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| McCauley Butte Missoula, Montana |
One of my students recently commented that the raw files he sees on the back of his camera look great. But when he views them on the computer in Adobe Camera Raw, Adobe Lightroom Classic, or Adobe Lightroom (desktop), the pictures look dull and uninteresting. In today's post I explain why this happens and how to make the computer version look more like the camera version.
The Problem
Raw files do not have a fixed color style. The picture of your raw file on the
back of your camera is actually a JPEG thumbnail. Its color and
contrast are based on a setting you have chosen in the camera's picture style menu, such as Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Monochrome, and so on. These styles are found under the following menus, depending on your camera's brand.
- Canon -- Picture Style
- Fuji -- Film Simulation
- Nikon -- Picture Control
- Olympus -- Picture Modes
- Sony -- Creative Style
When you open the raw image in Adobe Camera Raw, Adobe Lightroom Classic, or Adobe Lightroom (desktop), the colors in your picture change. This happens because Adobe's default picture style (called a profile) is different from the picture style in your camera. Adobe automatically applies its profile to your photo, changing the colors so they look different on the computer than what you saw on the camera. (If you use the camera manufacturer’s photo editing software, this change doesn’t occur because the software recognizes the camera style you used.)
The Solution
You have a couple choices if your raw files change color when you load them into an Adobe product:
- You can accept the color version that Adobe provides for you.
- You can manually choose a color style (called a Profile) that matches what is set in your camera.
- You can tell Adobe to always use the camera profile that comes with the photo, not the Adobe default profile.
You implement the third option, which prevents the color shift, by changing the Raw Defaults preference in the software. Below I describe how to change this preference for four different Adobe photo editing apps:
- Adobe Lightroom Classic
- Adobe Photoshop (camera raw)
- Adobe Photoshop Elements (camera raw)
- Adobe Lightroom (desktop & mobile)
Adobe Lightroom Classic
From the Edit menu (Windows) or the Lightroom Classic menu (Mac), choose Preferences and click the Presets tab. Change Raw Defaults from Adobe Default to Camera Settings. Click OK.
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| Change Raw Defaults to Camera Settings in Adobe Lightroom Classic |
Adobe Photoshop
In Photoshop open a raw file which opens Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). Click on the Gear icon in the upper right of the screen. Select Defaults from the list on the left. Change Raw Defaults from Adobe Default to Camera Settings. Click OK.
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| Adobe Camera Raw Preferences Icon |
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| Change Raw Defaults to Camera Settings in Adobe Camera Raw |
Adobe Photoshop Elements
In the Elements Editor, open a raw file which opens Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). Click on the Gear
icon in the upper right of the screen. Under General, change Raw default settings from Adobe
Default to Camera Settings. Click OK. To see a picture of this menu, watch the first minute of this video.
Adobe Lightroom (desktop)
From the Edit menu (Windows) or the Adobe Lightroom menu (Mac), choose Preferences. From the list on the left choose Import. Change Raw Defaults from Adobe Default to Camera Settings. Click Done. This change carries over to Lightroom on your mobile devices.
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| Change Raw Defaults to Camera Settings in Adobe Lightroom (desktop) |
After making this change to raw defaults, any new raw pictures
you open in Adobe photo editing software will look more like what you see on the camera. Raw pictures you have previously edited will not automatically update to the camera settings profile.
Older Raw Images
You can change the profile of any older raw picture by opening it in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), Adobe Lightroom Classic's Develop module or Adobe Lightroom's (desktop) Edit panel. Then next to Profile click the Browse icon and choose the correct Camera Matching Profile. This shifts the colors and tones to match the original picture style in your camera, leaving any sliders you have already adjusted in place.
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| Adobe Lightroom Classic Profile Browser Icon |
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| Adobe Lightroom Classic Profile Browser |
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| Adobe Camera Raw Profile Browser Icon |
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| Adobe Camera Raw Profile Browser |