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How Far Should You Edit Wildlife Photos? (Luminar Neo Tutorial)

Chiara Talia - Wildlife Photography

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How to edit wildlife photos naturally AND creatively using Luminar Neo.
One of the biggest questions I get from wildlife photographers is: how far should I take my edits? Many photographers hold back from creative editing because they're afraid of overdoing it. But creative and overdone are not the same thing — and you can overdo a natural edit just as easily as a creative one.
In this video, I take the same bird photo and edit it three different ways along the natural-to-creative wildlife photography editing spectrum: a basic natural edit, an "enhanced" intermediate edit using AI-powered tools, and a fully creative artistic edit. I show you exactly where the editing decisions change, which tools I use for each level, and how to push your edit further without crossing into overdone territory.

I'm using Luminar Neo for this - a one-time purchase editing software with both traditional and AI-powered creative tools. At the end I also share my honest thoughts on where Luminar Neo fits (and doesn't fit) in a wildlife photography workflow.

👉 Try Luminar Neo: https://skylum.evyy.net/chiaratalia
🎁 10% off with code CHIARA10

📸 TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
01:16 Natural edit - basic adjustments
03:42 Enhanced edit - AI tools, masking, colors
06:49 Creative edit - Light Depth, color grading, fine art direction
11:23 My take on Luminar Neo
13:14 Where do YOU land on the spectrum?

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📷 ABOUT ME:
I'm Chiara, a wildlife photographer and educator who helps photographers take impactful photos through an anti-gear, anti-perfectionism approach. I went from struggling to find time while working full-time to becoming a professional wildlife photographer—and I share everything I learn along the way.

#LuminarNeo #Skylum #LuminarMobile
#birdphotography #wildlifephotography #birdphotographytips #wildlifephotographer #birdphotographytutorial #

11 Comments

@chiaratalia_wild Creator 5 months ago Pinned

What’s your editing choice? Natural, enhanced or creative? Let me know in the comments!

And if you decide to purchase Luminar remember to use the code CHIARA10 to get 10% off 🤩

@carlo-x1c1h 5 months ago (edited)

Very informative video, thanks a lot! I like more a natural edit

@Victoria.video.marketer 3 months ago

wow I had no idea of denoise tools for photos, that was useful

@zozoa1 5 months ago

Excellent. You have a new sub

@EdwardHart-g8s2j 5 months ago

Hi Chiara, thank you for this video, it is very helpful! I think I lean toward more of a natural style of editing for sure. Looking forward to your light class!

@chathuradsilva 5 months ago

That Macbook looks so huge for some reason
😃

@AlexanderPatrakov 5 months ago (edited)

Thanks for the video. From a pedagogical point of view, using new and unfamiliar software in a magic AI-driven way did wonders to get the focus on the resulting look and the real visual difference between the styles. A big plus for making the definition of what, for you, counts as "natural", "enhanced", and "creative" clear.

Regarding your question. I don't yet have a well-defined editing choice (that's why I joined your Wildlife Light Lab), but the training that I received previously puts the stuff you did in the "enhanced" part into the class of basics required to make the image more easily readable. Yet, there is a long distance between the "enhanced" and "creative" modes, which needs words to describe, but I don't yet have these words. I am somewhere in between, much closer to the "enhanced" side - but that’s mainly coming from my prior training, rather than a clear and deliberate stylistic choice yet.

My previous teacher, Simon d’Entremont, in his Wildlife Photo Processing course, devotes about half of the lessons to edits that would fall into the “creative” bucket in this video’s framework. Many of those edits were presented there as corrective, though, which is part of why my assumed baseline has shifted. So I’m biased toward seeing some “creative” edits as normal problem-solving, even if I don’t yet have the vision required to use that space confidently.

@technor007 5 months ago

I think the style of editing really depends on the shot as much as preference. The example of the puffin shot you shared in the video is fit for natural, but there could be many others with distracting elements in the image that need a creative style. The key emphasis of any image IMHO is focus on the subject whereever possible some background of the habitat or setting. I don't think we can just do with one style - that would be very rigid and maybe fit for a hide style photography.

@goodygoodygood9880 4 months ago

Merci Chiara pour la vidéo très intéressante. Pour répondre à la question, je pense que la photographie est un art qui doit s’exprimer avec la tête mais aussi avec le coeur. Pour ma part quand je développe une photo avec un logiciel de retouche je recherche toujours qu’elle m’apporte une émotion ou bien qu’elle me raconte une histoire. Parfois je préfère le côté entièrement naturel mais souvent les photos animalières sont prises dans des mauvaises conditions et c’est là qu’il est très important de pouvoir jouer avec la lumière, avec les couleurs, comme pour un tableau.

@garyloader1416 5 months ago

I used to be a very strict natural editor. Nowadays, though I very much try to lean towards more creative editing and photography. I print, glaze, and make my own frames for my shots, and I find a more arty sort of feel photo hangs better on the wall. That's my opinion anyway.