Still struggling with Lightroom

[Steve's Girl]

In a thread awhile back, I expressed frustration with Lightroom "washing out" my photos when importing. A few of you suggested setting a custom preset to use when importing photos. I have been trying to find the right presets to use to get the results I want, but all to no avail. Below is an example:

this is the converted image from Lightroom with no adjustments

this is the jpeg straight from my camera

I tried for the longest time to mess around with settings in Lightroom to get the RAW photo to have the same color as the jpeg, but just couldn't get anything that was even close. I do like shooting in RAW for the flexibility it gives me in adjusting pp, but I guess I am just not as good as my camera at processing RAW files. I did download a trial of Capture NX and really liked the colors, but couldn't figure out the program for the life of me. I don't have the manaul and simply don't have time to try to learn another program right now. I like Lightroom and would like to continue to use that, but just can't seem to get the colors right. Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[Groucho]

What is the color profile that your camera has? If it's anything but "natural", that's why you're getting the bright colors from JPG. To get exactly the same from RAW, you'd need to figure out what the color profile is changing, replicate it (perhaps with the curves tool?), and use that as your default import preset.

To be fair to Lightroom, I'm going to guess that its output is a lot closer to what you're actually seeing, even if the results aren't quite as pretty.

Capture NX may be closer to replicating the exact color curves since it's an official Nikon product, so they'd have access to that information.

 

[Code]

A quick search turned up a few pages that might help...

This one has a lightroom preset that someone made trying match Nikon's Mode III which I understand is a vivid preset? (called Nikon Capture Mode IIIa about halfway down the page).

Here is a post that has some calibration settings to try.

I have the same problem with my Oly E-510.. when I shoot JPG in "Vivid" mode or develop with Oly's RAW software I love the colors but I haven't been able to exactly match the results in Lightroom, though I'm coming pretty close with advice from forums and presets.

 

[Steve's Girl]

Groucho -

I was using Color Mode IIIa. I switch back and forth between this and Ia. Everything else is set to normal (tone comp, saturation, etc.). Actually, in the photos I posted, the jpeg is closer to the actual colors. I specifically chose that subject because the colors were quite vivid and I wanted to see what LR would do with those colors. I'll try the same shot tomorrow in Color Mode Ia and see what happens. Not enough natural light right now to replicate the shot.

Code -

Thanks for the info on the presets. I will try that as well.

 

[SharonLowe]

Your raw file will never match the jpeg created in camera until you process it no matter which program you use. Also, is the jpeg created in the sRGB color space or Adobe RGB color space? The former tends to look much brighter and more vivid but it won't have as wide a gamut as the Adobe RGB color space. I also think the default color space for Lightroom is ProPhoto RGB which could also make the raw image look flatter than the image processed by the camera.

An option for you would be to get Jack Davis's Lightroom WOW presets - the vivid ones seem to get almost the same effect you got in camera. Go here http://www.ononesoftware.com/photopresets-wow.php there are some free ones too.

 

[Steve's Girl]

Thanks for the info. Sharon. The jpeg was created using the sRGB color space and I have also selected that in Lightroom as well. I think I just need to learn A LOT more about Lightroom and play around with different presets. I do have the WOW presets installed and have used them for various individual photos, but will have to spend some more time with them and see if I can find a few I like to use when importing.

Thanks all for the help. Hopefully, when (if?) my work slows down a little bit and we get back from WDW I can spend some time with Lightroom and get a better working knowledge of the program.

 

[SWDopey]

Your best option is to shoot a series of images in raw+jpeg, and load both into LR. And then play around with the settings (particularly saturation, vibrance, contrast etc) until the raw images match the jpegs. You can then use those settings to make your own presets.