lightroom darkening images on import ?

knowlesy

knowlesy

knowlesy

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when im importing my images into lightroom, it seems to be darkening my images on import ? any ideas?


I do convert them to dng on import if that helps
 
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Which file format are you converting to DNG?

I find that when I import any RAW images into Lightroom the images do get altered in some way. You'll generally notice that the colour balance slider will be in an "off centre" position

I imagine it's something to do with the fact that RAW images are 12bit and thus cannot be viewed accurately on an LCD. They also contain more embedded information about the colour balance and such that Lightroom can read from the files.
 
Its done this before but what I dont get is it seems to be random or Im not remembering correctly, the colour balance is due to the exposure or white balance settings you have on the camera thats the joy of raw if i remember you can change the white balance setting and not effect the image...... I had my cam set to vivid but my egypt pics were all in that mode and not half as dark, it did put the black to +5 i put it down and not very much difference
 
The reason is probably because the initial preview is based on the embedded jpg and not the actual RAW file. So if you have any in camera adjustments (saturation, sharpness etc etc), these will be seen on the jpg preview, but not the RAW file.

Also double check that you don't have it applying a preset on import.
 
Best way to do it; Shoot something with a lot of colour and tones in raw+jpg. Then import both of them and go to the develop module. Now edit the RAW to match the JPG as closely as possible. Save the settings as a preset. Go to the import screen and set to it automatically apply the new preset on import. Hey presto, all your RAW files will now match your JPGs. :)
 
^^^ this sort out your presets to something that seems to sit well with you - but keep it basic - try not to apply things like sharpening or white balance adjustments...
 
I noticed this when importing some RAW files last night, and I couldn't work out what it was.

It was annoying as the split second before the image 'changed' I saw the preview, and it looks better, well, it looked ready for me to 'do more' to.

I'm a bit confused despite the above replies :(
 
Even when you shoot in RAW only it still saves a preview so that you can view the picture on the camera's lcd, this is what you see briefly, before it then goes to the raw image with no settings applied... (so i am lead to believe).
 
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ScarySquirrel said:
Oh, I thought I was shooting in RAW only, maybe not. I was on the 40D I am borrowing so not completely got to grips with it yet!
Click to expand...

Yuo may be shooting RAW only. All RAW files contain an embedded JPG (A RAW file isn't an actual image file, just literally a dump of all the information, so needs to go through a RAW converter to make it viewable). This embedded JPG can be affected by in camera settings, however the RAW can't (Except sometimes, like using .NEF files with Capture NX, but ignore that for now). So what you see on the back of the camera, is your embedded JPG with in camera settings. When the image goes into lightroom you see the embedded JPG for a splt second until the RAW file is loaded. This then displays the image without any in camera settings. By using Lightroom presets, you can try and match what the camera does with what Lightroom does, so the previews are close to the actual image.
 
Messiah Khan said:
By using Lightroom presets, you can try and match what the camera does with what Lightroom does, so the previews are close to the actual image.
Click to expand...

Would this really work? Surely the camera is going to use different settings depending on the situation of the picture, so applying 1 preset to a range of images won't always give the desired result?
 
Jonny_no2 said:
Would this really work? Surely the camera is going to use different settings depending on the situation of the picture, so applying 1 preset to a range of images won't always give the desired result?
Click to expand...

You might not get it dead on, but you can get it pretty close. So say you have +2 saturation in camera, you can can up the saturation in Lightroom and save it as a preset which will result in the RAW files being close to the JPGs in terms of saturation. As for colour balance etc, Adobe(I think) did release D2X and D300 (And probably others) picture styles for Lightroom. You can apply them to an image, then save that as a preset. Can't find them atthe moment but will post them if I do.
 
^^^ was thinking that also the preset wouldn't it add more noise due to changing of the image colours etc. itself ?


either way kahn Ill have a go at taking with raw + jpg and just raw also, with and without active d lightings and vivids etc tonight :)
 
Messiah Khan said:
Yuo may be shooting RAW only. All RAW files contain an embedded JPG (A RAW file isn't an actual image file, just literally a dump of all the information, so needs to go through a RAW converter to make it viewable). This embedded JPG can be affected by in camera settings, however the RAW can't (Except sometimes, like using .NEF files with Capture NX, but ignore that for now). So what you see on the back of the camera, is your embedded JPG with in camera settings. When the image goes into lightroom you see the embedded JPG for a splt second until the RAW file is loaded. This then displays the image without any in camera settings. By using Lightroom presets, you can try and match what the camera does with what Lightroom does, so the previews are close to the actual image.
Click to expand...

Ah ok, thank you :)
 
You could also try using the Nikon software as it deals with this metadata properly. There's 3 parts to it. Nikon Transfer which works like adobe bridge, Nikon View NX which is similar to Lightroom and then Nikon Capture NX2 which is similar to photoshop. Transfer and View NX are free, Capture NX2 is only about £130 which is pretty favorable to adobe prices if you can get on with the user interface.
 
You could also try changing to a different profile, under develop scroll down to camera calibration and choose a profile, these are supposed to match the JPEG picture styles on the camera. I found that camera standard looked the best.

To use this profile as the standard one on import don't change any other develop settings, hold alt and the reset button at the bottom right will change to "Set Default..." click this and it will change the default profile.
 
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