Whilst I briefly mentioned the new "Set Develop
Settings" command in my review of
Lightroom 1.1 I didn't think it was necessary to go into
detail. Little did I realise that some two months after 1.1 was
launched that many Lightroom users would still persist in creating and
applying Preset develop settings customised for their particular
camera etc. Don't get me wrong, presets still have their uses, but
having to filter images according to Model, Serial Number
or ISO in order that the appropriate develop preset can
be applied is both time consuming and in many instances unnecessary. My
guess is that users either don't realise that Lightroom is already
capable of automating much of this work or don't understand how/when to
use this feature.
So what is the "Set Develop
Settings" command and when should we use it?
As noted above both Lightroom and Camera Raw now
include support for the saving and application of user defined
develop settings on a camera model, serial number and/or ISO rating
basis. These settings will be applied automatically during import or
after a reset if the image is already with the catalog. By adopting
this approach Adobe provided a means by which much of the decision
making and preset application of custom default develop settings can be
left to Lightroom or Camera Raw. For example, on import Lightroom now
has the ability to apply a specific set of develop settings to images
that may have been shot at different ISO ratings. Better still
is the fact that the defaults saved in Lightroom will automatically be
used by Camera Raw 4.x and vice versa.
Unfortunately, the updated Lightroom User Guide provides only
limited information on this new feature. So, not for the first time, it
falls to third parties to fill the gap. In the following few paragraphs
I will show, using examples, how this feature might be used in your
workflow.
Whether you want to configure Lightroom to use your
custom develop settings based solely on the camera model or be more
specific and apply them to individual cameras based on the serial
number or an image by image basis dependent on ISO, Lightroom now
has the tools to make it happen automatically.
The means to ensure that it works the way "you" want is
found in Lightroom Preferences (figure 1 below). Note the two
checkboxes within the blue boundary line. Whilst the default is to
apply develop settings to all images on a specific camera basis, they
are applied irrespective of the actual ISO rating. For many
photographers this might be satisfactory, but for others (e.g. those
who shoot mixed images from low to high ISO values) it still leaves a
lot of work for them to do after import, hence the second checkbox.
Since I tend not to shoot many images with ISO values greater than 200
I prefer to leave the ISO related preference Off. Nevertheless, it's an
important preference settings, so I'll show an example of how it can be
used later in this tutorial.
Figure 1 - Lightroom Preferences
22 August 2007
Tip 1:
Adobe Camera Raw preferences also includes the two checkboxes
mentioned above -
click here for
screenshot to access these
preferences use the Cmd/Ctrl+K
keyboard shortcut from within Camera Raw
Camera Specific Settings
Camera calibration is a good example of where camera or
serial number specific develop settings would be used. However, at time
of writing Lightroom doesn't support any of the available scripts that
make this task easy (see Tip 3 below for update on camera
calibration profiles). So, in the absence of such scripts it's really
down to loading in a GretagMacbeth ColorChecker and manually
tweaking the Camera Calibration panel adjustments sliders.
Alternatively, you could of course search the web for a preset based on
the same camera model as yours then fine tune the settings to taste,
but this approach probably won't be much better than "eyeballing" your
own from the outset. Fortunately, Lightroom uses the Camera Raw engine
to render raw images, so any calibration values you may already have
can be used with Lightroom. Figure 2 below shows the camera calibration
settings I use for my Canon EOS 5D; I've also included the
values I use for Sharpening.
Figure 2 - click image for larger
view
As mentioned above there are no documented procedures,
at least none that I'm aware of, for determining camera calibration
settings when using Lightroom. Therefore, I use an Adobe Photoshop
script written by
Thomas Fors,
which runs with Camera Raw and Photoshop. The process of calculating
the values takes around 30 minutes on a fast computer, although some
folk get very close by eye in a much shorter period of time. Once
calculated the results need to be manually inserted into Lightroom's
camera calibration Hue and Saturation fields. The
following is a listing of the necessary steps:
-
Open Lightroom Preferences (see figure 1 above)
and set the checkmark associated with "Make defaults specific to
camera serial number" to On and "Make defaults specific
to camera ISO" is Off
-
Open an image shot with the camera model and serial
number (important) you want to apply the calibration settings to (any
image from this specific camera will suffice, but you must have an
image open before the values can be inserted into the adjustment
fields)
-
Adjust the camera calibration fields to the
calculated values
-
Choose "Set Default Settings" from Photo
menu in Develop module, the dialog in figure 3 will appear
-
Press the "Update to Current Settings" button
Figure 3 - Custom settings for a specific camera
Tip 2: holding down the Option key (Mac)
or Alt key (Windows) changes the Develop module Reset
button to Set Default..., whilst holding down the Shift key
changes it to Reset (Adobe). Remember to use the standard
Reset button after using either so that the new settings can be
applied. Also, note that because the develop settings are defined as
"defaults" no badge will appear in bottom right corner of thumbnail
images.
2
August 2008
Tip 3: To coincide with the release of Lightroom 2.0, Adobe
have also made available beta versions of new Camera Profiles
for use with Camera Raw 4.5 and Lightroom 2.0. The profiles labelled
Adobe Standard are intended as alternatives to the default ACR
camera profile, and each camera model will have an additional set of
profiles that are intended to emulate the camera vendor styles or
looks. For example, Canon users will be able to choose profiles that
emulate Pictures Styles such as: Standard, Landscape,
Neutral, Portrait and Faithful. When installed,
the new profiles are will appear in Lightroom's Camera Calibration
panel (figure 4 below). It's also possible to make one of the new
profiles your camera default. More details on the new profiles and
DNG Profile Editor can be found in my
Lightroom 2.0 feature review.
Figure 4 - Lightroom 2.0 Camera Calibration Panel
Tip 4:
Adobe Camera Raw uses the command
Save New Camera
Raw Settings
-
click here for
screenshot also remember
to use either the Done button before exiting Camera Raw
Non Camera Specific Settings
Occasionally, you may wish to apply develop settings to
all images from a particular camera model irrespective of the serial
number. Such settings might include: Blacks, Clarity,
Vibrance, Tone Curve, etc
The steps in the process of customising these default
develop settings are fairly straight forward -
-
Open Lightroom Preferences (see figure 1 above)
and set the checkmark associated with both "Make defaults
specific to camera serial number" and "Make defaults specific to
camera ISO setting" to Off
-
Open an image shot with the camera model you're
defining default settings for
-
Adjust any develop values you want to apply to
all images from this camera model
-
Choose "Set Default Settings" from Photo menu in
Develop module, the dialog in figure 5 will appear
-
Press the "Update to Current Settings" button
Figure 5 - Custom settings for any copy of a specific camera model
Note: the settings shown above are
examples only
So, with both preference checkboxes shown in figure 1
above set to Off it's possible to apply these defaults to all
images from a particular camera model (e.g. any Canon EOS 5D). This use
of the "Set Default Settings" command can be used to define the
"look" that you prefer as the starting point for all images from this
camera model.
Default Noise Settings
Digital cameras will have different noise
characteristics as the ISO rating is increased. So, it goes without
saying that you will probably also want to define alternative values
for individual ISO rating. As with the other settings described above,
noise settings can be different for each copy of a specific camera
model.
Again, the remaining steps in the process of
customising the camera default for different ISO ratings are fairly
simple-
-
Open Lightroom Preferences (see figure 1 above)
and set the checkmark associated with "Make defaults specific to
camera ISO" setting to On
-
Open an image shot at the ISO rating to be defined in
the camera default (example in figure 6 below is ISO 400)
-
Adjust the Luminance Noise and/or Colour
Noise values (plus any others you prefer to move away from the
Adobe defaults) to preferred value
-
Choose "Set Default Settings" from Photo menu in
Develop module
-
Press the "Update to Current Settings" button
Figure 6 - Custom settings for specific camera and ISO rating
Figure 7 - Preferred "Detail" settings for ISO 400
Steps 2 through 5 in above procedure should be repeated
for each ISO rating that you want to use your defaults rather than
those defined by the Adobe default settings. Once your ISO specific
settings have been entered Lightroom will check the EXIF data
associated with each image to see whether it meets the criteria defined
for ISO rating. If both match Lightroom will automatically apply the
appropriate default settings to the image.
Once set as the default all images subsequently
imported into Lightroom that match the criteria defined in the custom
settings (e.g. camera model, serial number and ISO rating will
automatically be rendered using your custom develop settings. Also, and
as previously explained, the new default settings will be only applied
to images already in your catalog after they have been reset, so don't
forget this step.
To restore the Lightroom defaults you simply choose an
appropriate image (i.e. one from the relevant camera model, ISO rating,
etc), choose "Set Default Settings" from Photo menu, then press the "Restore
Adobe Default Settings" button. Finally, don't forget to reset the
images and rebuild the previews.
Additional resources:
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