Developing my pictures - automating some aspects of it

[PeteGB]

Apologies - if I've got this wrong and this should be in the workflow section.

Despite using LR since V1 there are some aspects I've still not got to grips with, and it's increasingly hampering me. I shoot RAW, and am comfortable with why images out of camera look a bit flat and what to do about it.

Where I'm struggling is automating some aspects of things. I came back from a shoot with about 800 pics, and my typical way of working, a picture at a time, with some syncing between similar pictures is just too time intensive.

I'm aware that I can have a preset applied at import, that's specific to the camera model and even ISO setting, I'm less sure about what should be in it.

Unless I'm missing something you can't automate the picture stype to apply (Canon Landscape, Neutral, Portrait etc) and eveything else I do stems from which pf these I apply. Sorting out white and black point, exposure, clarity etc all seem very picture specific rather than something I can apply to all pics taken.

To sum up in a specific question I suppose it would be :

I shoot on Canon 5d M3, RAW, what do others do at import to give the thumbnail pictures a bit more punch for inital viewing ?

Thanks

 

[Jim Wilde]

Unless I'm missing something you can't automate the picture stype to apply (Canon Landscape, Neutral, Portrait etc) and eveything else I do stems from which pf these I apply. Sorting out white and black point, exposure, clarity etc all seem very picture specific rather than something I can apply to all pics taken.

Thanks

Not quite sure what you mean by "automate the picture style to apply". If you mean automatically detect what style was set in camera and apply the corresponding camera profile on import, then you are correct....there's no way to do that with Raw files. On the other hand, you CAN build a set of develop presets (one per camera profile), which could include application of the respective camera profile plus any other settings you want to use from the get-go. For instance I have a set, each one contains one of the camera profiles (including Adobe Standard), plus lens corrections, CA removal, and adds clarity and vibrance. I could extend these even further if I wanted to include a tone curve and some NR (for high ISO shots).

I tend not to apply them on Import (though I could do so if I felt I'd likely use the same one on each image in the import), as I'm only a hobbyist so am under no time pressure and can take my time processing my shots.

Don't know if that helps at all.

 

[johnbeardy]

Aren't you using AutoSync in Develop? I work that way all the time, and wouldn't think of not doing so with jobs of that size. Instead of the 5-6 clicks when you Sync, each adjustment applies immediately to all selected images, so it's the fastest way to work in LR. It's even better in Lr5 because it includes local adjustments too.

Combine it with some presets, and perhaps also by changing LR's default for each camera.

John

 

[clee01l]

My Camera is a D800. The 36mp (~43mb) images take some time to load and 1:1 previews slow thing down considerably. I created a Develop Preset that applies AutoTone, Clarify, Sharpening, NR and the Camera profile called (for Nikon) Camera Neutral. This does an imperfect job, but one that meets basic develop qualifications for non special images and gets me 95% of the way through post processing for the rest. If you find yourself doing the same image adjustments over and over for most images, you might be able to develop your own "Basic Develop Preset" for your 5DMkIII.

 

[johnbeardy]

I wonder if part of the solution might be changing the default treatment. In Preferences, Presets, you can make the defaults specific to camera and ISO. Then in Develop, hold Alt and the Reset button becomes Set Default. From now on, every shot on that camera/ISO will have that default setting.

One problem I would face here would be that I use lots of ISO values - at some fast-moving events I stick the camera on its auto ISO setting. So here the trick might be to rely more on presets. Take a look at my workflow smart collections concept and adapt it - for example grouping images with ISO 400-800, 900-1500 etc so you can easily whack them all with their respective presets.

The other idea, coming from Cletus's mention of the D800, is to ask whether there might be a benefit from Lr5 and its smart previews feature. After importing the images and generating the SPs, you can rename the pictures' folder in Explorer - which will trick LR into using the SPs.

Hopefully all our suggestions will give you a way forward.

John

 

[sizzlingbadger]

The built-in camera profiles are pretty good now, I think its a shame Adobe haven't automated them (via an option) so that they match the Nikon Picture Controls in camera. It would be nice to see default settings based on ISO "greater than" so that you could set defaults for a range of ISO values instead of having to do every single one.

I set my defaults for my D800 as follows:

Profile: Camera Standard
Sharpening: 50
Mask: 25
Lens Correction Profile: on
Remove CA: on

I was using Camera Neutral for a while but found I was pulling blacks / shadows down all the time.

I have been using Capture One for a few weeks and that gives a much punchier image at the default settings. When comparing with LR I found setting Clarity to 10 came much closer to Capture One. I have stopped using C1 now as I find its unstable and just lacks a lot features I'm used to in LR now. Also after careful examination I'm not sure C1's conversion is really any better than Lightroom with the exception of skin tones.

 

[PeteGB]

Thanks all - some useful advice there.Jim - Sorry, my wording confused, I did mean 'camera profile' rather than picture style. Slightly confused still - Jim says that you can't apply Camera Profiles automatically to RAW files, then Cletus says you can do exactly that. I thought you couldn't ('cos I can't see how) but if Cletus is correct, how please ?John - Thanks I'll follow that link.

 

[Jim Wilde]

Actually, both Cletus and myself said the same thing....you can create a Develop Preset that contains the application of a Camera Profile. Cletus has set his up to always apply the Nikon Camera Neutral profile, whereas I have several presets, each one applying a different Canon Camera Profile (but all including the same set of other adjustments). Cletus applies his during import, I generally apply mine during post-import processing.

What I was confused about is what you meant by "automate" in the context of applying the profile....for sure you could do as Cletus does and apply the same profile via a develop preset during import. But what you can't do is automatically vary which profile is applied to align with whatever picture style was set in camera...if that is what you meant.

 

[Denis de Gannes]

Apply "the Nikon Camera Neutral profile"

I guess you mean apply the Adobe created profile which mimics the "Nikon Camera Neutral profile"

 

[Jim Wilde]

Yes, thanks for the correction.

 

[PeteGB]

Clunk - As the penny drops ! Thanks all, helpful responses helped me sort out the last bits of understanding I needed (I think).

I'm now following the pros and cons of using a develop preset that's applied at Import vs choosing the preset during processing. If all my images were landscapes and I liked the Camera Landscape Profile I could create a preset containing that and apply it at import. However it would be applied to any portraits I took and I might not want that.

If I want to use Profiles as a starting point I need to do that before anything else because the profile setting are absolute rather than relative, so if I fiddle with say Contrast and Highlights then set a profile they get set back to '0' again.

So given I shoot landscapes and sailing mainly I probably want to create at least 2 Presets, one based on Landscape Profile and one based on maybe Faithful, adjust other settings to taste and apply during initial post processing - voila !

And I need to go study the Auto-Sync command !!

THanks again folks - very fast and helpful.

 

[Tony Jay]

It sounds like you are getting the hang of this Pete!
Well done.

Tony Jay

 

[erro]

You could also try to come up with some kind of middle approach. Decide on some develop settings (using whatever sliders, camera profiles, lens corrections etc) and apply them as your new default settings. That way, all your photos imported from now on will get those settings. And if you have decent settings, most of your photos will look pretty OK. It is a "middle-of-the-line" approach, yes, so you'll have to use settings that will make your average photos look OK on average. But it's a starting point at least. And since it is a default, it is applied automatically.

Me personally (with my D700) I have changed my default settings to add some extra clarity and vibrance, some extra sharpening, some highlight recovery and some increased shadows. I tend to do those adjustments anyway on most of my photos, so I might as well have them there from the start.

 

[clee01l]

Robert's "middle ground" approach is my approach too. That is one reason why I use Camera Neutral, instead of Vivid, Landscape or Portrait. I think there are Canon equivalents to the Nikon Camera Neutral. I also add some basic clarity, sharpness and NR to my Basic import develop preset.
You can also create several different Import presets. These can implement a different set of parameters for different cameras or shooting conditions. Recently I started using a black velvet background with some of my light box set ups. This rendered the AutoTone adjustment worthless. So, now I have a special "Black Velvet" develop preset and an additional import preset to use in my import dialog.

 

[Jerry Fenner]

I've been following this thread with interest, wondering if anyone would extendit to the issue of shooting with two or more bodies with different sensors - in my case, a D800 and a couple of D3 bodies. Is it possible to develop a preset that recognises the different bodies and applies the appropriate camera calibration settings when importing the all the images, I.e. the complete shoot with the D800 and D3 files?

 

[Tony Jay]

I've been following this thread with interest, wondering if anyone would extendit to the issue of shooting with two or more bodies with different sensors - in my case, a D800 and a couple of D3 bodies. Is it possible to develop a preset that recognises the different bodies and applies the appropriate camera calibration settings when importing the all the images, I.e. the complete shoot with the D800 and D3 files?

Jerry I don't think that there is a way to automatically apply different presets in the way that you are suggesting.
However, if you put together different presets for the D800 and the D3 and name them something that allows you to easily distinguish them, then it is easy to nominate the correct preset to be applied on import.

There may be a plug-in that someone has made that does the task but I am not aware of it.

Tony Jay

 

[erro]

I may be wrong, but..... If you create new default settings, they are applied per camera, are they not? At least that is how i recall it. I shoot RAW with two different cameras (Nikon D700 and Sony Nex 5N) and if I'm not mistaken I have different default settings for them. I'm not at home with my LR computer right now so I can't check.

 

[erro]

Here is an explanation

 

[Tony Jay]

Thanks for that Robert, I stand gratefully corrected!

Tony Jay

 

[Jerry Fenner]

Here is an explanation

Thank you, Erro! I look forward to exploring this!

 

[golfbravo]

Clunk - As the penny drops ! Thanks all, helpful responses helped me sort out the last bits of understanding I needed (I think).


And I need to go study the Auto-Sync command !!

THanks again folks - very fast and helpful.

Pete, be SURE to turn autosync OFF as soon as you are done with it. I love it, but boy have I made some work for myself by forgetting that it was on.

Cheers

 

[johnbeardy]

Actually, I advise people to stay in it all the time - and drop out of it by exception. But there's little difference between us. The key is to stay in one mode or the other, not keep switching back and forth. Once you instinctively know how Lightroom behaves, there's no risk. Forgetting is the danger .

 

[golfbravo]

Actually, I advise people to stay in it all the time - and drop out of it by exception. But there's little difference between us. The key is to stay in one mode or the other, not keep switching back and forth. Once you instinctively know how Lightroom behaves, there's no risk. Forgetting is the danger .

@John, Agreed that either can work. The challenge I've had with students is in remembering that Auto is on when e.g cropping or positioning a crop! And similar issues!