# Saved Photograph looks different from Photograph in Lightroom



## dender (Sep 22, 2013)

After editing my pictures in Lightroom 4 and saving it as a TIFF file, the photograph in preview looks different from the photograph in Lightroom.
Below you can see the difference. Left Lightroom 4, Right the TIFF preview





Looks like there is a lot more noise in the image from the right.
Any Idea why Lightroom shows a different kind of editing and what to do?


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## clee01l (Sep 22, 2013)

On my screen the TIFF derivative looks a little darker but I do not see the noise that you are saying that you see. 

Your workflow does bring up a lot of questions though. (and a point for information)
Beginning with capture in the camera. It looks like you have the camera setting for AdobeRGB.  This forces the file naming in the camera to create file names with the leading underscore (_).  When shooting RAW, there is no colorspace applied and won't be until converted to RGB in post process.  So you can set your camera to sRGB and get rid of the stupid leading underscore in the camera file name for your CR2s.
In your camera settings?  Do you have ALO and/or HTP invoked?  These settings monkey with the ISO at the photosite level.  This is of benefit for creating JPEGs in the camera or when the RAW images is converted using Canon's proprietary DPP software. RAW Canon files with ALO and/or HTP applied can actually appear noisy when demosaic'd with other software like ACR (LR). LR does not read or use the special photosite ISO adjustment data stored in maker's notes of the EXIF.

Next, How do you have your screen calibrated?  Do you use a dedicated calibration tool?   What are you using to view the TIFF?  Is it the Preview app?  The viewer needs to be aware of colorspaces and color profiles.  I do not know if Preview is color aware.

Lightroom uses ProPhotoRGB as its working colorspace. ProPhotoRGB has the widest gamut, wider than AdobeRGB.  What are your Export parameters for the TIFF File?  Can you post a screen shot of the Export settings used to create this image we see?


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## Den (Sep 22, 2013)

Don't have an answer for you, but there is definitely more noise in the right image on my monitor.


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## dender (Sep 23, 2013)

After juggling around with pictures from  photoshop and Lightroom, Photoshop and preview etcetera. I seem to have found the problem.

I started going though the list you gave me to check. 
Yes I do have the camera settings for AdobeRGB. It is what I was told to use when on the university of photography. Therefore I never looked at it anymore after doing so. And if the only thing that will change will be the underscore I don't see any point in changing the settings.

I took a look at the ALO and HTP and the ALO seemed to be on, so I set it off. Then I took another picture, opened it in Lightroom and saved it. Looked again in preview. Nothing changed and I still saw a lot of noise.
Then I looked in the export settings in Lightroom and saw I was still using 150 dpi. I changed the settings to 300 dpi but again nothing changed in difference.

I then tryed opening the image in Photoshop and the noise seemed to be gone. I looked at the preview and there was the noise again. I looked at the difference between the picture in Lightroom and Photoshop and it seemed the same.

So all the fuss seemed to be about was the preview program I was using. (I don't know the name of the program , I just press space for the preview)

Here's a image between the difference in Photoshop (left) and the preview (right).




The only thing I don't understand...why the preview program shows such a difference.

(Sorry for any bad grammar.)


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## Selwin (Oct 12, 2013)

Hi dender,
yes the fotoacademie advises you to work in AdobeRGB. This is because it has a wider color space than sRGB. They have a tutorial that you must have read in which they explain. However, setting your camera to a different color space setting only affects any jpeg files you shoot in camera. It does not affect RAW files. When the RAW file leaves your camera and gets imported into LR, it is processed in LR in ProPhoto color space, which is even wider than AdobeRGB. And there is nothing you need to do, LR does it automatically for you. As long as your image stays in LR, that is. All you need to look out for is which color space you assign to the image when it leaves LR. Your image may leave LR because you Export it to TIFF (like in your example). Make sure you understand which color space is good for which purpose and choose accordingly. For instance, you should save as sRGB if your image will be displayed on a web site. If your image leaves LR because you want to edit it in PS, make sure you use at least the AdobeRGB color space (you can set this in LR preferences) but ProPhotoRGB is even better.

as to why mac osx preview displays your image differently, I'll have a look tomorrow at the office. You can shoot me a pm if you'd like to write this in dutch.

hope this helps


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## sizzlingbadger (Oct 12, 2013)

The Preview program is just that " a quick and dirty preview" you can't use it to judge image quality.

None of the camera settings matter as LR is producing the tif and its raw preview from the same data. dpi is for printing it won't effect anything you see on the screen.


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## Selwin (Oct 12, 2013)

Hi Sizzle, it looks like dender is busy getting educated at the photo academy. Let's hope he/she takes the time to stop by at the forum occasionally. We can only help when the ears are up


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## dender (Oct 18, 2013)

Apologies for the late answer. We were moving and there are some problems with the internet connection. So I will be using my mobile phone for now. I graduated in july this year so my days at school are over . It was a rather bad education though (not THE photo academy, but a photography studie on the Alpha collega). So I learned everything from my traineeships and haven't learned everything I should have. The education isn't even availible anymore though. Thanks for all the information. I will be using that for the upcoming photo's.  Which program for viewing would you use then?


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## sizzlingbadger (Oct 18, 2013)

Lightroom ?


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## Selwin (Oct 25, 2013)

I'm sorry, been off line for a week due to necessary mini break to Germany and Luxemburg. I completely second sizzlingbadgers suggestion: use Lightroom for 90-99% (just see how far you get) of your images. It's like most pros do because it will save you time.


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## dender (Oct 27, 2013)

Problem is, The screen of my Macbook Pro isn't that big. So opened in Lightroom the Image will be shown as a pretty small image. But I'm already saving money to get some more memory and a bigger and much better screen for photographs.


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## Selwin (Oct 27, 2013)

Hi Dender,
I know what you experience on your Macbook Pro, although you haven't stated a screen size. It is always a good idea to buy a separate panel especially for editing your images. When you do, make sure you do your home work right because there is a huge variety in LCD panels and you need good colour and brightness consistency across the entire panel. At least mKe sure you get an IPS (In-Plane Switching) technology panel and even between those I advise you to choose wisely.
I know I could do a whole lot better at this moment. And also a whole lot worse. I am using a 6-year old Apple Cinema Display (the old 30" matte type) which gives me awesome workspace but less than favourable colour and brightness consistency. A screen calibration tool is essential for my work flow.
you don't need 30", 24" will be enough for adequate PP work. I suggest you rather select a smaller (24"), high quality panel than a larger (27" - 30") inferior model.

Trust me. If you are serious about photography you will thank me later


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## dender (Oct 29, 2013)

Yes I have done some research about different panels already. The LA CIE 320 and the DELL U2410 seemed to be my best options. DELL is a lot cheeper which is exactly what I need, but The LA CIE 320 seems to be even better quality, though the service of the LA CIE systems are very bad.


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