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Skylum: focus on the company’s history

Skylum is a Ukrainian company mainly known for its Luminar photo editing software. Getting to know this company a little better is useful to better understand its values and to be able to anticipate future changes to the software. So, before looking at the future evolutions of Luminar proposed by Skylum, it is necessary to go back to the sources to understand the journey of Skylum through the history of Luminar, its most successful creation. From the creation of Macphun Software to the arrival of Luminar Neo to the personalities contributing to the development of the company, focus on the history of Skylum.

Table of contents

People who made a mark on Skylum's history

Before immersing yourself in the history of Skylum, we must first get to know the actors of this story. 

Paul Muzok and Dmitry Sytnik: the co-founders

Skylum was founded by Paul Muzok and Dmitry Sytnik.

Before creating Skylum (formerly Macphun Software), Paul Muzok studied computer science at Kyiv National University of Technology and Design alongside Paul Muzok. The two men first co-founded Digital Spray Studios, which they directed from 2002 to 2008 before creating Skylum.

An international team to cater to Skylum's future prospects

The two co-founders have managed to surround themselves with an international team over the years. Ivan Kutanin, CEO of Skylum, is assisted by figures such as:

  • Dmytro Rastrihin, Chief Financial Officer;
  • Juliana Chyzhovan Chief Marketing Officer;
  • Evgen Kushnirchuk, Chief Product Officer;
  • Anton Averich, Vice President of Engineering;
  • Tetiana Hnatiuk, Human Resources.

 

All these people have skills that are essential for the development of Skylum internationally, while fully embracing the historical values of the company. 

The evolution of Skylum over the years

Skylum is a company that has evolved over the course of its history. Since the creation of Macphun Software in 2009 until today, the Ukrainian company has always wanted to improve its services to offer the best solutions for beginners and expert photographers.

Focus on Skylum's history 2

Macphun Software, the foundations of Skylum

Skylum didn’t always call itself that. When Paul Muzok and Dmitry Sytnik decided to join forces to create their company in 2009, it was initially under the name of Macphun Software that the two Ukrainian men intended to develop their solutions.

At that time, the company was not yet specialized in the field of photography. The two co-founders started out proposing different types of applications and were still looking for the direction the company would eventually take a few years later.

A passion for photography: the DNA of Skylum

Macphun Software started out as a company offering technology solutions of all kinds. A few years after its creation, the firm decided to refocus on a passion that motivated the two co-founders. That of photography. So, Paul Muzok and Dmitry Sytnik decided to combine their technical development skills with their passion. The objective was ultimately to put their expertise at the service of photography and more specifically at the service of photo processing. This is how Luminar, their photo editing software, saw the light of day in 2016.

The evolution of Luminar and the founding of Skylum

It is truly thanks to Luminar that Skylum became the company it is today. After Luminar Neptune, the first version of the photo editing software released in 2016, the Ukrainian company intended to improve its solutions and continue to evolve. In particular, it was with the first major update to Luminar in 2017 that the company underwent a real transformation. Macphun Software was no longer. The Ukrainian company changed its name to Skylum. This name change remains symbolic in the history of the company founded by Paul Muzok and Dmitry Sytnik. While Luminar was only accessible to MacOS users, the new version called Luminar 2018 was also available on Windows. New features and tools are also available to make Luminar a complete photo editing software program. Luminar is becoming more accessible and popular with people looking for an agile solution for processing their photos. The photo editing software is therefore gradually taking its place alongside the biggest names such as Adobe’s Photoshop solution.

Artificial intelligence: Skylum's most effective weapon

The success of Luminar lies in Skylum’s willingness to listen to feedback from its users to improve its services and offer improvements throughout the various versions that have emerged since 2016, but not only that. Although Skylum has specialized in photography, the company has not abandoned its technical and technological expertise. Skylum’s Luminar software stands out by relying on technology and more precisely on artificial intelligence. By adding the AI dimension to Luminar, the software has become a very powerful tool for thousands of users wanting to edit their images quickly and easily. Artificial intelligence makes it possible to automatically locate certain elements present on the image in order to isolate them and carry out customized edits in a few clicks. As of 2019 and the Luminar 4 version, the software offered innovative features such as sky replacement or structure optimization using AI. But Skylum didn’t stop there. A year later, Luminar AI was released, officially testifying to the importance of artificial intelligence in the development of Luminar. Photo processing is becoming simpler and faster thanks to AI while providing professional rendering. In this way, Luminar continues to address amateur beginners as well as photography experts.

Skylum's future prospects with Luminar Neo and its extensions

Skylum owes much of its success to its artificial intelligence-based tools. But the company does not intend to stop there.

Focus on Skylum's history 3

Luminar Neo, the renewal of Skylum

In 2021, the Ukrainian firm announced its newest version: Luminar Neo. And that name was not decided by chance. The two previous versions (Luminar 4 and Luminar AI) disappeared in favor of the new version that heralded the rebirth of the photo editing software published by Skylum. Luminar Neo brought with it all the previous features of the software. Artificial intelligence is still at the heart of Luminar’s tools, but a brand new feature has arrived: the extension.

Extensions for even more comprehensive software

Luminar Neo extensions allow Skylum to offer add-ons that make the software even more complete. Each extension can therefore bring one or more new specific tools. But that’s not all: third-party publishers can also offer their extensions. Skylum already offers some extensions such as:
  • Noiseless AI for reducing digital noise;
  • HDR merge that allows you to combine multiple images;
  • Focus Stacking is an ideal tool for photographers creating macro images.
With extensions, users can decide whether or not to install new features to benefit from custom software.

Skylum, an international company

By offering third-party publishers the possibility of also offering extensions, Skylum shows its willingness to be even more open to the world.

The Ukrainian firm now has an international team. Skylum is no longer just a Ukrainian company, but one of the most influential stakeholders in the world of photo editing. 

Over the years, Skylum has earned the trust of thousands of users, which explains its success.

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