Colour Calibration & camera profile

[rachelb54525681]

Help!! I am forever trying to correct my colours in my photos.  I shoot with a Nikon D810 (raw and on adobe SRGB).  Once I have imported them into lightroom they all come out with a tint of mucky orange/yellow, look terrible, dull, lifeless, poor quality ( I know raw are supposed to be flat, but should they be orange?)

I calibrate my iMac with a i1 display.  I wonder if I have my settings somewhere along the line are set up wrong which causing my images to be terrible.  I spend so much time shifting the colours and then never happy when I print them.

Any suggestions??

P.s does anyone have the up to date profiles for my D810 and instructions on how to add them to lightroom?

[ManiacJoe]

Which exact version of Lightroom?

Which camera profile are you using in the "calibration" tab? If I remember correctly, some of the earlier versions of LR had some bad "adobe standard" profile files for the D810.

By default, the white balance shown is "as shot". What is the camera's white balance set to?

[rachelb54525681]

Thanks for replying ManiacJoe! I believe its the latest lightroom, 2015.10.1 release, camera raw 9.10.1?

It is set to adobe standard on the camera calibration tab but I change it to camera standard.  I have always been advised by professionals to just keep the white balance on auto on my camera?  In lightroom I either choose auto or flash from the drop down.

Many thanks

Rachel

[ManiacJoe]

Nikon's auto-WB works really well when you have something white in the frame.

Can you link us to an unedited NEF file so that we can see what you are seeing?

Given the size, you probably will need to use Dropbox.com or a similar service.

[rachelb54525681]

Hi

How do I send you the photos via dropbox? do I need your email address?

[rachelb54525681]

Do you know where I can download my camera's profile from ManiacJoe​

[JP Hess]

The profiles available to you in Lightroom ARE for your camera. Lightroom is "smart" enough to only present the profiles appropriate for each camera model.

[rachelb54525681]

JimHess​ - I'm confused, someone told me to contact adobe to get my nikon D810 profiles so they come up on the calibration tab... is that not the case then? Any tips to get my colours close to the correct skin tones as possible? and to get the images not looking so dull?

[JP Hess]

I have a Nikon D7100. The profiles I have are Adobe Standard, Camera landscape, Camera neutral, Camera portrait, Camera standard and Camera vivid. These are all profiles provided by Adobe (included as part of Lightroom), and they are all specific to my D7100. I don't know who told you to contact Adobe to get the profiles for your camera, or what they were referring to. If you are taking raw images with your camera then the profiles that you see available in the calibration section are for your camera and for no other camera. If you are taking JPEG images then the only profile you are going to see is Embedded because with JPEG images the profile is embedded in the image by the camera at the time the image is taken. The profile cannot be changed on the JPEG image.

Without seeing some of your photos I can't comment on what it would take to make them not seem so "dull". A lot of times I find that there is a lot of empty space at the top end of the histogram on my images. I find that I can add a lot of snap to my images by going to the tone curve and, using the point curve, dragging the top point in and closing that empty gap. But, other than that, without seeing one of your images I really can't make a lot of suggestions.

[TheDigitalDog]

rachelb54525681  wrote

JimHess  - I'm confused, someone told me to contact adobe to get my nikon D810 profiles so they come up on the calibration tab... is that not the case then? Any tips to get my colours close to the correct skin tones as possible? and to get the images not looking so dull?

You can make your own IF you own a MacBeth Color Checker or the X-rite Passport. Can make a significant difference!

Everything you thought you wanted to know about DNG camera profiles:

All about In this 30 minute video, we’ll look into the creation and use of DNG camera profiles in three raw converters. The video covers:

What are DNG camera profiles, how do they differ from ICC camera profiles.

Misconceptions about DNG camera profiles.

Just when, and why do you need to build custom DNG camera profiles?

How to build custom DNG camera profiles using the X-rite Passport software.

The role of various illuminants on camera sensors and DNG camera profiles.

Dual Illuminant DNG camera profiles.

Examples of usage of DNG camera profiles in Lightroom, ACR, and Iridient Developer.

Low Rez (YouTube):

http://youtu.be/_fikTm8XIt4

High Rez (download):

http://www.digitaldog.net/files/DNG%20Camera%20profile%20video.mov

[Todd Shaner]

rachelb54525681  wrote

Help!! I am forever trying to correct my colours in my photos.  I shoot with a Nikon D810 (raw and on adobe SRGB).  Once I have imported them into lightroom they all come out with a tint of mucky orange/yellow, look terrible, dull, lifeless, poor quality ( I know raw are supposed to be flat, but should they be orange?)

The Lightroom Adobe Standard profile works fine on my system. I suggest downloading the below Nikon D810 test NEF file and see if it has the same issues. If so then there is something wrong with your system or monitor calibration. Please let us know your results–Thank you.

Digital Cameras, Nikon D810 Digital Camera Test Image

[JP Hess]

I have had three different Nikon models and have used images from several different cameras as well. The Adobe standard profile has always served as a good starting point for me.

[rachelb54525681]

Thanks @trshaner. The test image looks fine to me in photoshop and lightroom, so would that indicate a setting/problem with the camera then? When Im photographing a wedding, should I change the white balance or just put it on auto?  Should I be grey carding everything?

[Per Berntsen]

they all come out with a tint of mucky orange/yellow,

It sounds like the images were shot in artificial light, and need to have the color balance adjusted.

I have had four Nikon cameras, and pictures taken in artificial light have always come out too warm with white balance set to Auto.

But this is easily corrected in Lightroom with the Temp and Tint sliders, and you can create a preset with those settings and apply it to all the photos taken under these lighting conditions.

It would be helpful if you could post a screenshot of an image, or an exported jpg.

To use Dropbox to make a raw file available for us to download, go to dropbox.com, and create a free account.

Copy the raw file to a folder inside the Dropbox folder on your hard drive, then on dropbox.com (in your web browser) click on Share next to the file, then click Create a link in the dialog that pops up, then click Copy link, and paste the link here.

[Todd Shaner]

rachelb54525681  wrote

Thanks @trshaner. The test image looks fine to me in photoshop and lightroom, so would that indicate a setting/problem with the camera then? When Im photographing a wedding, should I change the white balance or just put it on auto?  Should I be grey carding everything?

The camera Auto WB setting will get you "into the ballpark," but it is heavily influenced by subject color in the scene. Because of this the 'As Shot' WB values can change under the same lighting conditions from picture to picture. IMHO–That's not really very helpful!

When shooting camera raw files (NEF) the WB setting values are written into the file (As Shot Temp & Tint), but the raw file data remains unchanged. Because of this it's unnecessary to change the camera's WB setting for each lighting situation. Shooting a gray card or better yet a white balance card is helpful to "learn" what WB settings are required inside LR for different lighting types. Just keep in mind that natural daylight can vary from 3,000 (sunset/sunrise) to 10,000 (cloudy) color temperature (K). Artificial lighting is typically in the range of 2,700 (Tungsten) to 5,500 (Halogen) and fluorescent lighting has uneven color spectrum with spikes in the green spectrum.

As Per Berntsen mentioned your images were probably shot using artificial lighting. Use the LR WB eyedropper and click in an area of the picture that you know is neutral gray or white color. This will get you close to the correct Temp value. You can get much closer by shooting one picture with a white balance card in the scene for each unique lighting situation (indoors, outdoors). Then use the WB eyedropper on the white balance card and Sync or Copy & Paste just WB across all of the image files shot under the same lighting condition. Once the WB is set adjust the images as you normally would.

If unable to achieve good results following the above instructions please upload a LR DNG Export file as shown below to Dropbox and copy the Share link into your reply as outlined by Per Berntsen.

Sync

Export Module