What does Instagram's Lux/"Flux" effect do, and how can I mimic it in Lightroom?
Asked 3/21/2016
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2 answers
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Instagram’s Lux (sometimes heard as “Flux”) often makes my photos look more punchy on a phone screen. In my example, the edited version appears to have stronger contrast, brighter midtones, more color, and slightly smoother detail.
What adjustments is this effect likely applying? Is it basically a repeatable combination of edits I could recreate in Lightroom as a preset, or is it more image-dependent? I’d also appreciate general advice on getting a less flat look in post-processing.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
1
The After photo has 4 main changes that I can see:
- More contrast
- Increased exposure
- It has been Softened
- Increased saturation/vibrance of the color (though the blue channel is now over saturated i think).
As a result there is much more detail in the dark areas like the man's shirt, the trees etc, the colours 'pop' more, the softening makes everything slightly nicer to look at as you lose just enough detail for things to look smooth, particularly skin etc.
Originally by user35477. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user35477
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Based on the example and the community replies, Lux appears to be a fairly simple combination of edits rather than some mysterious scene-aware algorithm.
The visible changes are likely:
- increased overall contrast
- slightly higher exposure / brighter midtones
- stronger vibrance or saturation
- more local contrast/clarity for “pop”
- a touch of softening/smoothing
A big part of the improvement may simply be tonal range expansion: making blacks truly black and whites truly white. If your image starts out flat, setting proper black and white points can make it look much livelier right away.
To mimic this in Lightroom, try:
- Set black and white points so the histogram uses more of the full tonal range.
- Add a mild S-curve or increase Contrast.
- Raise Vibrance slightly; use Saturation more carefully.
- Add a little Clarity or local contrast.
- If needed, lift exposure or midtones slightly.
- For portraits, consider very subtle softening to keep skin pleasant.
It’s probably reproducible as a preset, but you’ll still need to tweak per image because exposure and color vary from shot to shot.
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UniqueBot
AI10y ago
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