Lightroom - Changing my Exposure

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gingerweasel

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Guys, got a bit of an odd problem I need some help with. I have a series of images I took today, the exposure of these is spot on but when I transfer them to lightroom they turn really dark after a few seconds.

They look fine on the cameras LCD screen and on my MAC when viewed in Digital Photo Professional.

Very strange ..

Anyone got any idea what the hell is wrong.





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This is probably due to the camera and DPP applying some picture/camera profile onto the picture, which Lightroom doesn't.
 
I'm not sure about DPP but I know I have everything switched off on the camera so there is no processing done.

The odd thing is this only started today, yesterday everything was fine.
 
Have you moved the "Picture Style" to something by mistake?
 
gingerweasel said:
They look fine on the cameras LCD screen
Click to expand...

Camera LCDs are rarely, if ever, accurate.

How does the histogram in the camera compare to lightroom's?
 
Right click on one of the shots that is dark and select Develop Settings --> Reset from the pop-up menu (not sure how you do it on MAC). If the picture lightens then you probably have some Develop Settings being applied on Import.

EDIT: The Develop Settings --> Reset is also on Photo menu
 
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Gary, no picture styles applied.

gnom, I'd think it was this only for the fact that it wasn't happening yesterday. The darker images are really dark but exposure on the camera looks good.

John, exposure on the camera looks good (see images below).

4894528314_ba9ef0f2af_b.jpg


4893937139_f8063245a7_b.jpg
 
Halflap said:
Right click on one of the shots that is dark and select Develop Settings --> Reset from the pop-up menu (not sure how you do it on MAC). If the picture lightens then you probably have some Develop Settings being applied on Import.

EDIT: The Develop Settings --> Reset is also on Photo menu
Click to expand...

Reset and nothing changed :(

On a related note I did calibrate my monitor yesterday, however I don't feel it's the monitor as other applications show the image okay.
 
gingerweasel said:
Reset and nothing changed :(

On a related note I did calibrate my monitor yesterday, however I don't feel it's the monitor as other applications show the image okay.
Click to expand...

It could be some interaction with the calibrator's software or setup in some way. Can you uninstall the calibrator, I know it's a paid but not a major hassle to re calibrate later and it would remove that as a variable.
 
cowasaki said:
It could be some interaction with the calibrator's software or setup in some way. Can you uninstall the calibrator, I know it's a paid but not a major hassle to re calibrate later and it would remove that as a variable.
Click to expand...

Okay I removed the calibrator and re-imported the files - still the same. After about 5 seconds the images in the gallery start turning dark.

I'm almost 100% it's not my exposure on the camera, like i said it's fine in DPP, even Photoshop. Driving me crazy...
 
Initially Lightroom displays the image using the embedded JPEG. It will then re render the preview file using it's own interpretation of the RAW file. This often makes a difference compared with the original display. This second image does not take into account any picture styles they may be set on the camera.

DPP will apply picture styles whilst Lightroom doesn't. You could try applying the same picture style in Lightroom with the calibration settings in the develop module

It's possible that this is what you are seeing.
 
Mine change slightly which I just put down to the jpg / processing issue mentioned above but the change is small not as big as the OP suggested so that is why it didn't ring a bell here. You can apply a default process to the imports and I suppose that the default is darker than the jpg image from your camera by some way. This would explain it. You could try importing it directly as a RAW file into say PS and see what happens there, is it also darker?
 
Lightroom displays the JPEG preview from your RAW file first and then replaces it with its own preview when it is done. This will explain the delayed change that you are seeing.

The darker aspect - I can think of 2 explanations:

1) LR (as many other RAW converters) applies silent exposure compensation to the RAW file. So that exposure slider value of 0 is not really 0 as this silent compensation is applied. This compensation offset is dependent on the camera model and chosen profile (ACR/LR profile). DPP does it as well but I don't know on what basis. Here I would guess that you have changed your default profile which made it darker.

2) You have changed your development settings somehow and made them default in LR.
 
Did you have Auto Lighting Optimizer [ALO] enabled on the 5DII?

DPP will carry over the adjustments, Lightroom can't.
 
Not a happy bunny at all this evening.

First of all I decided to reimage my MAC and start again from scratch. I did this, reinstalled the calibrator, then lightroom.

A few seconds after importing my images they all went dark again, from what I can tell it's about 2 stops under exposed on each image. This is strange because the cameras exposure meter in the viewfinder has the exposure smack bang in the middle of the scale.

Here is the histogram in DPP

4899224812_8f3d1011a2_b.jpg


Here is the histogram in lightroom

4898662029_a3828bb34d.jpg


The only thing I've changed recently is my use of AV mode to shoot these, so I select f4.0 and let the camera do the rest. Really concerned now as I've shot over 1000 images this past week.
 
That Lightroom histogram looks closer to 1 stop under than 2. The right hand edge corresponds to about +3 stops (for a Canon camera at any rate) and that puts it pretty close to the DPP histogram. If you make sure that Lightroom is using the same camera profile as DPP's picture style the gap may get closer.

Are you aware that when you calibrate your monitor you need to configure DPP to use the new profile? It does not pick it up automatically.
 
Musicman said:
What's showing on the ALO tab in DPP?
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Good question. ALO is a right pain in the tits if you want to get to the truth about your exposures. Personally I wouldn't dream of using it, any more than I would use HTP.

I might also add that whether rendered by DPP or Lightroom it's still the same raw file underneath, so quite honestly, other than a small inconvenience, it does not matter if the Lightroom rendering is a bit darker. Just boost it a bit. Your noise performance and dynamic range will be no better or worse for it (compared to the DPP rendering) because your original raw capture was the same either way. If you're not exposing to the right then you're not exposing to the right.
 
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Musicman said:
What's showing on the ALO tab in DPP?
Click to expand...

It was ticked... when removed the exposure looks more like that of lightroom. Mystery number one solved!!!

So if my exposure is off does anyone have a clue why my cameras exposure meter is telling me otherwise??? Or is this the ALO on the camera itself?
 
The histogram and preview image are processed in the camera with all the settings you have enabled in the camera, including ALO, HTP, NR, picture styles, white balance, colour space etc. etc.. Therefore, as far as your raw capture is concerned, you can't believe anything you see when you have ALO and some of these other features enabled.

If you want to get closer to the truth then it is best to shoot with neutral picture style, contrast at minimum, and all gimmicky picture enhancements turned off. I have read that you should also shoot in the Adobe RGB colour space to improve histogram accuracy. If you want to go the whole hog you could even set a custom white balance, often known as "Uni white balance", which will disable the red and blue channel multipliers, so that your histogram is not skewed by white balance adjustments.

Personally I am happy to shoot with neutral picture style and with the gimmicks disabled. That gives me an in camera histogram I can interpret well enough. I look for, and am happy to see, small areas of blinkies, just to show me that I am on the edge of clipping, but not too far into clipping for recovery to get my details back if I need them. If I don't see a hint of clipping then I know I haven't really pushed my exposure terribly hard towards the right. I tried using Uni WB but did not bother with it for long.
 
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Pretty well what tdodd said.

I reckon, with ALO enabled, it underexposed the photo to bring the patch of sky out of overexposure, then compensated it with the built in processing to produces the final (correctly exposed) result - which is what you saw in the JPEG previews briefly in Lightroom, before it replaced them with its version of the RAW file.

As far as the camera was concerned, it was correctly exposed, for a picture using ALO processing, which was why the meter read as it did.

As I mentioned up the thread, DPP replicates the ALO adjustments using the same algorithms that are in the camera. Lightroom can't as Adobe don't have access to that software code.
 
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I've just gone through the camera and disabled all the in camera processing I could find, big weight off knowing what's wrong :)

Thanks guys, you've all been most helpful.

Now I need to go look at my sensor, today's pictures from the beach (with a nice blue sky) seem to have a fair bit of dust, 5-6 blotches which can be seen in the sky. The camera is only a few weeks old so I wasn't expecting to have deal with this type of thing so soon.
 
Looking at the photo (dull sky, back-lit, dark wall one side and dull floor) and using the Sunny 16 rule as a rough guide, I'm not surprised it's looking a little dark at ISO 200, f/4 and 1/1250s.

Using Sunny 16, with overcast skies you would have required f/8 at ISO 200 and 1/200s to get a decent exposure of your subject. At f/4, you would have required 1/50s. At 1/1250, you'd be underexposing your subject by approx. 4 stops. Looking at your DPP histogram, it would appear as though most of the image data is around the -4 to -2 range.

I'm guessing your camera's exposure meter was trying to cater for the patch of relatively bright sky which registers at +2 on your DPP histogram. Unfortunately, this meant pushing the shadows as far as -6 stops and it looks like you've lost some detail on the subject's right leg.

My suggestion would be to try to reduce the dynamic range in the frame. Perhaps, using a bit of extra light in the form of a flash or a reflector to lift the foreground away from -6 or by not having such a bright background. The easiest thing to do would be to move the subject or move the camera.
 
Hello, I was curious to know if the adjustments you made in camera helped resolved the issue? I recently came across the same issue with photos looking darker in Lightroom. I shoot neutral, all special enhancements turned off, I don't apply any presets when importing and yet exposure is dark and also has a reddish hue to it. It's driving me nuts! Appreciate any other suggestions. Thanks!
 
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