Jsykes wrote:
LR Question; still in the early days of getting used to its capabilities. Would appreciate feedback on the use of the Auto correction under "Basic".
1. Is Auto a good "starting point"?
2. In going through JPEGs from 2017 (I was new in using a DSLR and not aware of RAW) all the images become "warmer" when I have chosen this option. Does this say something about shooting in JPEG or more to do with my lack of experience when taking the images?
3. On those where I have chosen to use Auto, the outcome is not substantially different to when I initially went through utilizing the LR tools; remember I am still learning the tools and techniques from the multiple ideas on process steps from third party more experienced users
LR Question; still in the early days of getting us... (
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First of all, is your computer monitor calibrated with a device like a Spyder, Huey, ColorMunki or similar?
If it's not calibrated, you're just guessing at any adjustments you're making. Very likely you are making your images too dark, because from new most monitors are way too bright for accurate photo editing. That causes users to adjust their images too dark.
Uncalibrated monitors also tend to render inaccurate color, causing similar problems when adjusting color temp and tint.
A calibration device first helps you set an accurate brightness level, then it runs a series of color test patches and creates a profile that's used to make the monitor render color as accurately as possible.
And, a monitor needs to be re-calibrated periodically. I do it monthly... some people do it more or less often. The reason is that monitors gradually change over time. They lose brightness and shift how they render color. For example, my monitor is 6 or 7 years old... when it was new I had to dial the brightness level down to "20"... now after years of use I'm setting it slightly over "50" (not sure if these are percentages of something or just some arbitrary scale... doesn't really matter). Eventually when I'm setting it to around 90 I'll probably need to start shopping for a new monitor, if I haven't already replaced it.
As to the workflow with Lightroom...
I often use "Auto" initially... But find that additional adjustments are almost always needed. "Auto" doesn't normally change image white balance, though. That stays the same as was applied by the camera (regardless whether using Auto WB, Custom WB or one of the WB presets). So I don't know why Lightroom "Auto" would make your images look "warmer". There is some "shift" in the appearance of colors when you tweak exposures.... maybe that's what you're seeing. Something else that can effect color rendition is the color profile you use with you Export images. For most purposes, sRGB is the best to use. But LR gives you option to instead use ProPhoto RGB, Adobe RGB and others. However, if you assign those color spaces to an image, it will appear flat and desaturated in many common methods of viewing (such as most web browsers).
What Auto does to an image varies considerably depending upon what's in the image, the way the image was exposed initially and, I'm pretty sure, even from camera to camera... With Auto I find I often need to dial back the "white" and "highlight" sliders, push contrast back up a bit, brighten the "shadow" slider and further decrease the "black" slider (dragging this latter to the minus side, opposite the other sliders). Note: Almost all my work in Lightroom is being done on RAW files... You mention that you're adjusting JPEGs, which have already had a lot of adjustments applied in the camera when they were made. JPEGs have much less latitude for adjustment in post-processing with Lightroom or anything else... But, if they were done with relatively "correct" settings in the camera JPEGs also may not need as much tweaking as a RAW file.
A tip... use "Previous" and "Sync":
The first image in a series you'll need to configure your adjustments either using the sliders or "Auto" with some tweaking using the sliders.
Once you've adjusted an image, on the next, similar image use the "Previous" button.... Or select a bunch of images and use the "Sync" button. Either way will copy the corrections from the first image and apply it to the other(s). Doing this WILL change color temp and color tint ONLY if you changed it in the first image, that was being used for reference.
Using the Sync button to adjust batches of images calls up a dialog box where you can choose what adjustments to apply. Using the Previous button on a single image doesn't call up that dialog box.
If you straightened the original and/or cropped it, that also will be applied.... but of course you are free to change it as needed.
The Previous and Sync buttons are HUGE time savers, whenever you have a lot of images that require similar adjustments (I just finished editing 4300 images from a recent shoot).