Lightroom colour profiles for RAW processing

[MarkE]

I've been using Lightroom for ages, as my normal workflow to process RAWs, but one thing has always bugged me that I've not got to grips with yet.

After importing a RAW, there is a colour profiles option you can change, eg Camera Landscape, Portrait, Neutral, Adobe Standard etc.

Each one seems to have a different effect on the saturation, hue etc but not linked to the other controls nor white balance. I can understand how this might work for a jpg, processed in camera but not for a RAW. I've struggled to work out which to use and seem to pick one that looks the best but I'd like to understand this bit better. Any tips anybody?

 

[ecoleman]

They just mimic the settings you have in camera. Your choice as to whether or not you use them. Eg if you have you camera set to portrait in camera, the jpg previews viewed on the back of the camera will have the portrait settings applied, but transferring the raw files to Lightroom, will not see the same effect so the profiles where made as a quick way to mimic the in camera effects.

 

[MarkE]

Thanks. I thought that was the case but I don't see any of the develop sliders move when I change profile. So does it effectively change the "baseline" starting point for a develop session? In which case, what do people generally use? Adobe Standard or Camera Neutral seem to be quite clean profiles.

 

[ecoleman]

It is a profile, not a preset, so yes it is basically changing the starting point.
What to use largely depends on your taste and subject.

I usually start with standard and I mainly shoot landscape type images. I find the landscape setting can make the greens a bit to vibrant for my liking.

There isn't a definitive answer, just that like a preset, it's up to you.

 

[Denyerec]

As posted above they're supposed to approximate the Picture Control settings that would be applied to the OOC JPGs, should you be shooting them. I often find that Camera Neutral and Camera Portrait work as best starting points for me, as Adobe Standard (IMO) does odd things to skintones in some situations.