur as a standalone app, but it’s also possible to add it as an Adobe Lightroom plugin. This way, you get full access to the wide range of advanced tools and functions within the well-known Adobe apps. But you can still harness Photolemur’s powerful Artificial Intelligence with just the click of a button.
Photolemur Styles
Photolemur’s Styles are another popular filter. These are one-click filters, similar to what Instagram offers, allowing you to change the aesthetic of your image. For example, you can use the Mono filter to create stunning black and white portraits that look great.
There’s a range of Styles available in Photolemur, including Spirited, Noble, Apollo, and Fall. You can also buy more from the Photolemur site if you’re after a specific effect.
Fewer Manual Controls
This may be a drawback to some photographers: Photolemur does not give you any options to edit your photos manually. The only control you have is to set the level of enhancement on the slider running from ‘Realistic’ to ‘Vivid’.
If you’re looking for an app that will allow you to get deep into editing your own photos, this isn’t it. It is slightly annoying that you can’t even make small adjustments, but that’s just part of Photolemur’s USP: Simple, automatic photo enhancement that anyone can access.
Unlimited Free Trial
If you want to try out Photolemur before you splash your cash, you can! There’s an unlimited free trial, so you can play around and test out the app’s potential. Just be aware that any of your images will (understandably) have a watermark. You’ll need to invest in the paid version to use the software application properly.
Affordable Cost
Photolemur is one of the cheapest photo editor apps around, coming in at just $35 for a single license. You can also select the family license option, which will allow you to use Photolemur across up to 5 different devices.
If you already own an earlier version of Photolemur, you can get the most up-to-date features and tools by upgrading to the new version Photolemur 3 for a one-time price of $15. You’ll also find several different ‘Styles’ bundles on sale on the Photolemur website for $12 each. These are the Instagram-like filters you can use to create a specific look to your images.
You’ll need to decide for yourself whether it’s worth the investment. Think of all those unedited RAW files going to waste on your computer because you don’t have time to edit each shot. It’s speedy and effortless to run them through Photolemur, with impressive results!
However, if you prefer to use a different photo editor with an Auto button, you might decide that Photolemur’s not for you.
30 Day Money Back Guarantee
If you’re still wondering whether Photolemur is worth you getting out your credit card, you’ll be pleased to hear that there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee. We all hate spending money when we’re not convinced we’ll get our money’s worth from a product. If you’re not 100% impressed with the software after trying it out, you can get a full refund
This is a handy tool, because it allows you to try out the software for yourself and see how much use you’ll get out of it. Disappointed with the performance? Or maybe you just decide that it doesn’t improve your workflow? Then you can get all your money back – no questions asked!
Who is Photolemur Best For?
The Photolemur app is suitable for a range of users, depending on their needs, ability, and time constraints. For example, beginner photographers will benefit from using Photolemur to create eye-catching, appealing photos. It takes a lot of time and effort to hone your editing skills, so if you don’t have the time (or patience), Photolemur could be the solution.
However, that’s not to say that professionals shouldn’t consider investing in Photolemur. If you take a vast number of shots every single day, there’s no way you can have time to edit every single image that has potential. But you can use Photolemur to cut corners and do it for you – with impressive results.
You can also use Photolemur as one element within your post-processing workflow in Lightroom or Photoshop. This way, it’s possible to make your photos really pop without messing around too much with manual controls, layers, and blending masks.
If you’re having trouble masking out these areas exactly Topaz makes an advanced masking software called Topaz Mask AI (see our review here). It is one of the best photo masking software options out there for masking hair and more complex situations.
Landscape photographers, in particular, can benefit from Photolemur’s incredible Sky Enhancement and Foliage Enhancer. These features make a real, impactful difference to your photos at just the click of a button.
Pros & Cons:
If you don’t have time to read the entire review and need a quick summary of what Photolemur has to offer, here’s what you need to know. We’ve boiled down all the available info into these handy bites of information about Photolemur’s pros and cons:
Pros
- Very easy to use
- Affordable one-time cost
- Super-quick edits
- Beautiful, HDR-like effects
- Ideal for beginners
- Excellent Sky and Foliage Enhancer
Cons
- Too restrictive for some experienced photographers
- Doesn't replace a full photo editor
- You can lose some detail from your photos
- Face enhancement can appear over-exaggerated
Final Words
So there you have our in-depth review of this unique photo editing software. Photolemur isn’t like any other software on the market right now, and it won’t be the right choice for everyone. But both beginners and professionals can benefit from using the Photolemur app.
Photolemur is the ideal program for any beginner or hobbyist photographer who doesn’t have the time or the skills to laboriously edit their photos. But it’s not just limited to newbie photographers. Pros also stand to benefit by using Photolemur as one step in their editing process. Whether you use it for the first step or at the end to really make your image pop, Photolemur can make a valuable addition to any photographer.
Extremely affordable and with a user-friendly, super-simple interface, Photolemur is a great little software app for photographers. We take so many images these days that no one has time to process every image they take. That’s where Photolemur comes in, and why it’s so useful. You can get more out of your images using Photolemur to enhance your photos.
If you found this review helpful, don’t forget to give it a share on Twitter or Facebook! Next, go check out some more of our photography reviews and guides at Cultured Kiwi.
We also recommend Capture One as a photo editor. See our full Capture One review here for more info.
References
[1] https://skylum.com/about
[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/editing-your-travel-photos-can-make-all-the-difference–heres-how-to-do-it/2018/11/29/8e49d844-ec20-11e8-baac-2a674e91502b_story.html