When you all import your RAW files, do you have a general setting that you apply? Contrast, vibrance, clarity, saturation, a small curves, etc... ??

I apply some vibrance, clarity and sharpness, in modest amounts and go from there. I have this set up as a preset and it's applied to all imported RAWs. I wouldn't want to apply anything else as a general preset as each image will have its own requirements.

I have the camera set on standard and use the correct Standard camera profile (have yet to make my own).

DIS Ottawa wrote:
I apply some vibrance, clarity and sharpness, in modest amounts and go from there. I have this set up as a preset and it's applied to all imported RAWs. I wouldn't want to apply anything else as a general preset as each image will have its own requirements.

What numbers do you use for those, as a base?

Clarity: +40
Vibrance: +25

Sharpening Amount: 62
The other sharpening sliders I leave at the default settings.

I've found that, on average, these are very good starting points. Sometimes I have to tweak the clarity and vibrance amounts, but more often I don't. If I set them any higher, I frequently have to pull them back.

I prefer not to do any more sharpening than this in Lightroom. I do output sharpening in PS CS4 with Nik Sharpener Pro 3.0.

I hope this helps you.

Thanks. One last thing, any number on saturation? Or do you leave that at 0 and just use vibrance?

No added saturation In Lr. I do that, if needed, in CS4 using the on image adjustment so that I can apply it selectively to only those areas/colours that need it, rather than the global application available in Lr.

I take a different approach. I import with a preset of all sliders set to zero, linear curve, no sharpening or noise reduction, and Camera Neutral beta 2. This should give me as close to the raw image data as possible.

Once the exposure, brightness, contrast etc. has been taken care of the saturation levels should take care of themselves, save adjustments for taste.

Different strokes......

Dave Good wrote:
I take a different approach. I import with a preset of all sliders set to zero, linear curve, no sharpening or noise reduction, and Camera Neutral beta 2. This should give me as close to the raw image data as possible.

Once the exposure, brightness, contrast etc. has been taken care of the saturation levels should take care of themselves, save adjustments for taste.

Different strokes......

I just know that ALL my photos need some vibrance, clarity, etc... I would like to get a ballpark, and tweek to my own "general" settings from there.

My general preset consists of contrast +40, Saturation +10 Sharpening amount 45 radius 1.0, detail 25 masking around 80. This is my 'RAW' general preset.

For input sharpening in LR zoom in on the image 1:1, now hit and hold the ALT key on PC and move the masking slider in sharpening, you will see the screen go from fully white to black and white highlighted areas, the white areas are the areas that will receive sharpening, leaving the masking at 0 will apply any sharpening you do to the entire image. Now you normally don't sharpen skin, sky and background. So why would you want to sharpen the entire image? Then set the amount to around 30-45 and toggle the sharpening on and off to see if you like the effect, you can always adjust it later. I learned about input sharpening from MNL ( Monday Night Lights) http://lightworkshops.blogspot.com/ . It is totally free, check it out. Hal will post a 10min recap of the last MNL on LR input sharpening soon on the blog. Hope this helps you out.

Sevan

Thanks!