I use ACR for the conversion of my Leaf 75S RAW files and honestly the number of adjustment options can be mindboggling.

I'm curious to know if people here might be willing to share the kinds of adjustments they make in ACR or Lightroom for their RAW files.

Of course each file is dependent on its original White Balance setting, type of back, etc etc etc but it will be nice to just see what other people are doing about this

For files that are underexposed by at least 1/2 a stop I need to adjust the Blacks to 3, and generally I find that I have to adjust the tint to add some magenta into my Leaf files when the white balance is set on Flash

Will like to see what others are doing and whether it can help improve my conversions

Thanks in advance

Geee.... that is an interesting question.

I found it totally depends on the back I use. My Valeos I could pick the right WB and have the tint settings at neutral, my Aptus was off by about 30 points (I had to add 30 points of magenta to get to the right tint), My CF39 I have to add a couple of points of magenta, my 384 I need to add about 30 points of magenta again.

Basic
I always try to expose so I need to lower the exposure setting with about 0,25 - to 0,50 stops.

With very dark stuff/garments I crank up the fill light (though this comes at a price since most fabric tends to be not neutral while most clients believe it is).

I always nudge up the blacks a bit with a couple of points unless there is a lot of black already there.

I keep the brightness normally at around 50% as well as the contrast at 25%. Saturation, clarity and vibrance at about 10%

These are the settings I normally try to start with. I alter at taste.

Tone Curve; I mostly leave alone unless I need to lower the white point.

Detail
More interesting I find to know how people are using the detail tab with sharpening & noise reduction.

I normally keep sharpening to 35,1.0,25,0 while I do most of the sharpening at the end and based upon the desired output. This also depends on the back used, my Leafs & 384 do not need as much (pre-sharpening) as my CF39.

When using 'high' ISO I crank up the color noise reduction a lot and luminance noise a bit (80% & 50%).

HSL/Grayscale
Is anyone using these? I normally do all my color adjustments in PS. If you do what do you find to be the advantages of doing it in ACR?
Split toning
Same for split toning. Is anyone using these? If you do what do you find to be the advantages of doing it in ACR?
Lens corrections & camera calibration
Anyone using these, did anyone calibrate his back in ACR?

I use ACR mostly to prep a file to be ready to be dragged through the image processor. I work in badges, prepare 1 file representative for that badge in photoshop, create an action or droplet for that, drag all the others through it and than select those files that need some more handwork.

I try to automate everything that I need to do more than a couple of times. Some people keep saying every file is unique and each need to have its own approach. My approach is that every image has something in common with others and those are the things that can be automated giving you more time for other things.

I never use the Lightroom built-in white balances (ie. Flash, Daylight etc...)
Actually I don't even know if they do a good job or not, but I shoot with a macbeth colour checker,
and if I don't have one with my while I am outside for example, I just tweak the sliders by eye.

I have always found the Leaf Capture software to be much better than ACR in bringing out fine,
pixel-peeping detail... my ACR converted files seem softer. To my eyes, the "Detail" slider in the latest ACR does help in restoring some of the fine detail in images. Depending on the image it can be used quite aggressively without looking like it has been over-sharpened.

regards
Andrew

I never use any of the predetermined WB settings anywhere.

I always start with a grey card-shot to pick the right WB. The card that came with my Aptus has proven itself as one of the most accurate ones sofar. I sold the Aptus but kept the card

I ran the ACR calibration this week for both of my cameras, 5D and Aptus 22. The Aptus has had much nicer color in LR than any of the Canons I've owned. But running the calibration made even better improvements, notably in the skin, it pulled some extra red/magenta out of skin that I just couldn't pinpoint with settings otherwise.

Here is an updated calibration script, easy, it takes ~30 mins to run in PS on a G5.

http://21stcenturyshoebox.com/tools/ACRcalibrator.html

For what settings I use in LR, it just depends on the images. I have found I can make some presets with treatments as starting points, but they just won't work with all shots, some require more adjustments due to contrast and scene specific content.

For WB in LR, I use the as shot setting or manually adjust. The drop down menu of WB settings are pointless, because every camera will have different needs for what is neutral to start with. A grey card isn't always an option.

My Aptus needs around a -25 to -30 tint setting and a lower WB than Canon for neutral.

I go with little to no noise reduction on the Aptus, starting point of Lum noise 0 and Color noise 5. Even at ISO 200 the Aptus looks great with just a slight fine grain which never shows in print. Pushing files to ISO 400-800 looks nice in B&W with an acceptable grainy look.

Split toning rocks. I use it regularly for lightly toned B&Ws to have nearly finished files straight from LR.



It's also useful for intentionally off toned color images like this, Eastman Chemical shoot:



Leaf Capture has the best pixel detail for Leaf files but lacks so much for what I want to do with files that LR is my choice with little if any PS work afterwards.

Hi John.
Really nice images above and on your site... your toning of images is nicely done.
cheers mate.
Andrew

Yep... I like the second image. Also gives a good idea how to use split toning and an incentive to at least try using it a couple of times.

Thx!