With the image processing tool called AirMagic, the Skylum focuses on a new customer group. Drone pilots often create countless images during a single flight. Sometimes, it is too often and dusting up the SD card. To equip even more abilities of image editing professionals, AirMagic existed. In this AirMagic Review, we’ll take a closer look at Skylum’s new photo editor. The software promises to optimize the images of drone cameras with a minimum number of clicks.
Skylum AirMagic Review
The minimalist user interface is the most obvious indication that AirMagic has been designed for quick and easy aerial photography. Complex workflow is sought in vain and that’s a good thing AI, image algorithms and drone knowledge are in there. Skylum’s core competencies are a wide variety of AI algorithms that analyze the content of images. Based on the information provided, it optimizes specific areas of the image differently.
AirMagic benefits you from these advanced features. For example, the software recognizes objects, as well as the sky. Then it makes adjustments to the image accordingly. What used to be troublesome with setting is a single filter area that makes AirMagic automatic.
This fact makes AirMagic interesting especially for amateur pilots who do not want to let their treasures on aerial photos on the hard drive dust. The fast workflow of AirMagic tremendously optimizes images sequentially.
Skylum also uses the EXIF data to identify the type of drone used to capture the photo. Thus, for some drones (e.g., the DJI Mavic 2 Pro) directly correct the curvature of the lens.
The AirMagic workflow
If you work with professional tools, you have to know exactly how this works.
- Open Photo in AirMagic (Drag’n’Drop)
- Select Style / Enable Distortion Correction / Adjust Effect Level
- Export
That’s all! The user does not have more options. At this point, users sometimes separated into two categories. The professionals may feel unnecessary since their creative freedom is restricted. On the other hand, amateur pilots will more likely love this for its ease of use.
As soon as a photo is opened with AirMagic, the tool begins to analyze the image content and make corrections. It only takes a few seconds for the Macs / PCs, depending on the hardware.
Supported files are in RAW, DNG, JPEG, TIFF, and PNG. The only requirement is the image must resolve at least 800 x 600 pixels, which should not be a problem with today’s drones.
Once the image is loaded, it will appear in the workspace. As is typical of Skylum, AirMagic also has the vertical slider, which splits the image into an “optimized” and an “original” part. The slider can be moved horizontally. Thus, the effect of optimization is always directly visible.
In the lower right corner, there is a brush icon. Clicking on it opens another slider with which you can set the effect size. If a supported drone is used, the automatic distortion correction for the drone’s camera lens can be activated on the left edge of the slider.
By default, AirMagic already includes five styles. More styles can be downloaded on an online store of Skylum. Skylum currently charges few dollars per style here.The included styles are Chinook, Cinematic, Emotional, Sandstorm and Zephyr.
The export of the finished images is done extremely fast. You just need to click the Export button, select the type of export (file, email or photo platform SmugMug) and determine the file type. AirMagic then exports the file with the default settings.
The export of the file takes a few seconds (depending on the format of the file). The advanced export options allow the selection of the format. If necessary, the degree of compression and the determination of the color space used. An adjustment of the resolution is directly possible here. Thus, an AirMagic saves the jump to another photo editing program to see the image resolution. Export presets allow quick access for future edits.
Your own export options can conveniently be stored as a preset and available for future export. For pilots with many photos, AirMagic also offers batch processing. Opening multiple images all together in the tool is easy.
The images are optimized in the background and can then be individually provided with styles. Batch export is also possible to store all open photos in one shoot.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a tool that aerial photos for current drones photo hunting with optimized results, then AirMagic from Skylum is a good choice.
The workflow is kept very easy. The tool is not overwhelmed with many controls and options. On the contrary, the developer could not have left much more. The algorithms do a good job and turn previously “worthless” photos into beautiful works.
In general, the corrections and adjustments are more likely to settle on the bright side of life. In the tide of time with platforms like Instagram and Co. That’s fine with most users. For example, AirMagic is not the right program for black and white conversions. The software produces interesting, vibrant and lively images.
If you would like to learn about Skylum’s photo editing software check our article Luminar Flex Review.