24 Replies Latest reply: Nov 22, 2014 6:49 AM by Jao vdL RSS

    Serious color problems with Lightroom

    grj_photoman Community Member

      Hello,

       

      I purchased lightroom this week and I am having a serious problem importing images. I am using a new Macbook Pro with OS Snow leopard. My camera is a Canon 1ds Mark2.

      When I import files half of them have this awful deep orange cast over them.

      If you look at the thumbnails some of the frames are normal and then the next few turn orange, all shot within seconds of each other in the same place, no WB change on the camera or anything. What is this, a bug in Lightroom? I dont experience this problem with Photomechanic or Photoshop.

       

      Screen shot 2011-07-28 at 1.31.44 AM.png

      Screen shot 2011-07-28 at 1.47.42 AM.png

        • 1. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
          b_gossweiler Community Member

          Can you upload 2 sample images to somewhere in the web (i.e. www.yousendit.com) so we can have a look at it? I'm also using LR with 1Ds MkII images without any problems.

           

          Beat

          • 2. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
            grj_photoman Community Member

            I can, but it appears that the orange phenomenon over my files can only be seen in lightroom. I can upload two examples to say flickr, however they wont be orange.

            • 3. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
              b_gossweiler Community Member

              grj_photoman wrote:

               

              I can, but it appears that the orange phenomenon over my files can only be seen in lightroom. I can upload two examples to say flickr, however they wont be orange.

              Please don't use flickr (one never knows what theses picture sites do to your files). Please upload whatever you are importing into LR (is it Raw or JPEG?) to a file server site like www.yousendit.com. I'll then import them into LR.

               

              Beat

              • 4. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                grj_photoman Community Member

                Ok. i have uploaded two RAW files here   from my 1ds MK2.  I am at a loss as to what this is.

                • 5. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                  b_gossweiler Community Member

                  grj_photoman wrote:

                   

                  Ok. i have uploaded two RAW files here   from my 1ds MK2.  I am at a loss as to what this is.

                  Thanks.

                   

                  Unfortunately, these two images are not very close to each other and the conditions were completely different, unlike what you showed in your first post.

                   

                  I imported both into LR (with Camera Profile ACR 4.4, which is what I usually use for my 1Ds MkII), and they both show no significant difference to the representation in DPP (left is DPP, right is LR):

                  capture_20110728_090858.png

                  capture_20110728_091231.png

                   

                  What Camera Profile do you assign to the images? I notice you have AutoWB switched on, could it be that the camera is chosing a different WB for some reason? Can you try sample shots with a fixed WB? Have you loaded them into DPP?

                   

                  Beat

                   

                  P.S: Is it possible you upload the 2 images shown in the 2nd screen shot of your original post?

                   

                  Message was edited by: b_gossweiler

                  • 6. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                    grj_photoman Community Member

                    Thanks.

                     

                    Unfortunately, these two images are not very  close to each other and the conditions were completely different, unlike  what you showed in your first post.

                     

                    I imported both into  LR (with Camera Profile ACR 4.4, which is what I usually use for my 1Ds  MkII), and they both show no significant difference to the  representation in DPP (left is DPP, right is LR):

                    capture_20110728_090858.png

                    capture_20110728_091231.png

                     

                    What  Camera Profile do you assign to the images? I notice you have AutoWB  switched on, could it be that the camera is chosing a different WB for  some reason? Can you try sample shots with a fixed WB? Have you loaded  them into DPP?

                     

                    Beat

                     

                    P.S: Is it possible you upload the 2 images shown in the 2nd screen shot of your original post?

                     

                    Message was edited by: b_gossweiler

                     

                     

                     

                    These two images appear orange in Lightroom for me. I uninstalled and reinstalled the program and  I have applied the import preset ACR 4.4 and it still imports everything yellow. The color space setting on my 1ds mark2 are normal: Parameters: Standard, Color Matrix: 4Adobe RGB. Im afriad that I am at a loss. If I cannot gets this problem solved then I'll be returing the product to Adobe.

                    • 7. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                      grj_photoman Community Member

                      As I mentioned before, the files look perfectly normal in Photoshop, Photo mechanic and Canon's Digital Photo Professional software (DPP)

                      • 8. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                        grj_photoman Community Member

                        As a test, I put the files from the screen shot above on an external hard drive and connected it to my friends computer. He has lightroom.

                        I then opened lightroom and proceeded to import the files. They look normal. I am beginning to think that my copy of Lightroom is "faulty"

                        • 9. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                          trshaner Community Member

                          In the two pictures posted for download they show the following

                           

                                       Temp   Tint

                          EZ50001 5,250  +7

                          EZ50006 4,950    0

                          (WB: Set to 'As Shot')

                           

                          So it appears Auto White Balance was set on the camera. In LR what are your Develop settings for WB: (As Shot, Auto, Daylight, etc.), Temp, and Tint for a good picture and then an "orange" picture of the same scene shot:

                           

                                      Good Pic   Orange Pic

                          WB:

                          Temp

                          Tint

                           

                          I suspect this will provide some clues.

                          • 10. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                            Jeff Schewe Community Member

                            grj_photoman wrote:

                             

                            As I mentioned before, the files look perfectly normal in Photoshop, Photo mechanic and Canon's Digital Photo Professional software (DPP)

                             

                             

                            Then the odds are REAL GOOD that your display profile is hosed...this impacts Lightroom to a greater degree than other apps (Photoshop can usually work around it). Redo you display profile.

                            • 11. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                              b_gossweiler Community Member

                              grj_photoman wrote:

                               

                              The color space setting on my 1ds mark2 are normal: Parameters: Standard, Color Matrix: 4Adobe RGB.

                              Please note that these settings do not have an influance on the Raw impage at all. All that matters for Raw imported into LR is the WB chosen, as LR will set the original WB accordingly.

                               

                              As a test, I put the files from the screen shot above on an external hard drive and connected it to my friends computer. He has lightroom.

                              I then opened lightroom and proceeded to import the files. They look normal. I am beginning to think that my copy of Lightroom is "faulty"

                              I am convinced it is not your software that is faulty.

                               

                              I suspect one of two things to be true:

                              • You are applying some settings to the images during import (by accident)
                              • Your monitor profile is wrong or corrupt

                               

                              To follow the first suspicion, please post the WB values as suggested by trshaner, maybe a screen shot of the Basic panel for the two images.

                               

                              To investigate the secont suspicion, what do you see in the lower part of the histogram? How is the lower part of the histogram represented?

                              capture_20110728_215807.png


                              If this part has an orange/yellow tint as opposed to a neutral gray, you should re-calibrate/re-profile your monitor and make sure you're producing an ICC V2 profile and not an ICC V4.

                               

                              Beat

                              • 12. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                                Jeff Schewe Community Member

                                b_gossweiler wrote:

                                 

                                I suspect one of two things to be true:

                                • You are applying some settings to the images during import (by accident)
                                • Your monitor profile is wrong or corrupt

                                 

                                 

                                I'm pretty sure it's number 2...a wrong or corrupt display profile.

                                • 13. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                                  b_gossweiler Community Member

                                  Jeff Schewe wrote:

                                   

                                  I'm pretty sure it's number 2...a wrong or corrupt display profile.

                                  I'd also put my money on that ...

                                   

                                  Beat

                                  • 14. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                                    grj_photoman Community Member

                                    Ok,

                                     

                                    I have looked at the histogram in Lightroom and the grey area does not have a yellow or orange cast to it at all. Its grey.

                                    My computer is the latest Macbook pro and is less than two months old. I compared screens with my room mates computer which is exactly the same as mine and both screens appear identical. So I very much doubt that is the issue.

                                     

                                    I contacted Adobe technical support and was on the phone with them for two hours. The technician virtually took control of my laptop and did a multitude of things in order to try and figure out what the problem is.

                                     

                                    We uninstalled then reinstalled the software. used LR under a diffrent computer Admin. Took more pictures on my camera and imported them.

                                    Played with the camera calibration in "develop" and the import presets. Made a software upgrade from 4.2 to 4.4 and multiple other experimentary adjustments. Nothing worked.  The technician along with his supervisor admitted that he had never seen this kind of problem before and that, at this point, they have no idea what the problem is.

                                     

                                    here are a couple more examples of what we went through today. Left is LR, right is DPP.  I took these images while I was on the phone to the technician. Afterwards, I put them on an external hard drive and connected the drive to my friends macbook pro. We then imported the images and they were absolutely fine.

                                     

                                    Screen shot 2011-07-28 at 9.44.31 PM.png

                                    Screen shot 2011-07-28 at 9.45.13 PM.png

                                    • 15. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                                      Jeff Schewe Community Member

                                      Uh huh...and have you tried selecting a different display profile (or calibrating your display)? Until you do, that's a variable that you haven't addressed (and which I'm certain is the root problem).

                                      • 16. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                                        grj_photoman Community Member

                                        Also of note: My other camera is a Canon 5D Mark2. The files from that camera all appear normal. I dont believe it is my camera because as I mentioned, Photoshop, DPP, photomechanic and Apple preview all display the images from my EOS 1ds mark2 just fine. And the files from it look normal on my friends computer in LR.

                                        • 17. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                                          grj_photoman Community Member

                                          I just calibrated my monitor. Restarted and imported some previous files and some new ones. Same thing. They only turn orange once I import them.

                                          • 18. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                                            Jao vdL Community Member

                                            I have not yet seen a Mac with a monitor profile that bad. When you get these color changes it is basically always a windows machine. The monitor profiles on Macs that get installed default are not perfect but usually not badly corrupt like you see on windows machines. Nevertheless if you tried recalibrating and files from another camera don;t show the issue, it is something else. Try resetting all default develop settings. This is done in the menubar in Lightroom->Preferences->presets tab. Click on "Reset all default develop settings". Also uncheck all the checkboxes in that same section (if any are checked). Then go to an image that shows the issue and hit "reset" in the Develop module.

                                            • 19. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                                              grj_photoman Community Member

                                               

                                              • 20. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                                                Jeff Schewe Community Member

                                                grj_photoman wrote:

                                                 

                                                 

                                                It would have been useful if you had communicated that your color issue was limited to a single camera in the original post. It would have made troubleshooting your problem much easier...you didn't bother posting that info until post #16...

                                                • 21. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                                                  grj_photoman Community Member


                                                  Yes, you are right. Although once I imported various selected images from my other camera not all of them were fine; some of them turned orange as well.

                                                  • 22. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                                                    trshaner Community Member

                                                    It doesn't sound like you know what actually caused the problem. What happens if you 'delete' (i.e. remove from LR only) some of the previous "orange" pictures and try to reimport them into LR?

                                                     

                                                    I understand that you are new to Lightroom – Welcome aboard! Your first step after learning the basic controls in LR is to adjust your 'Camera Default Settings' in the Develop module to better suit your workflow. I suspect you are using your camera with 'Auto White Balance' (AWB) set, which is inappropriate for RAW file format. Reason: If your LR Develop module white balance control is set to anything other than 'As Shot,' then pictures shot under different color temperature lighting will take on different color casts (i.e. orange, blue). The controls you have in LR (White Balance eye dropper) can help you to better determine the white balance settings for a particular shoot, and easily apply them uniformally across multiple pictures. This will provide better results than using AWB on any camera!

                                                     

                                                    I use a ColorChecker Passport to create custom camera profile and white balance develop presets for 'Daylight,' 'Cloudy,' Tungsten,' etc. for each of my camera bodies. Therefore I never use 'As Shot' white balance setting, and never have this kind of problem. My default camera setting uses the ColorChecker custom 'Daylight' preset, which I can change to a different preset for any photo session that was not shot under normal daylight conditions. If you want good color control of your images, you should not rely on the 'Auto White Balance' setting on your camera (especially for JPEGs!). You don't need a ColorChecker to adjust your camera body's color temperature in LR, but it helps and also creates a full custom camera profile! I own three Canon camera bodies and they all produce slightly inacurrate white balance using LR's 'Daylight' white balance setting with high-noon sunny daylight pictures. I suggest you determine and create your own custom white balance settings in LR for daylight and then change your camera default to these settings. You can also create custom develop presets for Cloudy, Tungsten. etc., which can be applied to specific shooting sessions as a better "starting point" for white balance.

                                                     

                                                    Do a little research on using Lightroom's White Balance Eyedropper tool – Here's one link:

                                                     

                                                    http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Lightroom/3.0/Using/WS947672F1-AAB2-43de-9011-BDDECA05EC19.htm l

                                                    • 23. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                                                      Farrellart Community Member

                                                      If it was was a bad profile it would affect all the images on the system.

                                                      • 24. Re: Serious color problems with Lightroom
                                                        Jao vdL Community Member

                                                        You would think so, but for some reason Lightroom is much more sensitive to color profile problems and has a habit of messing up images when other, even color managed apps, don't show problems.