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wif
wif
Participating Frequently
March 17, 2015
Answered

How to invert pictures in Lightroom ?

  • March 17, 2015
  • 2 replies
  • 99656 views

How can I invert pictures in Lightroom ? If I have a black&white negative scanned and imported to LR, there is no possibility to invert this to a "positive". This is possible in Photoshop, why not in LR ?

WIF

      Correct answer john beardsworth

      Because Lightroom is designed for a digital workflow.

      To invert pictures, use the Tone Curve and drag its bottom left point to the top left, its top right point to the bottom right.

      2 replies

      M
      markalanthomas
      Participating Frequently
      October 12, 2015

      I’ve thought for years that this would be a useful feature, arrogant forum spooks be damned.

        Keith Reeder
        Keith Reeder
        Participating Frequently
        October 12, 2015

        So including you, that's - what? - half a dozen?

        There's nothing remotely arrogant about pointing out that a given "enhancement" is likely to be of minimal, niche interest to most Lr users. Call it managing expectations.

        It's also pretty intantile to try and characterise the opposing view as "agrrogant", too - do you always go into petulant name-calling mode if someone doesn't share your opinion?


        Self-evidently the need for a "Negative" button is niche; or after all these years, we'd have heard a lot more about it, from a lot more people - wouldn't we?

        Todd Shaner
        Todd Shaner
        Legend
        October 12, 2015

        Keith_Reeder wrote:

        Self-evidently the need for a "Negative" button is niche; or after all these years, we'd have heard a lot more about it, from a lot more people - wouldn't we?

        As explained already by john beardsworth there is no need for a "button" to invert the image data. Set the Tone Curve as explained at the below link and then save it as a Develop preset with just Tone Curve selected.

        How to invert colors in Lightroom ~ phototips.biz

        I do scannerless capture using a DSLR camera and use PS for initial processing with LR for final Toning and cataloging. The DSLR raw image file is NOT compatible with most dedicated scanner software due to differences in the scanner and DSLR profiles. While it is possible to process DSLR B&W negative and Color slide images using only LR the same is not true for color negatives. This is due to the "complexity" in removing the orange mask and correcting the individual RGB channel gamma, which is "unique" to each film type and emulsion batch variation.

        Mark Segal and I did an extensive study on how to process DSLR B&W negatives, Color negatives and slides using two different workflows.

        https://luminous-landscape.com/scannerless-digital-capture-and-processing-of-negative-film-photographs/

        PDF with full details here:

        https://luminous-landscape.com/articleImages/CameraScanning.pdf

        Here's a full-size image of a 35mm Fuji Super G100 color negative (circa 1999) captured with a Canon 5D MKII and processed with PS and LR as detailed in the above article.

        Dropbox - IMG_6426_Fuji Super G100_PS Workflow Example-DSLR Film Copier.jpg

        john beardsworth
        Community Expert
        john beardsworthCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
        Community Expert
        March 17, 2015

        Because Lightroom is designed for a digital workflow.

        To invert pictures, use the Tone Curve and drag its bottom left point to the top left, its top right point to the bottom right.

          ThomasKaaeColding
          ThomasKaaeColding
          Participating Frequently
          October 9, 2015

          I love working with LR for my digital - but when I want to edit my film camera rolls... I have to go to another program like PS just to invert and save as tiff and THEN import in LR for editing.... expanding the work flow and multiplying the file count (raw AND tiff)

          I simply don't get why Adobe don't add an "invert negative" tick ...that inverts the photo but keeps the rest of the develop sliders as they were supposed to. This would enable me to keep the pipeline in LR.

          Is there anywhere I can put in a wish or something for the developers... I have many photographer friends that would love to have this option.

          Cheers

            johnrellis
            johnrellis
            Legend
            October 14, 2015

            johnrellis wrote:

            The workflow downsides of export/reimport are modest: a little extra time (amortized when working on a batch), a little extra disk space while you're working on the photo.

            If you change the TIFF in PS to Grayscale mode the file size will be 1/3 and closer to the raw file. Unfortunately there's no way to do this from inside LR.

            johnrellis wrote:

            With respect to scans of B&W negatives, is there a practical impact on how LR Develop responds with 16-bit TIFFs compared to raw?  Impacts on image quality?

            B&W (and Color) negatives have a pretty low dynamic range compared to normal camera images. As long as the image is properly exposed and shot at a low-noise ISO (100) then exporting with LR's default settings works well. Adjusting the Exposure slider in LR to eliminate highlight or shadow clipping by centering the histogram is helpful.


            As long as the image is properly exposed and shot at a low-noise ISO (100) then exporting with LR's default settings works well.

            What would happen to a DSLR scan of a B&W ISO 400 negative improperly exposed, exported as a 16-bit TIFF?  Would there be any practical loss of quality in the TIFF as compared to the raw?

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