If I shoot in raw, with white balance set to "shade" does that affect the raw file in the camera? (I think the answer to this is NO, but am not sure.)

When I import the file into LR4, does LR4 "see" that white balance setting and apply it to the file for an adjusted white balance? Is this what happens if I choose "as shot" as the white balance option?

If I have several photos in the same lighting of the same people, and I want the skin tones to look the same in all the photos---can I accomplish this by adjusting white balance in one of the photos, then copying that setting to all of them?

Thanks for all help, this is DEFINITELY a learning curve!!!

working on it in Middle TN
Nikon D3100
18-55 mm Nikkor VR
55-200 mm Nikkor VR
55-300 mm Nikkor VR
150-500 mm Sigma OS

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White balance is just a tag in the file, and the answer is "yes" to your other questions.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Thank you! Simple answers, but clear up much confusion for me.

working on it in Middle TN
Nikon D3100
18-55 mm Nikkor VR
55-200 mm Nikkor VR
55-300 mm Nikkor VR
150-500 mm Sigma OS

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Diane,
Practically speaking, the camera monitor displays the jpg. The jpg is affected by your settings. If shooting
in jpg mode, those settings are set into each jpg file. LR sees the jpg just as you saw it on the back of the camera.
NEFs come into LR "raw," unaltered. When shooting in RAW/NEF, then, the camera monitor serves as a guide.

As a self-tutorial, set your camera to shoot JPG+RAW. If your LR preferences are set right,
(we can get to that later, as needed), you can see your jpgs and NEFs side-by-side in LR.

My workflow is not unusual -- I edit one photo, get it the way I want, then copy common characteristics to other images.

Common characteristics:

• Basic section: WB, Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks, Clarity, Vibrance, Saturation
  You may want to include Crop and Graduated Filter.
  I exclude Spot Removal, Red Eye, and Adjustment Brush due to changes in the position of subjects
  
• Detail section: Sharpening, Noise Reduction
  
• Lens Correction
  
• Effects: Vignette

Thank you very much, Larry.

I've set up my import to do the basic autotone correction. That seems to be a reasonable starting point. Then it looks like I could fine-tune 1 shot, then copy the settings to others. Does this sound like a reasonable thing to do?

I will have to look at the characteristics to copy. You are certainly right, the spot adjustments would not copy well.

I have the Martin Evening LR4 book... it is pretty dense slogging. He assumes you know some things already about tone curves, etc. I've found the Adobe videos to be pretty helpful on some topics, they are much more basic.

working on it in Middle TN
Nikon D3100
18-55 mm Nikkor VR
55-200 mm Nikkor VR
55-300 mm Nikkor VR
150-500 mm Sigma OS

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I'd be cautious about the automatic tone correction. It's handy when you don't have time to do something better, but it can really slow your growth learning the Lightroom controls. It can also confuse the heck out of you if you do occasional HDR brackets or deliberately over and under expose an image for a specific reason. I think it's much better to get a fixed default you like, including the color profile, sharpening, etc. and use that consistently.


BTW, spot removal can be extraordinarily helpful to copy between photos if they were made at roughly similar times. Lightroom does some very smart things figuring out where to sample from when doing this operation (and varies it automatically from photo to photo).

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Thanks, I will investigate what I really need to set up in a default.

working on it in Middle TN
Nikon D3100
18-55 mm Nikkor VR
55-200 mm Nikkor VR
55-300 mm Nikkor VR
150-500 mm Sigma OS

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I agree with Rick 100%, do not apply auto tone on import or most anything for that matter. It is just as easy to apply a mass edit after they have been imported and doing it this way you can kind of see it your edit will be ok first. Doing it on import might work ok on some images but will spend more time undoing the bad ones for sure. I pretty much don't apply anything on import especially now in LR4.

.
.


Scott Martin Sternberg

Scotts Fine Art

>I agree with Rick 100%, do not apply auto tone on import or
>most anything for that matter. It is just as easy to apply a
>mass edit after they have been imported and doing it this way
>you can kind of see it your edit will be ok first. Doing it on
>import might work ok on some images but will spend more time
>undoing the bad ones for sure. I pretty much don't apply
>anything on import especially now in LR4.


I found out this is exactly right.

I processed a couple of NEF files, exported as JPG. I (accidentally) imported the JPG back into LR. It re-worked my carefully tweaked settings on the JPG. Not good.

working on it in Middle TN
Nikon D3100
18-55 mm Nikkor VR
55-200 mm Nikkor VR
55-300 mm Nikkor VR
150-500 mm Sigma OS

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

There are lots of individual preferences, but here's what I change compared to the factory default settings:

Sharpening: 40, 0.7, 35, 10 (this reflects the fact that I often shoot landscapes and travel). I'd use different values if I primarily shot portraits.

Lens distortion and vignetting correction are enabled

Auto CA correction is enabled

I replace the Adobe Standard profile (which is actually fairly good these days) with one I generate for a specific camera using the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport. Blues in particular end up better than with Adobe Standard or what you would get from NX2.

I stick with the default contrast and vibrance levels (now zero in LR4) since these work well if I'm going to do further processing in Photoshop, but if you don't plan to ever leave LR, you may want them slightly higher.

The above works well for me. Images are sharp with excellent detail and color.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Thank you coolmom42 for this posting!

I was having this exact doubt and I am also enlightened by this thread.
To me life seems to have been easier when I used to shoot film (transparencies)! I used to make every shot count (almost). I am struggling in this age of Digital photography.

I really wonder whether I would be able to make every shot count without much of post processing! I don't have problems outdoors. It is the interior shots which give me nightmares!

I have been lucky to stumble across this forum when I was Google searching for my doubts. This forum is really helping me to improve my digital skills.

With best regards
PRSS

Hi Rick,

I really would like to like LR but so far I have had massive struggles getting the colors right for my D700 and V1 without messing around too much with the sliders. So generally speaking, I am missing a good starting point for my developments (profiles), though LR got better and better.

The CCP seems to be one possible solution but one thing remains unclear to me: Isn´t it necessary to generate a profile in each light setting? As I have time for photography mostly on my vacation time and while travelling, the situations are changing way to often (no controlled lighting like in a studio environment).

Do you have one set of profiles for each camera like "sunlight", "shade", "Flash", etc. or are you really profiling each new light setting?

I would really appreciate if you could write some lines, how you are using this product.

Best regards
Michael

>I replace the Adobe Standard profile (which is actually fairly
>good these days) with one I generate for a specific camera
>using the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport. Blues in particular
>end up better than with Adobe Standard or what you would get
>from NX2.
>
>I stick with the default contrast and vibrance levels (now
>zero in LR4) since these work well if I'm going to do further
>processing in Photoshop, but if you don't plan to ever leave
>LR, you may want them slightly higher.
>
>The above works well for me. Images are sharp with excellent
>detail and color.
>

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Michael, I hardly ever do custom profiles for different light. I create a dual-illuminant profile with the Passport software, and it's fine in the vast majority of situations. In extreme lighting situations, it doesn't hurt to create a specialized one, but I've rarely seen a big difference compared with the dual-illuminant ones. Heavy tree cover with lots of greens has been one lighting situation where a custom profile has helped, but otherwise the general ones are fine. BTW, any software package would struggle with that lighting.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Rick,

Thank you for your reply. I have to admit, that I have never tried out a dual-illuminant profile. Maybe that is the key for a more general purpose profile.

Tomorrow I will try that out.

Do you have a recommendation, what combination of light profiles work well for you? I would have started out with a shade and a direct sun profile, maybe recorded around noon!?

Thanks in advance and good night from Germany
Michael


>Michael, I hardly ever do custom profiles for different
>light. I create a dual-illuminant profile with the Passport
>software, and it's fine in the vast majority of situations.

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The instructions for a dual-illuminant profile are to make one shot in open shade and one under tungsten light. That gives you a good range to work within and beyond, and it works well for me. You then convert the two NEFs to DNGs, but don't worry about setting white balance or anything else and then drag them both into the tool. I also create a "landscape" color profile based on the neutral one that has slightly accentuated greens and reds, along with slightly higher contrast using DNG color profile editor, but that's a different subject.

I'll be in Germany later today.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Rick,

Thank you. In the manual it simply states that color temperatures should not be too close together. I will try out your suggestion and see how it works.

Now Adobe only needs to release a stable 4.1. 4.1 RC2 does not do the trick for me as I am bitten by the performance bug
One or two local corrections and the develop module becomes unusable slow.
I don´t remember 4.0 or RC1 to be that bad, so I hope Adobe calls for the terminator

Anyway, thank you for taking time to answer my questions

Best regards
Michael

PS: Weather here is rather nice. Warm, sunny, humid. Typical for that time of the year. Forecast says, Fri and Sat are really going to be nice and summerly

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Hi Rick,

Today I had the time to generate the profiles and test them. Not too bad, I have to say. Most colors look accurate enough for me but now I have a giant problem with blues which come out totally oversaturated (and I mean oversaturated!)
Looking at the CCP with the profile applied, the patches look good on my profiled monitor (CCP under daylight lamp).

Something went wrong and I am afraid, I will have to try again...

Michael

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