[Anvh]

Comparing lightroom 3 and 4 exposure settings.
I thought they would differ more.
I like how lightroom 4 kept the colours quite well.

original



+2 stops


+4 stops

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Last edited by Anvh; 01-28-2012 at 03:00 PM.

[Adam]

Indeed it looks like the color handling when adjusting exposure has been improved- then again, it's not certain that a graphic such as this would accurately represent the overall effect of the algorithm as it's just a single data point.

[Anvh]

If you know a better test then let me hear it

Do you someone want more comparison?
fill ligth and shadow maybe?

[reeftool]

I downloaded LR4 to my laptop, mostly just to check it out as I haven't used it for editing and didn't have any photo software on it at all. I noticed the missing brightness and fill light sliders right off. I was able to get pretty good results using the shadow slider so maybe I won't miss it much. It's hard to compare end results looking at a laptop screen but the shots looked pretty good. The pop up tutorials indicate that they are going to market this more to the Elements crowd. I found them annoying but I suppose a complete noob will find them useful.

[falconeye]

If you know a better test then let me hear it

Do you someone want more comparison?
fill ligth and shadow maybe?

Anvh, this is one of the best tests I've seen so far. Thank you so much!

I would have an interest in:
- Redoing the test with LR3 black level at 0 (if not done already).

- In LR3, moving brightness (by an amount which shifts mid tones by about the same as exposure +2EV) vs. LR4 exposure +2EV. Or moving brightness to 150 and identifying which exposure shift (in the mid tones) it is like and using that in LR4.

- Fill light vs. 1. Shadow, 2. Blacks would be interesting indeed. But you first need to shift your sample to -2EV or -4EV in order to have enough dark circles. At black level 0 for LR3.


I think, you import a Photoshop file into LR here. Note that this is another test as importing a RAW would be. LR applies different profiles to imported TIFFs and camera RAWs. Much of the difference is between these default profiles. Importing an actual RAW shot of the circles would be more interesting. If you have a good plasma TV (Pioneer with true black), then you could photograph the circles off your TV screen (at night with room lights off). If not, better to print it out on glossy paper.

[Anvh]

Thanks Falk.

Will do brightness next, i'm also quite curious about that one.
will do LR3 exposure vs LR4 whites
Lr3 brightness vs LR4 exposure
Since they seem to behave the same way roughly

For now i've a real life photo because someone asked for it.

Default.


+2 exposure


-2 exposure


Lr3 recovery max + black minimaal
Lr4 highlight minimaal + black maximaal
(ps light room 4 works differenlty in then lightroom 3 but with these settings the effects goes the same way)


Clarity to the max.
Made few more selection with this, so LR3 has dark skies and LR4 light skies.
Also the photo is different then the others, it's roughly the same photo but already underexposed.
ps. you need to test this at home because they have so much improve clarity in LR4, in LR3 you get halos but that's hardly the case with LR4.

[Anvh]

Set brightness to max in lightroom 3 and tried to match it with lightroom 4 the best i can with exposure.
I think Flak was curious about that one.

LR3 brightness +150
LR4 exposure + 2.3



LR3 recovery +100
LR4 Whites -100


LR3 blacks +100
LR4 blacks -100


LR3 fill light +50 (can go to +100)
LR4 shadows +100


LR3 exposure is unique, you can't emulate it with only a single slider in LR4
LR4 highlights is unique, you can't emulate it with only a single slider in LR3



So my conclusion about which settings matches closes.
LR3 = LR4
Brightness = Exposure
Recovery = whites
fill light = shadows (except that fill light behave differently to blue.)
Black = black (somewhat at least)
Exposure = --------------
------------ = highlights

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Last edited by Anvh; 01-28-2012 at 02:21 PM.

[falconeye]

So my conclusion about which settings matches closes.
LR3 = LR4
Brightness = Exposure
Recovery = whites
fill light = shadows (except that fill light behave differently to blue.)
Black = black (somewhat at least)
Exposure = --------------
------------ = highlights

Thanks again for another great test.
I appreciate it very much.

Seems that the biggest difference (besides LR3 exposure) is in the fill lights. LR4 shadows +100 has a much smaller effect than LR3 fill light +50 and the latter is only 50% of the scale.

LR3 fill light is an important feature with K-5 raws because it has so much head room in the shadows. I never succeeded to replace fill light by adjustments with the level tool. So, I guess native support for fill light is important. I don't see how to get it with LR4.

[Anvh]

Seems that the biggest difference (besides LR3 exposure) is in the fill lights. LR4 shadows +100 has a much smaller effect than LR3 fill light +50 and the latter is only 50% of the scale.

LR3 fill light is an important feature with K-5 raws because it has so much head room in the shadows. I never succeeded to replace fill light by adjustments with the level tool. So, I guess native support for fill light is important. I don't see how to get it with LR4.

But you can apply an negative blacks now but haven't tested that one yet.

[Anvh]

LR3 fill light 100
LR4 shadows +100 & blacks +100 (this means both are overexposed)


I don't know.
LR3 pushed the midtones more here but look what it does with the colour blue.
LR4 seems to have pushed the two darkest greys just as much but without pushing the rest.

[Anvh]

Real-life example.
Pushed exposure in LR4 with 0,5 EV so that it matched better with LR3




Thought maybe i should try and compress both images dynamic range.
LR3 fill-light 100, recovery 100, exposure -1 to match LR4 better
LR4 highligh -100, shadows +100, whites -100 (this is why i had to change exposure in LR3), blacks +100

[falconeye]

LR3 fill light 100
LR4 shadows +100 & blacks +100 (this means both are overexposed)


I don't know.
LR3 pushed the midtones more here but look what it does with the colour blue.
LR4 seems to have pushed the two darkest greys just as much but without pushing the rest.

You're right. One has to look at the rings which don't touch anymore though.

The color shift comes from clipping some of the rgb channels but not all. This is normally cured by recovery in LR3. It is much less of an issue in real photographs. Obviously, LR4 shifts luminosities in another color space than rgb which is a good thing.

[falconeye]

Real-life example.
Pushed exposure in LR4 with 0,5 EV so that it matched better with LR3

What did you do? This is quite a dramatic difference ...

[Anvh]

You're right. One has to look at the rings which don't touch anymore though.

The color shift comes from clipping some of the rgb channels but not all. This is normally cured by recovery in LR3. It is much less of an issue in real photographs. Obviously, LR4 shifts luminosities in another color space than rgb which is a good thing.

with the RGB i find it still strange that only the blue gets clipped but not the rest of the colours, i think more is going on since fill-light only push the dark tones and the low midtones.

What did you do? This is quite a dramatic difference ...

LR3 100% fillight
LR4 +100 black, +100 shadows and +0.5 EV in exposure so that the mid tones match better.

So almost the same as the last test chart but levelled the exposure a bit more for the both.