Why do the pics look so better when viewing on the LCD ?

[christy_davis]

<p>Can anyone tell me why my pictures look so bright and colorful on the LCD on my camera,, but not in CS4? I have a fully calibrated monitor, and think that my workflow is set up correctly.<br>

I shoot with a 50D. All Raw.<br>

Bring them into CS4 , convert to DNG<br>

Use 8 bit sRGB as my working space (I send outsource printing)<br>

The images have such less saturation on screen.<br>

Do I need to be changing some settings on my camera so that what I view is more accurate?<br>

Thanks for your help in advance.<br>

Christy Davis<br>

Silver Creek Photography</p>

[hjoseph7]

<p>Not sure, but the LCD has a little light shining behind each image which can be deceiving. You are right though whenever I upload a picture to PS whether CS2, CS3, or CS4 the brilliance dimishes significantly. With other Photo-Editors I don't run into that problem. </p>

[elliot1]

<p>The camera's settings are not being applied when importing your pictures into Photoshop. You may want to convert them using DPP prior to opening them in Photoshop or select ALT-P/Transfer to Photoshop from DPP which opens the image in Photoshop as a TIFF, retaining all of the in-camera settings.</p>

[PuppyDigs]

<p>Elliot nailed it: PS ACR is unable to read Canon camera picture styles or parameters and opens all files in a generic settings. If you want the RAW file to open with camera defaults intact, use DPP. Or learn to approximate the defaults manually and save as a profile.</p>

[christy_davis]

<p>Elliott, can you give me a little more info on DPP? I usually import the images directly from my card to Bridge. Can you give me an alternate way of converting them first? For instance,, if I don't upload them directly to Bridge from the card,, would I just upload them to the desktop? And if so,, then what software would I use to convert to DDP,, the software that came with my camera? And finally , then would I convert to DNG when uploading to Bridge after having all files converted to DDP?<br />Sorry to be such a novice,, guess I know absolutly nothing about DPP. I appreciate all of the answers!<br />Thanks!<br />Christy</p>

[elliot1]

<p>Christy, DPP is Canon's software (Digital Photo Professional) that came with your camera. You will need to install it on your computer if you have not already done so. Since you are comfortable with Bridge to upload your images, you may want to keep using it for that purpose. Once the files are uploaded, run DPP, select the folder that has the photos you want to work with, then select the file you want to open in Photoshop by clicking once on it and then press Alt-P or select Transfer to Photoshop (from the Tools menu) with your mouse. The file will open in Photoshop and retain all of your in-camera settings.</p>

[john_deerfield]

<p>DPP is Canon's Digital Photo Professional (if memory serves). This software would be your Raw converter instead of ACR because the Canon software can read the camera parameters and apply them to your image. As to workflow, ask 100 different people and you will get 110 different responses (at least 10 people wouldn't have a clue!). If you are committed to shooting Raw, I might suggest using something like Adobe's Lightroom (or Apple's Aperture if on a Mac). If you do decide to use a third party software solution (ie, anything other than Canon's software), I would set my cameras to a neutral setting: no additional sharpening, saturation, contrast, nothing. This way the image on the back of the camera will more closely matches the actual Raw file. They will never be a perfect match since the LCD is hardly color or even brightness accurate and what you are seeing is still a <em>processed</em> file as opposed to an unprocessed Raw file. In which case each processing engine (camera, ACR, DPP, etc) will apply it's own interpretation.</p>

[michaeljlawson]

<p>Don't think of it as "Looking Better" on the LCD. When shooting RAW, think of the LCD image as a potential result after processing the image, if you use the same settings as the ones Canon applies by default in the Camera. If you use Canon's DPP program, these settings will be applied to your RAW image as a starting point. If you use Adobe, no settings are applied by default, and you have to choose how to process them, but the same result and potentially better results than the LCD screen image are a possibility depending on your processing techniques.</p>

[bob_osullivan]

<p>Short answer? Your LCD shows you an adjusted, shaprened and processed JPEG version (even if you shoot RAW only). You CS4 is showing you the unprocessed RAW data.</p>

[ivan_barankevich]

<p>I have had that problem with my 5D Mark II, the fix for me was first of all to update the RAW processor in CS4 to the newest version, and then I had to set the RAW program to all the photoshop defaults, that means that the brigtness is at 50 and contrast is at 25, everything else I believe is at 0. That was enough to fix it for me. Once I did all that the pictures started coming out beautiful again.</p>

[christy_davis]

<p>Okay,, I am heading out to hike for a week. When I come back (with memory cards jamm packed full),, I will follow the advice you guys have been so kind to give. Thanks so much. I do have Lightroom 2 , but havent' used it much since I updated to CS4 from CS3. I love the RAW interface ,, its fantastic. So if I use Canons RAW software,, how does it compare? Any comments on that?<br>

I will let you know how this turns out when I come back .<br>

:) Christy</p>

[Spearhead]

<p><strong>Lot of bad information here.</strong></p>

<p>PS ACR <em>can</em> open with Canon profiles. You need to download the profiles from the Adobe site and then you can apply the right profiles to the images in ACR or LR 2. You have to apply them in ACR or LR 2, and it allows you to use a different Canon profile if you prefer that.</p>

<p>There is absolutely no reason to convert to TIFF, and doing that without the profiles in ACR will give you the same flat image you saw in ACR without any processing or using the Canon profiles. You also don't need to use the Canon software.<br>

<br /> It's very easy to use the Canon profiles once you download and install them.</p>

[christy_davis]

<p>Hey Jeff,, I do have the latest updates loaded on PS ACR,, they have no trouble opening my Canon EOS 50D raw files. Now,, for the profiles? I am not finding them on the Adobe site,, can you send a link if you see them? This may be where my problem lies.</p>

[Spearhead]

<p>Sorry, I forgot the link. <a href="http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/DNG_Profiles">Here it is</a> . It says beta, they may be in the latest update of LR and ACR without the download. The page shows how to find and use them.</p>

[christy_davis]

<p>Thanks a million~ DONE ! :)</p>

[nathangardner]

<p>The first thing I do when I get a camera is to set the LCD brightness to the middle. If its set to its brightest setting then you will get an untrue idea of the exposure. It makes your pictures look good, but you will think they're brighter than they really are. Also use the histogram as the primary tool to get correct exposure. I have PS Lightroom 2 and my pics do the same thing. I can fine tune them myself and get them to look as good if not better than they did on the camera. If you don't want to spend a lot of time on the photos then the 'auto tone' button usually works well too. Again this is in LR, I have no idea about CS.</p>

[keith reeder]

<blockquote>

<p>PS ACR <em>can</em> open with Canon profiles.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Jeff,</p>

<p>if by that you're suggesting that ACR <em>et al</em> can read and use Canon's "profiles" (Picture Styles): sorry you are incorrect, and the other posters are correct - <strong>lots of <em>good</em> information here.</strong></p>

<p>As Adobe says itself <a href="http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/DNG_Profiles_FAQ#WhatIsNewAS">here</a> - with my emphasis:</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>These profiles <em>match the color appearance</em> produced by the camera vendors' software, under specific settings (described below). They are intended for photographers who appreciate the workflow and toolset provided by CR / LR but prefer the color rendering provided by the camera vendors' own software.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Adobe goes on to say:</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>Please note that <em>the CM profiles are NOT expected to match the embedded in-camera JPEG</em> , especially if you have established custom in-camera settings.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>In other words, the Adobe profiles are <em>an attempt to emulate</em> (in this case) Canon Picture Styles - but Adobe software does not read/use the Canon Picture Styles themselves.</p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>if by that you're suggesting that ACR <em>et al</em> can read and use Canon's "profiles"</p>

</blockquote>

<p>What I said was "You have to apply them in ACR or LR 2". I didn't say anywhere that it could read the profiles.</p>