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Using Camera Picture Profile Settings In Lightroom

This Article Features Photo Zoom

For the first couple of years I used Lightroom, I pretty much ignored the Camera Calibration panel in the Lightroom Develop module. It always seemed more a tool for studio photographers who needed extreme accuracy with colors while shooting products, and I don't do that kind of shooting. Occasionally, I would tweak a color or two for creative effect, but I was usually pretty happy with what I got without it. However, I did notice that sometimes my RAW images in Lightroom looked different than they did when displayed on my camera’s LCD. I chalked this up to my faulty memory or the fact that my LCD was a tiny little screen that couldn’t possibly display images as correctly as my big screen in the office.

Acadia image with standard camera profile.

Acadia image with Camera Landscape picture style applied.

Well, it turns out I just wasn’t paying attention to the fact that even when shooting RAW, my camera’s LCD displays the image with the camera’s tone curve, contrast and saturation settings applied, while Lightroom defaults to displaying RAW images with no camera settings applied. So if my camera were set to use a certain profile (a.k.a picture style) the camera’s LCD would display something different than Lightroom pretty much every time.

Beginning with Lightroom 2.2, you can have Lightroom apply the same camera profiles that are available in your camera. For instance, with my Canon EOS 1 DS Mark III, I have the choice of using the standard profile or Camera Faithful, Camera Landscape, Camera Neutral, Camera Standard and Camera Portrait. You can choose a camera profile from the calibration panel in the develop module, and Lightroom will automatically show you the profiles available for the camera the working image was shot with.

Sometimes I like the effect, sometimes I don’t, but using these profiles are a fun and easy way to try out a different look for my photos. I’ve set up my favorite camera profiles as develop presets so they are one click away. If you find you almost always like one profile over another, you can set it as a new default for all your images using the Set Defaults Settings option in the Develop menu.

Here’s where you can set new camera defaults. Note: It will take all settings as a new default, not just the calibration setting, so make sure you keep your other settings at the usual defaults before applying the new default. Another way to set new defaults is to hold down the alt (option) key, which will change the reset button to a Set Default button.

Have fun!

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