Lightroom settings

[Robert M Poole]

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Hello,

 

I've just got an m9 and I love the shooting experience so far. I'm having some trouble with the files though. When I shot jpegs before I didn't like the colours but I find the dngs a bit flat. If I play with the settings in LR5 I can get some great results but a lot of playing or using some vsco presets. Are there any settings people apply to all photos that they find work well? For example on my Fuji I always drop the highlights by 50, up the vibrance etc; sharpening to 100 etc.

 

Any tips/tricks? I've done some googling but not much has come up so far.

 

Thanks

 

Rob

[jdlaing]

This is best done to your own taste. It requires a little experimentation but anything you don't like is reversible.

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[LocalHero1953]

When I had an M9 the only issue I consistently corrected was magenta skin tones in hot lighting: usually pushing the red towards orange and reducing red saturation.

With the M9 and now the M240 I have custom colour profiles which work well. But, frankly, I find a correctly exposed image in good light at low-ish ISO needs little or no further correction, including noise and sharpness. All my work in LR is to correct images that don't set the ideal. But it depends on what sort of look you want. And how good you are at getting it right in camera

[jaapv]

Hard to say - taste is individual.

[rpavich]

Hey Rob!

 

Nice to see you shooting this camera...I loved the files out of it....they were really amazing.

 

However, you are right, just like any camera, they take some getting used to in LR.

 

I did this; I started  with my preferred Fuji preset because I tend to like certain things no matter what; a slight bump in contrast, a slight lowering of highlights, a slight bump in shadows, a slight bump in blacks, a few percent of clarity, etc.

 

For raw,  a bit of sharpening, no NR ever at all.

 

Once I had the Fuji preset on it, then I  moved the sliders a bit to adjust as necessary, and then saved as a new preset. After shooting some and using this basic preset, I kept saving it upon each modification until I thought it was what I wanted.

 

It will also (in my opinion) vary with the lens choice and subject/exposure.

 

You will like the files, don't forget, try to vary the WB between "As shot" and Auto in LR, that makes a difference also.

 

 

The first time I saw a file come out of the M9 I think I literally said "whoa" out loud

Edited August 10, 2015 by rpavich

[Robert M Poole]

 

 

Hey Rob!

 

Nice to see you shooting this camera...I loved the files out of it....they were really amazing.

 

However, you are right, just like any camera, they take some getting used to in LR.

 

I did this; I started with my preferred Fuji preset because I tend to like certain things no matter what; a slight bump in contrast, a slight lowering of highlights, a slight bump in shadows, a slight bump in blacks, a few percent of clarity, etc.

 

For raw, a bit of sharpening, no NR ever at all.

 

Once I had the Fuji preset on it, then I moved the sliders a bit to adjust as necessary, and then saved as a new preset. After shooting some and using this basic preset, I kept saving it upon each modification until I thought it was what I wanted.

 

It will also (in my opinion) vary with the lens choice and subject/exposure.

 

You will like the files, don't forget, try to vary the WB between "As shot" and Auto in LR, that makes a difference also.

 

 

The first time I saw a file come out of the M9 I think I literally said "whoa" out loud

Thanks! I'll give that a go! I'm in Greece at the moment so will try when I get home. I think 'whoa' was what I said to!

[david strachan]

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I might slide the contrast a little...using older lenses affords me that control.  Might move black point. Modern digital can look a bit clinical, so I'm going backwards!.

A little noise is OK too in my books.  In camera settings are good on the M's...change contrast, sharpening, colour and light balance...all in camera.

 

I tend to just touch up JPG's; they come out pretty nicely.  But they can posterize in the skies if one uses too much processing.

 

cheers Dave S

Edited August 10, 2015 by david strachan

[tobey bilek]

Thanks! I'll give that a go! I'm in Greece at the moment so will try when I get home. I think 'whoa' was what I said to!

LR and PS can be configured to open to a preset as default based on serial number of the camera.  No need to even find the preset.

 

I use 10 clarity,  10 vibrance,   medium contrast curve,  default sharpening, medium masking and detail.   Once all this is automatically done,  it is easy to change individual exposures etc as required.  NR is based on iso and done from a list.

[Robert M Poole]

LR and PS can be configured to open to a preset as default based on serial number of the camera. No need to even find the preset.

 

I use 10 clarity, 10 vibrance, medium contrast curve, default sharpening, medium masking and detail. Once all this is automatically done, it is easy to change individual exposures etc as required. NR is based on iso and done from a list.

That's useful thanks, is this AB easy setting to find? I'm using LR5

[jaapv]

I would advise to either study the tutorials on Adobe's website or buy a book on the subject ( for beginners and up to medium level I would advise one by Scott Kelby)

Programs like Lightoom cannot be explained in a simple forum post, and if you try to go the self-taught trial and error way you waste an immense amount of time and miss three quarters of the potential of the program.

There is a whole lot to be found on the Internet as well.

[Robert M Poole]

I would advise to either study the tutorials on Adobe's website or buy a book on the subject ( for beginners and up to medium level I would advise one by Scott Kelby)

Programs like Lightoom cannot be explained in a simple forum post, and if you try to go the self-taught trial and error way you waste an immense amount of time and miss three quarters of the potential of the program.

There is a whole lot to be found on the Internet as well.

Thanks Jaapv I'll have a look. I've been using lightroom for a while and learning all the time!

[Jeff S]

https://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/lightroom-training-videos

 

Jeff

[Robert M Poole]

It's but l not really that I want to learn how to use lightroom more that I want to know if there is any standard way to get the most from m9 files. If not then I'll keep playing.

[BerndReini]

I think you should keep playing. I find things are so different when lighting and location change that I don't really use a default unless I am working on a series. Then I experiment with a couple of pictures and copy and paste that preset to the files I want to change. You could also shoot JPEG+DNG for a while and try to match the DNG to the JPEG and make that your preset for importing DNGs.

[tobey bilek]

I took LR out of my computer.   Preference is for photoshop/bridge which does the same thing.   I got all mixed up up once with the libraries and lost some raw files.   Strong suggest you not experiment.   I will have to concure with JAAP,  buy a book.  

 

Unlike other computer programs,  it is possible to go unrecoverable with LR and it happened to me based on some advice I got on line.  I have CC and will not even install LR.  PS & Bridge do the same things only better.  I see no reason to bounce from one program to another as LR is missing a whole lot of stuff.

 

There are no settings that work for all photos.  Advice I gave is my starting point.

 

And you really need a calibrated monitor. 

[rpavich]

I took LR out of my computer.   Preference is for photoshop/bridge which does the same thing.   I got all mixed up up once with the libraries and lost some raw files.   Strong suggest you not experiment.   I will have to concure with JAAP,  buy a book.  

 

Unlike other computer programs,  it is possible to go unrecoverable with LR and it happened to me based on some advice I got on line.  I have CC and will not even install LR.  PS & Bridge do the same things only better.  I see no reason to bounce from one program to another as LR is missing a whole lot of stuff.

 

There are no settings that work for all photos.  Advice I gave is my starting point.

 

And you really need a calibrated monitor. 

I couldn't disagree more with all of this. (except for the calibrated monitor)

[jaapv]

It's but l not really that I want to learn how to use lightroom more that I want to know if there is any standard way to get the most from m9 files. If not then I'll keep playing.

There is no standard way unless you take standard photographs of standard subjects in standard light. It will take you ages to master Lightroom by "playing" And even then you will not discover many features and workflows. The Scott Kelby books are a bit like a cookbook: he gives recipes - exactly what you are looking for.

Just ignore his awful jokes and bad taste in music

[jaapv]

I took LR out of my computer.   Preference is for photoshop/bridge which does the same thing.   I got all mixed up up once with the libraries and lost some raw files.   Strong suggest you not experiment.   I will have to concure with JAAP,  buy a book.  

 

Unlike other computer programs,  it is possible to go unrecoverable with LR and it happened to me based on some advice I got on line.  I have CC and will not even install LR.  PS & Bridge do the same things only better.  I see no reason to bounce from one program to another as LR is missing a whole lot of stuff.

 

There are no settings that work for all photos.  Advice I gave is my starting point.

 

And you really need a calibrated monitor. 

Still, basically Lightroom IS Photoshop, just trimmed down to the needs of the photographer and with a different interface.

 

Personally I prefer Photoshop as well, as it gives far more possibilities and I am so used to it that it works very smoothly in my hands.

However, for printing I will move to the Lightroom module and when doing quick and dirty, like on the run on my laptop, I will go into LR as well.

 

And yes, you cannot do without a good calibrated monitor, at least, if you want to get the best out of your files.

[Duane Pandorf]

I found George Jardine's Lightroom tutorials very beneficial to my move to Lightroom from Aperture since LR came with my Leica M-E.  

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[Jeff S]

Yes, you should invest lots of time and effort learning your software tools.  But more importantly, you need a vision for how you want your photos to look....that comes from looking at lots of others' work, especially prints, and developing your own style over time.  LR, like any other software, is just a means to get there....the suggestions already made on books and tutorials are good ones.  A search will bring up lots of related discussion.

 

Jeff

Edited August 12, 2015 by Jeff S