Beginner Struggle with getting every image to look the same...

[Mp4]

Greetings all,

I have had LR5 for around 4 months and version 3 before this for around a year or so.

I am still struggling to get "a look" that I can use indefinitely.

And which i can then paste/sync to every photo but find that once i do this each photo comes out different or not exactly the same as the last.

Exposure/contrast & other elements is off or loose a feel by tweaking it etc.

Anyone have any advice?

 

[ancient_mariner]

If you are shooting a set under failrly stable lighting conditions using manual exposure then you're much more likely to get away with using a preset, but if you're using the built in meter then each image will needsprocessing individually, at least as far as exposure, contrast, shadows and highlights & black/white points. There is no automated setting that can get this right unless every image that comes out of your camera is very similar. There is an automated tone control in LR, but IME it's often wildly wrong.

If you want a unified look to your images then, generally, you will need to work on the exposure side, image by image, to create it. I'd save presets for things like sharpening & noise reduction, lens corrections, saturation and clarity, maybe HSL/colour settings.

 

[LeeRatters]

I have my own set presets which I use. Some are 'Basic Adjustments' ones which includes sharpen, lens corrections, etc & Others are more complex & include split tones, colour management, tone curves etc

I tend to batch process in a 'style' but still each one needs some changes to suit it

 

[Chappers]

I think Toni has hit the nail on the head. The first thing I would do is get the basic image looking right , exposure contrast etc... Then apply other corrections to get the "look" you want. Save these corrections as a user preset.Now as each image will be slightly different you'll need to set exposure contrast ect. to get that right. You can then apply your preset. From experience I would say that this may also need a bit of tweaking to get it as you want. You could use the reference window option , which allows a second window on the main screen ( or on a second monitor) to help you with a reference point for other images. ( I find this useful when matching images that have specific colours that need to be identical, such as fabrics and ceramics )

 

[Mp4]

Thank you all for your answers and Toni for a great explanation and John i never thought about a refrance window thanks