Lightroom image looks different moments after import

futureal33

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Afternoon all,

I have had this for a while, but thought I would ask if there is any way to fix.

When importing to Lightroom (RAW images from 5D3) the file flashes up on screen, and looks great... then it goes flat, and often the colours change.

I know this is how Lightroom is reading that RAW data, vs the embedded JPEG which is what momentarily flashes up. I understand that you then process the file to look how you want it to look... but what I cant ever get back to is the colours. Adjusting the camera profile (Standard, Landscape, Portrait etc) never looks like it does on the back of camera..

On mine from a recent wedding in particular, the walls inside the church were a deep burgundy red. Upon import to LR, these walls are now a very yellowy/orange colour - nothing like what it really looked like!
And another wedding the bridesmaids had deep purple dresses on, yet when LR had rendered the image, they were a very garish pink/purple colour - again not accurate.

Any help much appreciated!!
 
Have you tried taking an image of a mid grey card to check WB or if you have a Colorchecker Passport calibrate the camera amazing what a difference that makes in conduction with the grey card in the passport.
 
Im pretty sure this isnt WB related, its more to do with the way LR renders the colours.

The purple/pink dresses for eg, changing the camera profile in LR to "Camera-Standard" makes the dress go back to the correct colour (with no WB adjustments) - but unfortunately this didn't work when trying to correct the Church photo where the walls look orange whereas in reality they were deep red. Changing the camera profile here made the oranges even stronger
 
First off - extract the embedded jpeg from the raw file (Instant JPEG from raw, DPP - is using Canon, FastStone) and load the jpeg and the raw into LightRoom. Then process the raw image to look like the embedded jpeg - you can switch between the two to compare. Change the Camera Profile, the White Balance, Exposure, Clarity, Vibrance and Saturation.

Once you've got things looking like you want them to - hold the 'Alt' key and you'll see the 'Reset' button in the bottom right change to 'Set Default'. Press that and you'll be able to use those settings as the default - even having different defaults for differing camera bodies and ISO values.
 
Lightroom, when loading up large raw files for the first time, will take a second or so to apply the colour profile. You see an un-managed copy briefly, and then LR applies the profile. Check what profile you are using here...

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Adobe Standard is the advised profile, but you can usually select from the same range your camera provides. Be advised though, that even if you set a colour profile, or mode on your camera, it is not applied to raw files... only JPEG and TIFF.


Am I correct in assuming you are shooting raw?
 
I was wondering the same. If you check this thread http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/posts/6366227/ you'll see I was having the same problem - it was a result of the Adobe Standard camera profile being applied to my 5DIII images upon import. The Adobe Standard doesn't seem to harm the 5DIII images until there is high red content (eg Poppies), when it blows them to kingdom come. I'm using Camera Faithful now and am hugely happy with the results compared to Adobe Standard. I shan't use Adobe Standard any more.
 
I was always under the impression this was due to lightroom displaying the jpeg within the raw file on import and then loading the raw? Pretty sure I have read that some where online as well but could be wrong.
 
I think it's because LR applies a number of standard things during import, including a camera profile (or Adobe Standard profile). I'm not 100% though - I shoot RAW only, not RAW + jpg. I think that if you want a different camera profile than Adobe Standard, you have to assign a different camera profile to a preset and apply that on import. There isn't a less clunky way of doing it.
 
I was always under the impression this was due to lightroom displaying the jpeg within the raw file on import and then loading the raw? Pretty sure I have read that some where online as well but could be wrong.
^^ This. When LR first opens the RAW it displays the embedded JPG thumbnail that was processed by the camera, once LR has caught up with the import it then applies its processing to the RAW file and updates the view.
 
I was always under the impression this was due to lightroom displaying the jpeg within the raw file on import and then loading the raw? Pretty sure I have read that some where online as well but could be wrong.

Yes, I think we all know that.....

I know this is how Lightroom is reading that RAW data, vs the embedded JPEG which is what momentarily flashes up.

Like I said, the best thing is to change LightRoom's defaults.
 
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