Luminance Range compatibility issue when updating the tool to its newer version (LR Classic 11.0)

[Charis Pavlou]

The issue is the following:

After upgrading Lightroom Classic to version 11.0 where the new masking features have been introduced, and you try editing an existing local adjustment (Brush or Gradient filter) that had a Luminance Range added to it, LR asks you to update the Luminance Range Tool to its new version.

After updating the tool, the adjustment changes dramatically and it looks nothing like it used to (it affects different areas compared to your original one). This means that you have to reconfigure your entire adjustment from scratch (Luminance Range wise). 

Personally, i have hundreds of images that i used the Luminance Range feature on and whenever I would like to adjust my previous edits (which happens very often) this means that i would have to:

1. Figure out which ones have a Luminance Range edit applied to them and update the tool manually, since the new version doesn't recognize the previous adjustments automatically (as i would expect it to do) and 

2. I would have to re-adjust every single edit from the begining which translates into a significant amount of time and effort to do so. 

Let me say that i love the new masking features and i was very happy to see them introduced to the new version. That should not mean, however, that major compatibility issues should occur from one version to another. Updating the tool manually i can live with but re adjusting my edits from scratch is something that, in my personal opinion, shouldn't have to do.

I certainly hope this is a bug that can be addressed on the next release.

You can find screenshots attached with the overlay turned on, illustrating the issue clearly.

Appreciate your time and support.

Charis Pavlou

[dj_paige]

I certainly hope this is a bug that can be addressed on the next release.

Not a bug, the software is performing as it is supposed to perform. However, many people are making similar comments to yours, that they want backwards compatibility. Please go to the "Ideas" section of the Lightroom Classic forum, and find posts that talk about this issue, and vote for it. Adobe staff read everything in the "Ideas" section, but discussing it further here in the "Discussions" part of the forum will not get anything changed as Adobe doesn't read most of what is in here.

[Charis Pavlou]

Appreciate the prompt response.

Since i cannot seem to find a similar topic under Ideas, i will post it again there.

Many thanks,

Charis

[dj_paige]

Good luck, and best wishes.

[Ian Lyons]

My understanding is that the Luminance Range is working as intended. However, the messaging (i.e. the Update button) is misleading. That is, you can ignore it if you don't intend to make any further changes to the old mask/settings. This is actually the recommendation of the team who developed the new mask feature, but has not been documented clearly, if at all. Additionally, due to differences in the underlying maths, there is no way to transform from old to new whilst retaining the old appearance. 

[Charis Pavlou]

Hi Ian,

Yes, correct, if you don't update you don't lose your previous adjustments. The problem starts when you want to modify that adjustment and in this case it means you have to start all over again.

I understansd that the math are different from version to version but i was hoping there was a way to enable backwards compatibility.

In any case, many thanks for your input.

Regards,

Charis

[Ian Lyons]

Sadly, there is no backwards compatibility. Best approach is to not modify the old range mask or assiciated adjustments, instead create a new (additional) mask and tweak from there.

[Bob Somrak]

@Charis Pavlou 

I have found the conversion seems to work pretty good if your "Smoothness" in the OLD Luminance Range was below 30 or so but it breaks down quickly if your Smoothness was above that and that is due to the new algorithms,  

[Charis Pavlou]

That seems correct. In fact, for some edits, the update button didn't alter the original adjustment at all. But unfortunately (in my case at least) most of them had an issue when converting. 

[Bob Somrak]

@Charis Pavlou 

I only had 22 photos with Luminance Ranges in LrC 10 so I went ahead and "converted" them to LrC 11 Luminance Ranges to not have to worry about the issue. 12 were really easy because the Smoothness was less than 30 or so and converted well, 6 took a little playing around with the sliders and 4, all with high Smoothness, I deleted the Mask and started over but I am done now. Actually, the 10 I had to do more work on look better I think. If I would have used the slider a LOT I would have just left them as the old Lum and only updated if necessary.