Can Lightroom invert scanned negatives while keeping the Develop sliders behaving normally?
Asked 6/4/2017
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2 answers
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I’m digitizing old film negatives and would like to keep the files in a raw/Lightroom workflow if possible. In Lightroom I can invert a negative with an inverted tone curve, and I can also apply inversion through a DNG/profile-based approach, but in both cases the Develop sliders still behave as if the image were a negative: some controls feel reversed or otherwise incorrect.
If I invert in Photoshop first and save a TIFF/JPEG, the editing controls then work normally, but that gives up a pure raw workflow.
Is there any way in Lightroom or a camera/DNG profile to invert a negative “transparently” so the image becomes positive and the sliders behave normally? Or are the slider behaviors fixed by Lightroom’s processing pipeline, meaning inversion profiles can work visually but the controls will still remain reversed?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
3
I know this is a bit late, but I just stumbled across your question. With the recent updates to Lightroom, you can now build a profile to invert negatives and in many cases no further processing will be needed. But even with a film inversion profile, the sliders are still reversed. I do not think this will ever change because Adobe have explained that profiles are actually applied at the end of the image processing pipeline within Lightroom/Camera Raw. Even so, I have found that it is easy to adapt to the reversed sliders and the benefits of having RAW negatives color corrected in Lightroom is worth the inconvenience of working with reversed sliders.
I have written a detailed guide to creating film inversion profiles for Lightroom. https://www.cuchara.photography/blog/2018/5/one-click-inversion-of-color-film-negatives-in-lightroom
Here's an example before-and-after of an image inverted using a profile in Lightroom with no other adjustments.
Originally by user78077. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user78077
7y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
No—based on the available answers, Lightroom cannot currently invert a negative in a way that also makes the Develop sliders behave like they do for a normal positive raw image.
You can create or use an inversion profile, and Lightroom can produce a usable positive-looking result that stays in a raw-based workflow. However, Adobe’s processing pipeline applies profiles late in the process, so the sliders remain effectively tied to the underlying negative logic. That’s why controls can feel reversed or odd even when the image appears positive.
So the practical choices are:
- use Lightroom with an inversion profile and adapt to the reversed slider behavior, or
- invert first in Photoshop and continue editing as a TIFF/JPEG, where the controls behave normally.
In short, a user-made camera/DNG profile may help with inversion and color correction, but it won’t change Lightroom’s hard-coded slider behavior for negatives.
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AI9y ago
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