John Fjeldsted Photography - Raw Files and Lightroom Import

Raw Files and Lightroom Import

Note: This page and those before and after (Lightroom - Combining File System and Database, Raw Files and Lightroom Import, and Development Settings, History and Metadata) provide import technical information to better understand Lightroom, the nature of raw data files and the metadata that Lightroom support in the editing process. Some readers may wish to jump forward to the overall workflow page and return to these aspects later.

Importing Raw files, Profiles and Presets

When a digital picture is taking, it begins with raw data from the camera sensor. This is true for smartphone cameras and dedicated digital cameras. Most of us are familiar with the standard jpeg image file that magically appears. In reality, a lot has to happen to get to this point.

If we’re focused on maximizing creative control, then it's best to begin at the start, with the raw data that comes directly from the image sensor. Dedicated cameras typically digitalize sensor data with 14 bits of resolutions (2^14 = 16,384) equivalent to 14 theoretical stops of dynamic range at base ISO - without consideration for noise.

There are several steps to transform raw sensor data to a viewable image. Principle among these is demosaicing to create an RGB (red, green, blue) value for each sensor pixel. In raw data each sensor pixel specifies the intensity for only one color, red, green or blue, by virtue of the Bayer filter used to create a color image (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer_filter).

Adobe’s photo editing software, Lightroom, was designed to give photographers the ability to edit raw files. As a non-destructive image editor, the images viewed during editing are provisional. Non-destructive editing is a process of creating a recipe describing how the raw data should be transformed and exported in a standard image format (such as jpeg or tiff) that can then be shared broadly.

After demosaicing the raw sensor data the resulting RGB values are stored in Lightroom in 16 and sometimes 32-bit linear format. To visualize our images in Lightroom, they are transformed with a gamma curve (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_correction) which compresses brightness, mimicking what our eyes do, so that we can perceive a broader range of intensity. When we make edits, we are creating a series of transformations, a ‘history’, for which Lightroom is creating a temporary view of the results. With editing compete, the recorded processing ‘history’ is applied to the raw data and the result is exported in the desired image format.

A first step (after demosaicing) is applying an initial normalization of RGB values or left as black and white based on the "Treatment" you select in the Develop module. This base conversion is determined by the "Profile" - you select. Currently, the Adobe Default is the "Adobe Color" Profile. There are many other options, including profiles from the camera manufacture developed for your specific camera. It is also possible to create your own Profile using Adobe Camera Raw when accessed via Adobe Photoshop (see ref. 1 below). Adobe provided Profiles are preinstalled with Lightroom. Other Profiles are either available on the internet or are in some cases (Leica, for example) in the raw DNG image file.

Within Lightroom's Development module each of the editing settings further transforms the raw data into a final value. If there is a specific group of settings that you frequently use, you can also save these settings as a "Preset". It's easy to create a Preset yourself. Numerous tutorials are posted online.

Profiles and Presets each have their pluses and minuses. When you select a Profile it does not alter other existing Development settings - rather it simply changes the underlying starting point. This makes a Profile less evasive to your own edits. Profiles are, however, not as easy to create. Because Presets save specific values for a group of settings, when you select a Preset, then it overwrites the previous values for these settings. In creating each Preset, you specify exactly which settings restricting the number of settings that are overwritten.

When importing raw images into Lightroom there are a few important options to consider.

As mentioned above, the default is for Lightroom to apply the "Adobe Color" profile, followed by applying the White Balance as determined by the camera and saved with the image. By default, no Preset is applied.

There are situations when you may wish to not use Adobe Color as the default Profile, or you may also wish to have Lens Corrections be automatically applied upon image import. The following explains how to do this, at least for Leica cameras that use DNG raw files.

Setting up Raw File Import

Step 1.

From Lightroom’s “Edit” menu, select “Preferences”. Then on “Raw Defaults” for “Global:” there are three options. "Adobe Default", “Camera Settings” and "Preset". With my Leica M240, both "Adobe Default" and "Camera Settings" generally give the same results, though on occasion, I have found that selecting "Camera Settings" is necessary to be able to select the Embedded Profile when editing. If you have created a universal Preset which you would like to use, then it can be entered when selecting "Preset". An alternate and arguably simpler approach for applying a universal import preset can be achieved by right clicking on desired Preset in Lightroom Preset list display and select "Apply on Import".

If you wish to apply a specific Profile and/or Preset for a specific camera then enable "Override global setting for specific cameras".
Select the camera of interest. For this camera, you now have the same three choices, "Adobe Default", Camera Settings" and "Preset". As you're looking to customize input for this specific camera, you will likely chose "Preset". This means that we will create a Preset that will be applied for each image that was taken with this camera upon import. (Note: there is also a serial number selection that can also be added.)

To create the import Preset, go to Lightroom’s Development Module. Select an image with not edits applied.
In the top "Basic" settings group, select the Profile you wish to use.
- Click on the box grid to the right of the Profile selection. This opens the Profile Browser.
  - If the desired Profile had not yet been imported, click on the "+" in the upper right, then select "Import Profiles...".
  - Import the Profile(s) that you would like to use.
  - You can now select the desired Profile in the updated listing inthe Profile Browser.
- If you are interested in using the camera's Embedded Profile, you will first need to enable "Legacy" profiles.
  - Click on Basic, then click on the box grid to the right of the Profile selection.
  - In the new panel that appears, click on the “+” in the upper left, then select “Manage Profiles…”, and finally enable “Legacy”. Now, Embedded and Embedded B&W will appear in the listing in the Profile Browser.
  - If Embedded does not appear, then select an image for editing that has been importing a file using "Camera Settings" as opposed to "Adobe Default".
- If you only wish to apply a custom Profile on import you can save this Preset, which only specifies the desired Profile. See below.
- If you wish to enable automatic Lens Corrections
  - Click on Lens Corrections
  - Enable “Lens Corrections” and “Remove Chromatic Aberrations”
  - Set “Setup” to either “Default” or “Auto”. (Default’s Default is Auto)
  - You should see the Camera and Lens information now listed. The “Lens Profile” should list. The “Profile” displayed is not to be confused with the embedded profile that is used to map raw sensor data in Lightroom. This is the “Lens Profile” that Adobe creates for each lens for correcting distortion and is not (directly) provided by the camera manufacturer.

Create your Preset.
- Assuming that you have made no other edits to this imported image, on the left hand panel in Lightroom expand the “Presets” pane
- Click on the “+” on the top right side of “Presets” pane
- Click on “Create Preset”
- Enable “Treatment & Profile”, also “Lens Correction”, “Remove Chromatographic Aberration” and “Enable Profile Corrections” if included.
- Then enter a name for “Preset Name:” and click Create.

Step 2 Set Preset to “Apply on Import” – Option 1 – this will be applied for all imports.

Return to the Preset listing on Lightroom’s left side.
Right click on the new Preset and select “Apply on Import”
A “+” will now be visible to the left of the Preset’s name in the listing.

If you wish to not generically enable profile import from profile provided in each camera's DNG files and/or have the import preset you've created execute each time, then these can both be turned off at any point. If you wish to the camera profile and import preset applied only for a specific camera, the following is a solution.

Step 2 Updating Lightroom Preferences to load Preset – Option 2 – this will be applied only with the specified camera.

From Lightroom’s “Edit” menu, select “Preferences”.
Then on “Raw Defaults” for “Global:” select you can return the value to “Adobe Default”.
Enable “Override global setting for specific cameras”
Enter the Camera
Enter /Select the name of the Preset that you created.
Press "Update Default".
Then "Restart Lightroom Classic". The settings will be saved followed by a restart of Lightroom.

Now the camera profile and import preset will only be applied when it matches the desired camera.

With either Option 1 (non-camera specific) or Option 2 (camera specific), the Development settings (as reflected by the default settings already in place and those you've changed for the Import Preset) define the default settings for the images imported with this preset. This means that each file (or group of files that have been imported together) can potentially have its own default Development settings. When the "Rest" button is pressed on the bottom right of the Development Module, the Development settings will be returned to this state.

By default, Presets are saved (in Windows) in the C:\Users\John\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw\ImportedSettings\ folder.

My Import Settings

As I have looked at results from Adobe Color, Portrait, Landscape, Vivid as well as the earlier default, Adobe Standard and compared these to the Embedded profile for the M240, I have seen that the Embedded Profile and Adobe Standard are close to each other, and reasonably flat. Adobe Portrait moves slightly beyond flat. Each of these can be considered a good starting point images that should have a neutral conversion. That said, they all introduce too much red as can be seen in certain light skin tones. To correct this I have created a Leica Standard Profile with the following settings: (separate discussion on profiles in general as well creating your own is forth coming on this site)

Based on the Adobe Color Profile (though Adobe Standard appears to be indicated in the Profile xml file).

Contrast +5

Red Hue +10 (this shifts red towards orange)

Red Saturation -10

Orange Saturation -20

Yellow Luminance +20

As the above is saved as a Profile, these settings are applied as a base, leaving the values shown for these settings in the Development module at their standard "0" defaults, yet still being in affect.

The above is very helpful for portraiture work. For general shooting, I use Adobe Color. Adobe Landscape and Vivid have noticeably higher contrast and saturation. They can be useful, but not as a default.

I have created an M240 Import Preset which selects Adobe Color as the Profile and enables Lens Corrections, including Chromatic Aberration and Auto Lens Correction. For portraiture work, after importing images, I can either use a Preset or the Auto-Sync function to set all images to my Leica Standard Profile as I begin to edit. This same Profile also works well for images from my SL2-S.

By default, Profiles are saved in the C:\Users\John\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw\Settings\ folder.

For additional details on camera profile import see: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/raw-defaults.html

(1) https://mikkolagerstedt.com/blog/how-to-create-and-use-color-profiles-lightroom-and-camera-raw

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