Levels Histogram in Lightroom?

[Photofan]

Hello after calibratiing my monitor with a hardware calibrator, the colour balance is greatly improved and also transfers well between Lightroom and PS5. However I am finding that after exporting from Lightroom if I view the image in Photoshop it is much darker than it looks in LR and on all my images, some adjustmant is required with the right hand 'lights' slider in levels. Using levels in PS is much more subtle than increasing the exposure level in LR which is really just like a brightness adjustment and quicly blows out highlights. My question therefore relates to the histogram view at the top of the Develop module, - is there a way this can be changed to a true 'levels' histogram?? (sorry for going round the houses!)

 

[Victoria Bampton]

The picture in LR and in PS should match, so if they don't, we need to check out your colour space settings and suchlike.

As far as levels go though, consider the LR Exposure slider to be the Whites slider in PS Levels, the LR Blacks to be the Blacks slider in PS Levels, and the LR Brightness slider to be the PS Levels Greys slider. It's not exactly the same as it's raw data, but it's close. If that doesn't do the trick, explain more about what you're doing in PS Levels that you can't do in PS?

 

[Photofan]

Hello Victoria - Thanks for your quick reply - I have been tearing my hair out all week trying to get colour balance and exposure to transfer accurately between LR and PS5 - I have purchased an eye-one match3 calibrator and used that on my monitor which has changed it considerably (darkened it a lot) I have 500 wedding photos which I have adjusted in LR -exposure/blacks/brightness & colour (they were set at Srgb in the camera - I have exported them at SRgb) but when I then open them in PS5 they are all fairly muddy and need the right slider bringinging in quite a bit in levels.

I have tried giving them a bit more exposure in LR which I thought would be as you say the equivalent of the ;evels right slidr but it seems very aggressive and not as finely adjustable as my levels in PS

Consequently after taking all the advice I have had on here to get my images looking the same across both programmes - I havent yet suceeded although the colour balance is better. I havent yet printed any so that will be the next hurdle I have to get across to achieve consistency.

Once again thanks for taking the time to reply - any more advice will be GREATLY appreciated!!

Joy

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Ok, let's check out the possibilities and see where it's going adrift. Can you open the same photo in PS and in LR and do a screenshot so we can see both side by side so we can visualize the kind of muddiness difference that you're seeing? That should give a good clue.

 

[Photofan]

Thanks again Victoria - I have just been doing screen captures to send and now they look the same!! It must be the fact that I was working in LR last night and now when I open them in PS the sun is out (although I have my cream blind drawn) so they appear darker!! Also the surround in Lightrrom Is darker than in Photoshop so that may also give a false impression with regard to exposure - I iwll try to get them the same. I think I have answered my own question!!

Just one final setting I am unsure about in PS - I have the colour settings set as per the attached screen print - Is this correct??? Then when I look at Edit>Assign Profile it is as the 2nd screen print - ie it looks as though the default is 'Dont Colour Manage' but do I set it on the monitor profile to match the monitor or SrGB to match what was set in the camera? Also under Image>Mode - should it be RGB, CMYK or another??? Its really confusing there seem to be so many variables!!

Thanks again for taking the time to help me!
JOy

 

[Chris_M]

...
Also the surround in Lightrrom Is darker than in Photoshop so that may also give a false impression with regard to exposure
...

Just a quick sidenote on that,
you can change the workspace background to whatever you want,
perhaps you could use the predefined Grey to match Lightroom?

 

[Denis de Gannes]

Thanks again Victoria - I have just been doing screen captures to send and now they look the same!! It must be the fact that I was working in LR last night and now when I open them in PS the sun is out (although I have my cream blind drawn) so they appear darker!! Also the surround in Lightrrom Is darker than in Photoshop so that may also give a false impression with regard to exposure - I iwll try to get them the same. I think I have answered my own question!!

Just one final setting I am unsure about in PS - I have the colour settings set as per the attached screen print - Is this correct??? Then when I look at Edit>Assign Profile it is as the 2nd screen print - ie it looks as though the default is 'Dont Colour Manage' but do I set it on the monitor profile to match the monitor or SrGB to match what was set in the camera? Also under Image>Mode - should it be RGB, CMYK or another??? Its really confusing there seem to be so many variables!!



Thanks again for taking the time to help me!
JOy View attachment 568 View attachment 569

Your monitor profile is for use of the monitor it is not a working space profile. Best to choose ProPhoto in photoshop because it will match the Lightroom working space which is a variant of ProPhoto. The working space in Lightroom cannot be changed.

The monitor profile is set in the Windows OS control panel and Lightroom and Photoshop will use the display profile that has been set as the default. Your Calibration software usually does this automatically when you create a profile.

 

[Brad Snyder]

Quick question, does your 'hardware calibrator' actually verify monitor luminance? There should be a separate calibration stage where you actually adjust the monitor controls (hard or soft) to set the brightness or luminance. Normally, you'd find this in some sort of 'advanced' calibration mode, depending on calibrator brand. It might be skipped in a 'quick' or 'easy' calibration mode.

 

[Photofan]

Yes it is the Eye-One Match 3 and I did the calibration using the advanced mode which does measure luminance.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Ok so you set the RGB working space to a proper working space instead of the monitor profile - sRGB would be for now. And further down where you have RGB colour management set to off, I'd change that to Preserve Embedded Profile as you don't want to ignore them.

 

[Photofan]

Thanks I have done the colour settings as above - In Image>Mode - Goes that need to be RGB?
Joy

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Yep, quite right Joy