A small Lightroom issue???

[Free]

So when ever I open RAW files in Lightroom, the image opens, look OK, then a second or two later, it changes to what Lightroom wants it too look like

It will turn B&W's colour and change pretty much every photo quite dramatically, does anyone know why?

I don't have any auto settings applied on the import box.

Cheers
Free

[Nicole]

Have you tried installing Adobe's DNG camera profiles? I find that if you pick the one that is closest to the shooting style you were using it comes a lot closer than the standard profile does.

As far as RAW and B&W I'm pretty sure that's not a change that it recognises. You could either try shooting RAW+JPG (to get the B&W version) or possibly using Nikon's software (but I use Lightroom myself).

[Free]

Nope, but I'll give it a go

Thanks
Free

[jdepould]

It's probably loading the embedded jpg preview first, then the more neutral NEF file. Everything is going to look really flat at first, especially if you don't have any develop presets at all.

[mjjgm]

I am having this same issue. New to LR here and it has really been frustrating me how it changes the photos from looking like how I took them to looking like crap in a few seconds!!

Read somewhere else that it turns it to crap because it's creating a thumbnail and LR doesn't read specific camera raw settings correctly. Does the DNG camera profile fix this?

How does this DNG profile thing work exactly? Does it need to be set up for each different import?

And the big question:
After I figure out the DNG camera profile, will I need to 'delete & re-import' all of my photos that are already in LR so that it fixes them back the way they should look?

[jdepould]

They look like "crap" because they're very neutral raw files. You need to add back contrast, saturation and sharpening. The files aren't designed to be used SOOC.

[mjjgm]

jdepould -- I don't think it's the raw files themselves... if I open them up with any other raw editor, they look decent, similar to how they did in camera when I shot the photo originally. LR does some sort of auto thing when it makes its 2nd round higher-rez thumbnails (when you click them it does this), and I think that's what's causing it. (I tried turning off the auto fix setting but it didn't seem to help.) Plus, remember the photo looks fine for a few seconds BEFORE LR does it's 'crap' conversion. If I have to 'get rid of' all the LR stuff it does to make it look better, I might as well ditch LR and go back to my old work flow!

I'm hoping there's a better solution than that because I like a lot of the other features in LR.

[fletch]

Originally Posted by mjjgm

I don't think it's the raw files themselves... if I open them up with any other raw editor, they look decent,

What other RAW editiors? If its is the free software that came with your camera that will display as you saw in the cameras LCD. This is because it will be converting the RAW in the same way the camera would have, unless you change any settings.

Lightroom doesn't work that way. Unless you apply a develop preset it just shows an undeveloped raw file waiting for you to 'develop' it. You can do this in many ways, using the camera profiles, a develop preset or changings the setting for each file individually.

You won't need to re-import for all of your old photos. Just create a develop preset, select all the photos you want to apply it to in library mode and use the quick develop toolbar to apply the preset.

[jdepould]

Originally Posted by fletch

Lightroom doesn't work that way. Unless you apply a develop preset it just shows an undeveloped raw file waiting for you to 'develop' it. You can do this in many ways, using the camera profiles, a develop preset or changings the setting for each file individually.

^ What he said. It's just the way LR works.

[Free]

Hi, I just installed the DNG profiles and my photos are now looking WAY better straight out of the camera

Thanks heaps for the info everyone