Loosing colors from raw files???

<p>Dear all,<br>

<br />I'm using Nikon D700 and for processing multiply images Lightroom 4, for more detail work PS CS6.<br>

After my last shoot I ran to a problem that I can not solve for last few days, I was Google-ing out and tried many different approaches but nothing helped.<br>

What is it about:<br>

I was shooting wake boarders on a nice sunny day and I wanted to increase the colors a lot so I set picture control on Vivide and incised saturation to +3, hue to +1, my shutter speed was 1/2000, F5, ISO Lo 0.7, WB: auto, I was shooting in RAW on Nikon D700.<br>

When I opened the RAW files in ACDSee I loooooved the result but since I need to deliver JPG files and to do some cropping I import them in Lightroom and BOOM my beautiful colors despaired, I tried with Photo shop, same result, also with Nikon software, I also tried to edit directly from ACDSee but soon as I click edit button the same thing happens. I also tried to increase saturation, hue, play with colors to get the same effect but I just can not get the same colors like in raw files. Also I noticed that Lightroom first opens good looking pictures (just like I want) and than without me touching anything one by one he converts them or does something that makes colors disappear. <br>

I know that each of this programs have certain color profile set and in photo shop I can chose between many color profiles but If I change the sRGB settings I think that when I deliver pictures to the client he will see them based on his settings + he doesn't need them for print, he needs them for internet display.<br>

After 3 days of internet research I'm becoming bit desperate, so if any of you had similar problem or know the solution please help.<br>

Thank you so much </p>

<p>I know my RAW converter strips any of the in camera adjustments, so your saturation, and hue settiings would be lost, and only appear in the tiny preview jpg. This jpg is probably what you are seeing in ACDsee, and when you first open Lightroom. There is probably a way to have your camera settings applied to raw files, whether you have to use Nikon supplied software or not I am not sure. I went through the same issue as you, my software is all open source and I have yet to find a way to use camera settings AND raw files, so I just set everything to neutral and apply any colour corrections afterwards.</p>

<p>Mmmh. For RAW, you will not see any impact of colours you have decided to increase in-camera - this only affects JPG you're shooting. In RAW, you'll have to develop everything, like people used to do in darkrooms. (This goes for LR and for PS). I don't know what ACDsee does to your files - maybe that it presents you a preview your camera would also show you.</p>

<p>Looks to me that you might need some Color Management lessons. This site has several. Use the search function in the upper right for at least two tutorials. If you are shooting in raw and exporting for web or other computer use, you will need to process the images and get them in the right color space (sRGB vs Adobe or ProPhotoRGB). Fortunately in Lightroom you can batch process images or make a preset (lessons for which are available from Adobe) and save yourself a good bit of time . </p>

Problem suspiciously seems to be of a mismatch between original color space and the one used in viewer/editor. (Others would be better able to troubleshoot than I could.)

"I was Google-ing out and tried many different approaches but nothing helped."

 

Try performing Google searches with the word "losing" spelled correctly...

 

http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00YCgJ

<p>Daniel and Monika have the right answer. This is not a color management issue. For more, read this: <a href="http://www.lightroomforums.net/showthread.php?1285-Why-did-Lightroom-ruin-my-photo">Why did Lightroom 'ruin' my photo?</a></p>

 

<p>If you like the results as they were out of camera (i.e. basically the cameras JPEG rendering of the files) just have Nikon View NX (free) batch convert the NEFs to JPEGs. Nikon's <em>own</em> products can read and apply the camera settings to your files. If you want to <em>tweak</em> the files starting from there you can use Nikon Capture NX (extra cost ...)</p>

<p>Setting your camera to "Vivid" and adding saturation and hue would do nothing to a RAW image opened in a non-Nikon editor. The initial preview would be the camera's JPEG with adjustments applied, but after that, LR, ACR would use it's own default settings to adjust the image. ACDSee isn't showing you a RAW image, either, it's the camera's JPEG again. You never see a "RAW" image; it always has adjustments applied either by the camera (a JPEG version) or an editor.</p>

<p>If you want to see the raw images reflecting the in camera settings you can do that with Canon's Digital Photo Professional which will show you the raw image with the in camera settings as their starting point. Good luck!</p>

 

<p>This may be easy, Lilyen. I also use Lightroom 4 and shoot raw with a Nikon D80. In Lghtroom, in Develop mode, scroll down to Camera Calibration. Click the options next to Profile. Usually the default is ACR 4.4 (Adobe Camera Raw settings for your camera) You will also see a list of alternate selections specifically for Nikon, including Camera Vivid. This may produce just the effect you're looking for. Hope this is your solution.</p>

<p>You are not losing color, raw is raw. Each converter interprets that differently by default. Alan and Gil are spot on. </p>

<p>Gil is suggesting using Canon software for viewing Nikon raw files from a Nikon D700, I'm sure that is a mistake. Use Nikon's View NX instead.</p>

Lightroom, ACR, - don't "strip out" your in camera color adjustments - they just don't know what data fork they are on

because camera makers want to keep that information black boxed & proprietary.

 

Here's an approach to try. If you shot both raw and JPEG on the JPEG in one window and use it as a reference to

processing the raw file.

 

In Lr, start at the top with color temp and then go to Clarity, then Vibrance and if necessary Saturation. Check for white

point clipping and adjust the White and Highlight sliders as necessary. Next go to Detail and choose the "Sharpen-

Landscape" preset from the set of Lightroom Presets in the panel on the left side ((40/0.8/30(?)/0). Check for WP clipping

again.

 

Next go to the tone curve setting and switch from Linear to either Medium or High Contrast, depending on what looks

best.

Now try the different camera calibration settings.

 

Feel free to readjust any of these settings as needed.

 

As a last global step look at the hue settings in the H/S/L pane. You can click on the littlepoint selector indicator in the

upper left corner of the pane (sort of looks like a target) and choose a specific point in the photo and use your mouse's

thumb wheel to adjust just that color (globally).

Delete

Dupe delete.

Deleted.

Delete duplicate.

1. There is no color space with raw. You choose the color space when you exort / convert to jpg, tif, etc

2. As stated before, raw image capture ignores the virtually all settings in the camera like saturation, picture style, etc.

3. Once you get the raw image into lightroom you can recreate those settings. You can save those settings as a

template to use on other photos

<p>Adobe software does not read any of your in camera settings. The default camera profile in Lightroom 4 is Adobe Standard. I suggest you try the following as a starting point for processing the RAW files.<br /> <br /> Go to camera calibration and select "Camera Vivid v4" for the camera profile. I don't use Lightroom 4 (use Photoshop CS6 ACR instead), but in ACR Camera Calibration tab you have Red, Green, and Blue primary Hue and Saturation sliders. If these exists in Lightroom set Red, Green, and Blue Primary Hue sliders to +10 to simulate the Hue adjustent you set in the camera. In the develop setion set Saturation to +45 to simulate the +3 saturation setting you selected in the camera.<br /> <br /> This is a starting point and should be close to the jpg from the camera.</p>

You may want to shoot raw + jpg. That way if the jpg is good then use it. If it has issues then you have the raw to use.

<p>If you don't have a jpg from the camera, you can generate it using Nikon View NX2 (free software). This software will read all your camera settings and generate an output that is a very close match to what you get from the camera. You can also put it in the Edit Mode and make some limited adjustments before you save it as a jpg, tif, etc. </p>