I took a bunch of shots with different settings to see how I could solve the red flower problem. Then I opened them in both IrfanView and Lightroom. I was very surprised to see that the identical image looked very different in the two programs (I was viewing the RAW file in both cases, but in IrfanView, the RAW file and the jpg were identical). I have done no processing whatsoever on either of these photos.
The one on the left is what I saw in Lightroom (the RAW file -- the jpgs don't open automatically for me in Lightroom). The one on the right is what I saw in IrfanView (both the jpg and the RAW file). The strangest part is that I did the screen shot on both of these in IrfanView -- I saved the file from Lightroom and then opened it in IrfanView and it looked completely different from when I opened it in IrfanView directly from the SD card. Why is this???
After looking at several photos, it appears that IrfanView is showing the color balance that I set in the camera, in both the jpg file and the RAW file. Lightroom seems to be ignoring it when displaying the RAW file. When I open the jpg file from the SD card in Photoshop, it looks the same as it does in IrfanView, which seems to support my theory.
Does this mean that if I want to edit in Lightroom, the only adjustments I can make in the camera are to the exposure? And why would two programs display the same RAW file so differently? I'm finding this both confusing and frustrating!
By any chance do you have anything set in one or another program to automatically apply on import to all images? That's the only thing I can think of - but I will be the first to say that I know nothing about this...
@northy No and after posting this, I opened the jpg images in Lightroom and they looked just like they did in IrfanView, which leads me to believe that the RAW files are not appearing as they should in IrfanView, whereas in Lightroom, all of the processing information from the camera is deleted in the RAW file and left in the jpg (which is how it should be -- bad news for anyone who wants to try to fix these problems when shooting, but if you shoot RAW+ like I do, then you still have the corrected jpg files, which might be usable with no processing).
when you import into lightroom and then select the image, do you see it flicker slightly? I was having a chat with someone about this a while ago and they were saying that what happens is there's a JPG representation embedded in the RAW file
In LR when you first import and view, it shows the JPG representation that your camera took immediately (for a speed thing?), and THEN LR does its own import of the RAW file to replace it afterwards
@toast I don't see it flicker, but I have noticed that the thumbnail is different from the image that is displayed (before I display it -- as soon as I display the image, the thumbnail changes, as well).
You have to remember that the back of the camera view you see and the initial thumbnail in LR are JPEG files and that what you get when you open to edit in LR is the flat RAW file that you have to then process. I have never used the other piece of software that you are comparing in this so can't comment.
A long shot, but have you checked what colour space each one is using? By default, my camera is set at Adobe RGB, which gives more colour range than a lot of programs can handle. Once I have worked my RAW, I always convert the profile to sRGB before saving, as I am more likely to get consistent colour in other programs.
Maybe worth open the image, changing the profile, and then checking the resulting jpg?
I agree with Ashley - colour space but also when images are opened in Bridge (if you are using it - goes the same for LR) the RAW images is slightly adjusted before any editing is done. But sounds like you've got it sorted.
@sidecar Yes, I think I've figured it out. This whole conversation has convinced me that shooting in RAW is best. The image I liked less was the JPEG version and they're much more difficult to edit. I like working with those RAW images and doing whatever I want with them knowing that I can go back and re-edit the originals. Also, I like not having to worry about all those in-camera settings that don't affect the RAW image.
Write a Reply
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
In LR when you first import and view, it shows the JPG representation that your camera took immediately (for a speed thing?), and THEN LR does its own import of the RAW file to replace it afterwards
@andysg In this particular case, the RAW image looks a lot better than the jpg, but yes, in general, I know this.
Maybe worth open the image, changing the profile, and then checking the resulting jpg?