LR to PS and NEF files

[Simon Withington]

Evening all

I've tried searching for the answer to this, as I'm sure that I can't be the first to ask... but:

I imported a .nef file into LR3.  I then used the Edit In command to move into CS5.  When I view the image in CS5 however, it does not appear the same as in LR.  The colours are more saturated in LR and the image is a little brighter.

Normally when I move from LR to PS using the Edit In command, the image that I am viewing in LR, is identical to that in PS.  However not with a NEF. 

I'm assuming that this has something to do with the fact that the NEF has no colour profile attached to it, but when I use Edit In it apples Adobe RGB and thus looks different in PS?

What is the best way to work with this issue?  ie, editing a RAW image in PS after importing to LR?

Many thanks,

Si

[Alan Goldhammer]

First thing to do is to make sure the color space for PS and LR are the same.  It sounds like you may have LR set to Prophoto and PS to Adobe RGB; that would be enough to cause the problem.

[Simon Withington]

Thanks for your reply Alan.  You are right that I have PS defaulted to RGB.  I tried changing the external editor setting in LR to embed ProPhoto rather than Adobe, but I get the same problem.  If you ask me, it looks like the 'default' Develop settings that are applied by LR on import (boost to contrast, brightness and a bit of sharpening etc) are not carried across to LR when I use the Edit In command?  I don't have this problem when moving between LR and PS with a tiff, only with NEF.

Any other ideas?

[john beardsworth]

Set Photoshop's colour to ProPhoto RGB - that's what Alan was saying.

John

[Simon Withington]

John, thanks, but I have tried that and I still get the same mis-match.

Similarly, if I export the image from LR, the resulting TIFF does not seem to have picked up the default changes made in LR?

[Simon Withington]

Just did a couple more tests and the 'problem' isn't limited to NEF files - it's RAW in general.  Basically, the 'default' settings that LR applies to an imported RAW file are not staying with the image when moving out of LR, either via Edit In (to CS5) or by export.

I must be missing something obvious, right?

[stevebri]

Ok Simon try this...

Import the NEF again as a DNG...  whilst applying your curve and tweaks etc... then work on it in CS5, it should be the same.

It sounds like you are not writing your LR3 adjustments to the xmp file, this is the file that sits next to your NEF RAW detailing all your adjustments.  I'm not going to shout out how FAB .DNG is but basically .DNG is a shell around your RAW and your XMP data, the benefits of this are that you can take a DNG and drop it in any other program that works on RAW's and your changes go with it, also a DNG is backwards compatible in both earlier versions, of LR and PS and Bridge. 
EDIT>catalog settings>metadata> Automatically write changes into XMP.  this should be ticked, if not a small warning comes up below.

Hope this helps.

S 

[john beardsworth]

John, thanks, but I have tried that and I still get the same mis-match.

Are you sure you have tried it? From your reply to Alan it didn't seem so. It is the setting in Photoshop that you need to change - under Edit > Colour Settings. Then in LR ensure you are also sending as ProPhoto.

DNGs and sidecars aren't really relevant here.

John

[Simon Withington]

All

I am 100% sure that the colour management settings in PS are set to default to ProPhoto AND that LR is set to apply ProPhoto when moving between the two applications.  I checked this following your post John.

I've also tried the DNG suggestion and I'm afraid to say that it made no difference.

Hmmm?!  All ideas/suggestions gratefully received.....??!

[john beardsworth]

Calibrated your monitor recently?

[Simon Withington]

Yep, calibrated.

It's weird, to say the least.  It's like the colour profiles aren't aligned betwee LR and anywhere else.  But they are!

[Simon Withington]

I think it may be due to a corrupt monitor profile, as I just tried switching to an version from a calibration earlier this year and the problem disappeared.  Will try re-calibrating the monitor and see if this fixes it.  Will post the result on here for info.

Cheers to you all for the help so far.

Si

[Simon Withington]

Thanks all.

For info, this problem was caused by a corrupted (I assume) monitor profile.  All was fine, I recalibrated and then experienced the problem.  I calibrated again and all's well once more.

Cheers

[john beardsworth]

Great! Once we'd eliminated the spaces, it had to be something like that.