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, sharp-
ening, etc., right in the camera. When you shoot in RAW, you're telling the camera
to turn all that contrast, 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 or models
are supported, but most recent Nikon and
Canon DSLRs are, along with some Pentax,
Sony, Olympus, Leica, and Kodak models).
These profiles mimic camera presets you
could have applied to your JPEG images
in-camera (but are ignored when you
shoot in RAW). The default profile 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 look-
ing 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.
