#Classic negative preset software

To speed up the process and improve the colors, there is an excellent plug-in called Negative Lab Pro. Using the individual R, G, B channels and pulling the end points to the ends of the histogram can also be effective. In this one we used Split Toning to remove some of the Shadows color cast. Here is the photo from the beginning with the tone curve adjustment made, then with some color and exposure corrections. Even Vignette works in reverse! It’s quite tricky to start with, so it’s worth processing quite a number of negatives in a session as you do get used to it! Same with Temperature, to warm it up you go to the left. To start, just try the Exposure slider – move to the left makes the photo brighter, to the right darker. Slider pairs are also reversed, for example, Whites affect the Blacks clipping, and vice versa. However, because we reversed the tone curve, almost every slider will work in reverse (Contrast is an exception). To save time, we suggest saving the tone curve as a preset, so for the next negative you can easily just click the preset (only save the tone curve in the preset).Īfter inversion, the photo will probably look very cold but you can use Lightroom’s normal sliders to make adjustments. Then, finish the first point to the top corner.Īt this point the photo won’t look right and will need some processing but it won’t be a negative anymore. Be sure to grab the very corner, if the line starts to bend then you haven’t got the corner. If so, try moving the left one halfway, then the other down to the bottom corner. In Lightroom Classic, some people have trouble moving the two end-points one at a time from top to bottom. In the cloud-based apps, it’s the white circle. In Lightroom Classic, click the button in the lower right corner of the Tone Curve panel to switch to Point Curve. We need to change the direction of the curve and to do this we need to use the Point Curve. You can use the Develop module to change a negative scan into a positive image by reversing the tone curve. We’re going to look at this using Lightroom Classic, but exactly the same can be done using Lightroom (cloud).

An air duster helps to remove any dust to save retouching later. Sandwiching the negative between two pieces of cardboard (ideally black) helps to keep it flat. Also, mask out any unwanted areas of light. For best results, shoot raw with slight over-exposure.

We photographed our negatives on an inexpensive light box, with a camera mounted on a tripod looking directly down on it. The processing is somewhat different to digital photos!! So, how do you invert your negative into a positive photo? We’ll look at both processing it manually and how it can be simplified using a Lightroom plugin.

#Classic negative preset software

While most film scanning software can automatically invert the photos, this won’t work when using a camera to photograph them. Many photographers have boxes of old film negatives they would like to access in Lightroom.