Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
The #1 complaint I hear at my Lightroom seminars is “When my RAW photos first
appear in Lightroom, they look great, but then they change and look terrible.” What's
happening is when you shoot in JPEG, your camera adds contrast, sharpening, etc., right
in the camera. When you shoot in RAW, you're telling the camera to turn all that con-
trast, sharpening, and stuff off. So, when your RAW image first comes into Lightroom,
you're seeing a sharp, contrasty preview first, but then it draws the real preview and
you see the actual RAW image. Here's how to get a more JPEG-like starting place:
Step One:
To get a more JPEG-like star ting place for
your RAW images, here's what to do: Go
to the Develop module and scroll down
to the Camera Calibration panel. There's
a Profile pop-up menu near the top of
this panel, where you'll find a number of
profiles based on your camera's make and
model (it reads the image file's embedded
EXIF data to find this. Not all camera brands
and models are supported, but most recent
Nikon and Canon DSLRs are, along with
some Pentax, Sony, Olympus, Leica, and
Kodak models). These profiles mimic cam-
era presets you could have applied to your
JPEG images in camera (but are ignored
when you shoot in RAW). The default pro-
file is Adobe Standard, which looks pretty
average (well, if you ask me).
Step Two:
Now all you have to do is try out each of
the different profiles, and see which one
looks good to you (which to me is, which
one looks the most like a JPEG—a profile
that looks more contrasty, with richer
looking colors). I usually start by looking
at the one called Camera Standard (rather
than the default Adobe Standard). I rarely
see a photo using Camera Standard that
I don't like better than using the default
Adobe Standard setting, so this is usually
my preferred starting place.
Note:
If you're shooting Canon, or Pentax,
etc., you'll see a different list of profiles, as
they're based on the names the camera
manufacturer gives to their in-camera
picture styles.
