# Photos in Lightroom appear to be automatically underexposed after import



## dhanad (Jul 7, 2011)

I shoot in RAW with my Canon 60D. The lens used so far were Canon 50mm 1.8D, Canon 15-85mm. I have noticed that after I import all my photos from the camera and into the lightroom, they appear fine (in their original contrast, exposure) in the thumbnails. The moment I click on the thumbnails to view them, lightroom appears to change the picture's brightness and contrast automatically. It makes the picture underexposed (sort of) and dull. So, I had to go and fix all my imported pictures to their proper exposure/contrast. How the hell do I keep lightroom from automatically changing my photos from their original state?


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## dhanad (Jul 7, 2011)

Ok, my bad...so I just read the Start Kit thread. It mentioned something that is exactly what I was looking for. So, I guess what Lightroom is doing is showing the RAW file as is without Canon's proprietary rendering settings right? Hence the muddyish look. Ok, so the thread also says that you can use the 'Camera Calibration' module to fix them. That means I will have to go in and fix (color balance, contrast, exposure, etc) each and every one of them manually. Is there any way to retrieve or save the the camera's photo rendering settings within the RAW when taking the picture? So that when I bring into LR, it retains the photo's color balance, exposure, etc that was used during the shot.


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## dj_paige (Jul 7, 2011)

dhanad said:


> That means I will have to go in and fix (color balance, contrast, exposure, etc) each and every one of them manually.



This is typical with RAW photos.



dhanad said:


> Is there any way to retrieve or save the the camera's photo rendering settings within the RAW when taking the picture?



Not from Lightroom. You can use the camera manufacturer's software for this. Or shoot JPG.


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## tzalman (Jul 7, 2011)

In the Calibration panel you will see that you have a choice of profiles whose names start with "Camera" and the second part of the name is the same as the various Canon Picture Styles used by your camera when processing a jpg (including the jpg embedded within a RAW file.) These are Adobe's reconstructions of the way the Picture Styles render colors. However, Picture Styles contain more than just the color rendition, they also increase contrast, saturation and sharpness - each one in a different way. In LR, when you set a profile these additional parameters are not affected, they remain at their default values. But it is very easy to do a basic edit of a representative RAW file, maybe even using a jpg shot at the same time as a comparison, and when you have reached a version you like to create a User Preset with those settings, which can then be automatically applied to every file when it is imported.


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## giulianocecatto (Jul 7, 2011)

Hi, this is my first post.

Why do I have Blacks +5, Brightness +50, Contrast +25, Tone Contrast set to Medium Contrast when I import my .RAW pictures to Lightroom?

Can I import my .RAW pictures to Lightroom and make it looks like the original .JPG automatically?

I have a Canon EOS 40D.

Thanks.


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## dj_paige (Jul 7, 2011)

Giulianocecatto ... please read Why Did Lightroom Ruin My Photo?

The bottom line is NO, Lightroom cannot automatically make your RAW look like the JPG. IF you want that JPG look, then shoot JPG (or use your camera manufacturer's software)

You might also want to read the rest of The Lightroom Starter Kit


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## Replytoken (Jul 7, 2011)

giulianocecatto said:


> Hi, this is my first post.
> 
> Why do I have Blacks +5, Brightness +50, Contrast +25, Tone Contrast set to Medium Contrast when I import my .RAW pictures to Lightroom?
> 
> ...



Welcome Giulianocecatto!  Paige has given you a couple of good links to information that is well worth reading.  And, you might also want to read post #6 from DavidHB in this thread:  http://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/showthread.php?12592-Newbie-to-RAWs .  It captures the spirit of why many people like to shoot raw and use LR for file conversion instead of the manufacturer's software.  In the end, it is what you prefer, but do remember that camera manufacturers are only offering their interpretation as to how an image should look.  They do not have a lock on what is right or wrong.

Good luck,

--Ken


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## Brad Snyder (Jul 7, 2011)

giulianocecatto said:


> Why do I have Blacks +5, Brightness +50, Contrast +25, Tone Contrast set to Medium Contrast when I import my .RAW pictures to Lightroom?


Lightroom renders the incoming raws as discussed above, in accordance with any camera calibration profile, combined with any import applied develop preset. In the absence of an import preset, Blacks, Brightness and Contrast are rendered accordingly, but the default rendering is arbitrarily assigned those numerical values. The engineer's intent there, is to provide the user some 'headroom' to allow for reducing the profile setting.  (There are similar non zero values assigned in the noise and sharpening panel as well.)


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## dhanad (Jul 8, 2011)

WOW, great responses from you folks! Thanks a lot, and I really appreciate it. Most recent DSLRs have RAW+Jpeg modes, hence I can use the jpeg part of that particular photo as a reference to tweak the RAW versions color, contrast, sharpness, etc. Did I get it right?


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## MarkNicholas (Jul 8, 2011)

We were just discussing something similar on another thread. Ask yourself why you want it to look like the camera Jpeg. If it's because that is what you want the photo to look like then you have to ask yourself why are you shooting RAW. I was just the same when I switched to RAW. I was continually trying to create the camera Jpeg. With RAW you can do much better than the camera Jpeg. It would be useful for recent converts to be able have the camera Jpeg look as the starting point for further development but that's not a feature of LR.


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## dj_paige (Jul 8, 2011)

dhanad said:


> WOW, great responses from you folks! Thanks a lot, and I really appreciate it. Most recent DSLRs have RAW+Jpeg modes, hence I can use the jpeg part of that particular photo as a reference to tweak the RAW versions color, contrast, sharpness, etc. Did I get it right?



To tell you the truth, I think MarkNicholas has the right answer. If you are aiming to get your RAWs to look close to your JPGs, then you get none of the benefits of RAW (higher image quality after editing), and all of the disadvantages of RAW (larger file sizes, larger computation time to generate previews, and you must tweak every photo).


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## Feferl (Jan 6, 2012)

*My RAW files are also getting dark on import -- first time I've had this problem*

I have exactly the same problem:  photos look good in camera and on initial import, but once loading is complete they turn dark and muddy.  Post here suggest this is normal.  However, I've been using LR since it first came out, and this is the first time I've had the problem.  Is this something specific to the update to v. 3.6?  I have the same experience with RAW files from both my Fuji X100 and my Nikon D200.


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## Hal P Anderson (Jan 6, 2012)

Feferl,

Welcome to the forum!

It has nothing to do with 3.6. I suspect that you changed either the develop preset you were using on import or the development default that you were previously using.

Hal


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