I trying to come up with a digital workflow that works for me now as I become more familiar with DPP, LR and PS. I’m open to changes as I improve my skills in the applications, but I’ve already hit a snag.
I started out using LR CC to import all my RAW images (like how LR automatically drops them into dated folders) and noticed as the previews were building, the previews looked good on the first pass but as LR made the second pass the tonal quality deteriorated. The best way I can describe it is they lost their “pop”.
I can bring them back by adjusting the contrast, exposure and dehaze sliders, but that adds more time to basic processing of each image. And not each image needs the same amount so building a recipe doesn’t fully solve the issue. Using just the Highlights and Shadows helps, but I seem to always need to go back and add at least some combination of Exposure, Contrast or dehaze.
I haven’t changed any settings for importing images.
If I use DPP4, the images look much closer to what I expect and even what the first preview in LR looks like before the second pass. However, at my current skill level, I’m more successful with processing images in LR. So for now, I’m using DPP4 for RAW conversion to a TIF file and passing it over to LR. Not very efficient, I know. Have no idea if that is impacting image quality either.
The image is just a quick snapshot showing how DPP4 and LR CC both represent the same image during import. No adjustments were made to either photo. Just opened the image in both applications, used the snipping tool to grab the image from each application and put them side by side. The tonality of the DPP4 image is much closer to what I saw in the camera.
Have I somehow goofed up the LR import settings or is this a function of different RAW converters?
Sorry for the long read, but hopefully that gives enough information to start from.
DPP4 vs LR CC Raw conversions questions
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