Image color changes right after import? WHY?

[ook]

So basically when I first import my pictures and preview them they look for all intents a purposes "correct" as I recall the lighting.  Then moments later lightroom "updates" the image boosting the contrast and saturation and shifting the hues dramatically.

Why does it do this?  In about 50% of the cases this makes the picture significantly worse.  My skies instead of bright pale blue turn a deep cyan color.  In some cases it "improves" image quality not always.

You can see in the picture below the skies in the preview pictures are dramatically different colors.  This is an example of the before and after delta.  I would submit that the deep saturated cyan is NOT what the sky looked like when I took the pic.  Is there any way I can disable or modify these default changes?

(Lightroom 1.3.1, XP, Nikon D300)



- ook

[David Sutton]

Go to: http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bc3d55a  for the answer to "Why does the color and or tone of my image change after import?"
Cheers, David

[ook]

Go to: http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bc3d55a  for the answer to "Why does the color and or tone of my image change after import?"
Cheers, David
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So then the real question becomes is there a standard "develop" that mimics the D300s default development settings?

Also is there a general consensus that Lightrooms defaults are good?  I'm noticing extreme saturation, blues color shifting towards green and over-darkening of middle-darks.  Is this a common perception? Should I just build up a template I like?  I feel as though I am doing a lot of work with color composition in the camera and then having to try and remember why I liked the colors in the original image.

- ook

[David Sutton]

My understanding is that the Lightroom "defaults" are just a representation of the RAW data with minimal adjustments. I have the uneasy feeling that this could open up the sort of discussion that turns ordinary folk into complete w*nkers, so I prefer not to go there and just start  with what I see when a Raw image is opened and go from there (except I almost always have to lower the blacks in the "basic" panel).
I remember being slightly distressed when switching from jpegs to Raw to find there was no "right answer" to all the things you mentioned, but I had to decide for myself. Now I find that quite cool, and Lightroom the least of my worries.
If you find yourself doing the same things to similar photos in the develop module, you could save that as a preset and make that your starting point. You can easily undo it in the history tab. Some people do this on import, but if they want to go back to a "zeroed" setting, I think they have to re-import (i.e. they're in the poo).
A round-about way of saying if you want to mimic the D300 processing, find out what works and save it as a preset.
Try shooting in Raw+jpeg and import and compare both images. Try opening a RAW image in another developer and compare it to Lightroom.
Cheers, David

[flash]

The first image you are seeing is the inbuilt preview from the camera. It is a thumbnail image based n te in camera settings. If you want this as your starting point then you could open the image in the original Nikon RAW software as it will apply all the in camera setting to your RAW file as a starting point. Lightroom will not. After a second or so Lightroom will load its default settings and the image will change. Same will happen in most of the commercial 3rd party RAW converters.

The start point in Lightroom is based on a calibration of a camera or two by Thomas Knoll and the fact that Lightroom tries to preserve as much information as possible. (gamut, tonal range etc...)

While it will be nearly impossible to exactly recreate the in camera processing you can get close by providing a calibration setting for your camera and saving a new default setting for your camera. It's time consuming and often mundane but well worth the effort. The advantage is that you can create any look you want rather than relying on Nikon/Canon et al to tell you how your images should look.

There are people who are far better at this than me. Try

http://lightroom-blog.com/2007/10/why-do-m...n-i-import.html

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr_camera...ra-defaults.htm

http://www.photoactivity.com/Pagine/Artico...l%20sole_en.asp

That should give you enough light reading to get started.  

Gordon

[macgyver]

Also is there a general consensus that Lightrooms defaults are good?

- ook
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Definitely not, build your own presets.

[sojournerphoto]

Also is there a general consensus that Lightrooms defaults are good? - ook
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No, not really. It usually does a terrible job with skin tones from my 5D, much to yellow, but with calibration you can get to a good working start point and then adjust to taste from their. (very mundanely) I've saved 2 presets at each whole stop iso.. using the Tindeman script, one with standard LR brightness and contrast develop settings and the second with a low contrast 'zeroed' set of settings. These give me a nice start points, but each image still gets adjusted on it's merits and use.

Mike

[Andrews]

This problem was a deal breaker for me! I tried LR for tethered shooting on several recent jobs. The first 2 jobs involved working with models where the color of clothing wasn't critical, so the results were satisfactory, as the skin tones looked good. The last job, however, required accurate color for a bedding client. The blue comforter was over saturated and too blue, quite noticeably. I tried reducing saturation with some success, but I felt that I was chasing after something that should have been there in the first place, and never quite knowing when that point was reached.

I'm now back to using C1, and really appreciating how accurate the color is once calibrating with a Macbeth color card. It's also much better to shoot tethered with software that was designed for that purpose.

Does anyone know if Aperture exhibits this same problem?

[Max Penson]

I'd like to add that this is not a problem or something similar, this is happening simply because adobe decided to do color rendering this way when the work on ACR started. This approach is very out fashioned today and I expect this to change in the next major upgrade. There is nothing you can do as of now but to make some presets as a starting point. You will not be able to mimic the D300s color as you don't have the right tools for the job in lightroom (apposed to Capture one).

I think the next step for lightroom is to offer some color presets that are based on human vision studies (the same as Nikon, Canon, Sony do...). They may avoid it for a while or ignore it as they do now, but eventually they will not have much choice but to offer their own perception of color for you to start from. You can't expect the user to do that, it's not a simple task anyone can do - it takes months of hard work.