Keith Cooper’s City Light Luminar presets
Keith Cooper’s Luminar Presets
The ‘City Light’ set for Macphun Luminar
...Get our Newsletter for new articles/reviews and please subscribe to Keith's YouTube Channel
...Keith's book about how to use tilt/shift lenses is now available.
Our site contains affiliate links - these help support the site. See our Advertising policies for more
Keith Cooper has produced a range of Black and White image adjustment presets for Macphun/Skylum Luminar image editing software.
These are updated and refined versions of ones he created for Tonality Pro. If you have Tonality Pro, it works as a plugin for Luminar and you can still use the original presets.
The Presets
The presets specifically cover sets of adjustments that I’ve found useful for producing black and white architectural images.
They are quite deliberately fairly subtle in operation, since in my world, the excesses of HDR and ultra contrasty images rarely meet client requirements.
The idea is that first and foremost you see the image, without wondering what plugin or software was used in its creation.
The presets can also be used for luminance editing of colour images, where you take a dull colour shot, create a B&W version and then blend this with the original in luminance mode. Don’t worry, this is easier to do than explain…
The presets (Mac & PC) are now available for download [city_light.zip]
They are completely free of charge, but if you find them useful and would like to make a small donation, it really will help with the running of the site.
Thanks, Keith
New for Luminar
Image adjustment settings are different with Tonality and Luminar, so it’s not possible to simply convert the Tonality settings to Luminar ones. I’ve gone back to the original colour files and I believe the differences are slight.
An example of one of the presets gets round some of the deep shadow issues you often get in photographing architecture on a bright day (click to enlarge)
The presets all deal with different aspects of lighting and shadow since you can’t always wait for ‘perfect’ lighting.
Think of the presets as jumping off points for exploring what you want. I’ve an example that shows how turning off one part of the adjustment settings in the preset may look better, and another where the results from a preset are used as a luminosity blend to enhance a colour image.
One important difference between using the Tonality preset and a similar one in Luminar, is that if you turn down the intensity of the preset in Luminar, the image colour will return.
My preferred solution to this is to add a new layer to the image and include the B&W filter (no settings needed). I look at use of layers in some more detail later on (see also my Luminar reviews)
[contentblock id=39 img=html.png]
Keith’s ‘City Light’ Luminar presets
The basic presets are shown with the colour original, followed by the ‘vanilla’ conversion to black and white and then using the preset.
The colour versions of the images have had minimal processing from the RAW files captured.
Several of the images look relatively underexposed in areas, this is because I often try and retain detail in highlights such as lit areas or the sky.
As digital SLR cameras have improved, the ability to pull detail out of shadow areas allows much more latitude in exposure and far less likelihood of clipping highlights.
I always work with 16 bit images.
Applying any major adjustments to 8 bit files (such as JPEGs) is just asking for posterisation and other undesirable results. Phone cameras may be popular, but have no place in my photography work.
Late Afternoon (rain)
A damp winter afternoon shows the largest permanent market in Europe, in Leicester.
The interior lighting is pretty much balanced in intensity with the light outside.
The basic conversion is just a bit flat
Boosting warmer colours emphasises the lit area with more contrast in the interior.
One way you can see this is by comparing the coloured patches on either side of the market sign.
Adjustments? – Why not move some of the colour filter settings in the B&W filter in the preset? See how different parts of your B&W image change relative brightness
Late Afternoon (rain) 2
Taken around the same time as above.
The heavy shadowed areas are too dark – no shortage of detail in the sky, but not below, as you can see in this simple conversion.
Advanced contrast and boosting warmer colours (yellow/red) in the B&W filtering gives a better view, whilst retaining the essential gloom of a late winter afternoon.
Adjustments? Look at the ‘Advanced Contrast'(shadows)’ setting and the ‘Clarity’ option. Both can change the balance of the dark areas of your image
Early evening (rain)
An evening scene – one that works fine for colour (remember that this is an unprocessed colour image).
Quite interesting in B&W, but it lacks some of the ‘glow’ of the colour version.
The preset boosts quite a few features in the image. This is one that shows up more effectively at large print sizes.
What works for an image here could easily be excessive on a 36″x 24″ print.
If you’re experimenting with it, look at the settings I’ve adjusted in the preset and boost or cut them a bit.
Many of the standard presets push things a bit far for my likeing – I want people looking at the image, not the editing effects.
It’s easy to over-do things so use with care.
Perhaps it’s not so clear what the differences are?
Look again at this, the ‘plain’ conversion. Move your mouse over the image to see the changes.
Adjustments? This preset has a curve to balance the tone I’m after – try moving some of the point a bit to see how this affects your image – You can always re-apply the preset to bring settings back if you think you’ve messed things up.
Daytime
A daytime shot of Seattle, that looks fine in colour
As before, the basic conversion to B&W lacks punch and contrast.
More contrast and lightening some aspects of shadows looks much better as a print.
Adjustment? Try altering Clarity and Structure, but be careful with halos round clouds and buildings stickig up into the sky.
Daytime Shadow
A frequent problem if you’ve not got a choice in when a shot is taken.
In not burning out the sky (I want to keep detail and colour) the building is heavily shaded.
Moving to B&W looks better in some respects
Using Luminar to boost shadow detail helps a lot, but watch for sensor dust showing up more in skies.
If I was using the image for a print I’d likely mask together both versions using the unaltered sky from above.
Luminar supports layers, so you could also do it in there (see my reviews for more detailabout making use of layers and masks).
Adjustments? There’s a big boost in Shadows and clarity here. Try adjusting these and the Smart Tone setting to get balance in your image. Lighting adjustments like this need care
Bright street
Whilst I’ve a whole building in shadow above, looking across the street shows intensely strong shadow.
The basic conversion is a little too high contrast in many areas.
A more balanced range of contrast.
Adjustments? The ‘Shadow’ settings are the key to this image. Change this and ‘Smart Tone’ for quite subtle changes in the balance of the image.
Bright Stonework
The bright stonework of Southwell Minster
It’s OK in B&W but lacks a little impact.
Darker skies and a bit more texture in the 11th century stonework.
Adjustments? The colour filter sliders in the B&W conversion filter are key here. Be careful reducing the blue setting too far if you’ve a deep blue sky since you can easily show too much noise in the sky (zoom to 100% to see).
Alternate uses of the presets
The effects of the presets can be blended and masked in numerous ways.
Luminosity blend
Take this colour image in shade. The sky is spot on, but the shadowed area is just too dark.
Some might leap for HDR, but it’s not needed (almost never needed IMHO).
First up I’ll duplicate this layer
I now have a duplicate of the colour image that I can apply filters (and presets) to.
This is a black and white version after using the ‘Bright Street’ preset.
I now want to blend this B&W image with the colour one in the layer below.
For this I’ll use the Luminosity mode.
Blending this back with the original colour image as a luminosity mask and you have a much better image.
Luminosity masks like this can easily flatten colour, so be prepared to tweak afterwards.
Adjustments? You can add filters to the colour image and/or the B&W layer. See how altering the B&W layer settings shows up in the composite colour image. What you are doing here is one of the most powerful image editing techniques that I’ve used for years with Photoshop. Once you understand some of the capabilities of layers, you move your editing skills to a whole new level – remember that a layer can have a mask too, and only apply to parts of your image.
Partial preset
Take this view of the railway station in Leicester…
Applying the ‘Bright Stonework’ preset works well, but there is too much fine detail in the sky and brickwork for my liking
Turning off the clarity/structure/microstructure options in the Luminar settings just keeps the tone mapping aspect of the preset.
A more subtle result…
Adjustments? Remember that you can delete or replace any of the filters in the presets. If you find something you like, then save it as a personal preset.
Conclusions
Luminar offers so many variations in its settings that it’s all too easy to get lost and miss things it could do.
Look on the presets as starting points to explore options for your own photos.
Look at applying them to sections of your image if need be.
Just because a building looks great in the edited version, you don’t have to accept the results for the sky or other parts.
This set of presets lets me quickly explore options and then adapt them to what I want for the image.
–ooOoo–
The presets (Mac & PC) are now available here for download [city_light.zip]
They are completely free of charge, but if you find them useful and would like to make a small donation, it really will help with the running of the site.
Thanks, Keith
Never miss a new article or review - Sign up for our occasional (ad-free) Newsletter
and please do subscribe to Keith's YouTube Channel
Other areas of our site that may be of interest...
All the latest articles/reviews and photo news items appear on Keith's Photo blog
Keith explains tilt and shift lenses
Keith has written a book that looks at the many ways that tilt/shift lenses can benefit your photography from a technical and creative point of view. If not in the UK check for import issues and maybe try an on-line bookshop. Keith has no connection with sales of the book.
ISBN 9781785007712
There is also a specific index page on the site with links to all Keith's articles, reviews and videos about using tilt and shift.
We've a whole section of the site devoted to Digital Black and White photography and printing. It covers all of Keith's specialist articles and reviews. Other sections include Colour management and Keith's camera hacks - there are over 1200 articles/reviews here...
Assorted Google ads - sorry but we have no control over external content. One day you might see one that is remotely of interest
We're an Amazon.com affiliate, so receive payment if you buy via Amazon US
Robert B | Aug 2, 2019 at 12:35 pm
Hello Keith
Very interesting article, thank you! I wanted to try your Presets, but was not able to find them at Luminar. I have written to their support mentioning your Name, but they were only able to direct me to theit marketplace where various Presets are, but not yours… Could you help please? Many thanks in Advance!
Best regards, Robert
ColBill | Aug 2, 2019 at 12:05 pm
Outstanding article. Thanks