Photo Live Issue 3
This issue features brilliant Street, Travel and Artistic photos plus Going Pro - how difficult is it?
This issue features brilliant Street, Travel and Artistic photos plus Going Pro - how difficult is it?
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SOFTWARE<br />
This issue we decided to look at some great tools available for<br />
photographers. Things we'd use in our photography. Skylum<br />
have been producing great software including Luminar and so<br />
we talked to the CEO of Skylum, Alex Tsepko<br />
Q: Firstly can you tell us how it all<br />
began.<br />
We started in late 2009 as Macphun<br />
- a company who built iPhone and<br />
Mac apps. We had 5 people and did<br />
everything ourselves. Our strategy<br />
was to launch as many apps as<br />
possible and get organic sales. Back<br />
then we didn’t think about anything<br />
big - we were simply experimenting<br />
with what we can achieve doing<br />
what we like. We grew and became<br />
smarter.<br />
Back in 2012 we have decided to<br />
focus on photography software and<br />
launched a number of products that<br />
became Apple’s Best of the Mac<br />
App Store for 5 straight years in a<br />
row. These products are: Snapheal,<br />
Intensify, Tonality and others. We<br />
have been getting a lot of positive<br />
feedback from the Mac users, and<br />
that motivated us to try even harder<br />
and to challenge ourselves to come<br />
with something bigger and better<br />
every year.<br />
So in 2015 we partnered with Trey<br />
Ratcliff to launch Aurora HDR that is<br />
currently the best-selling HDR photo<br />
editor for Mac and PC. It has topped<br />
over 2 000 000 downloads since that<br />
time. Aurora HDR success moved<br />
us to focus more on proprietary<br />
technologies, AI and so we started<br />
to invest more into research and<br />
development.<br />
We also decided that we want to<br />
challenge ourselves even more<br />
and bring the world the first real<br />
alternative to Adobe. Not just<br />
a cheaper clone of <strong>Photo</strong>shop<br />
or Lightroom, but a more<br />
innovative solution that will make<br />
photographers’ lives easier. That’s<br />
how the idea of Luminar was born.<br />
After 6 months of Luminar being<br />
on the market we decided to take it<br />
even further and hired more teams<br />
in US, Germany and Asia to help us<br />
achieve what we want. Right now<br />
Luminar is live with version 2. It’s only<br />
1.5 years old, and we are just getting<br />
started.<br />
Q: It must be tough to compete<br />
with some of the big names, yet<br />
you’ve been very successful,<br />
what’s your secret?<br />
The only photography software<br />
company that we are inspired with<br />
and that we compete with is Adobe.<br />
It is a real market leader, the most<br />
innovative company in the industry<br />
with great products. We have been<br />
quite successful among the early<br />
adopters, but we have a long way to<br />
go to really compete with Adobe.<br />
We are now focused on building<br />
the world’s best product packed<br />
with innovative features and a<br />
unique user experience. As I have<br />
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