So, I love lightroom except for one big problem: It's screwing with my pictures!

I shoot with my D300 in RAW format. It imports great...but then something wrong happens. When I open up the picture I want to edit, it looks like I want it to (colors vivid, exposure, etc.) and lightroom says "Rendering Preview...."

Then it all goes to hell!!! The colors and contrast disappear, it seemingly changes my exposure to what it thinks is right, and the "snap" of the picture completely disappears! :mad2:

Why the heck is lightroom doing that?? How do I make it stop?

I think I figured it out.....I didn't realize that the camera still previews pictures according to your color settings on it, but RAW format doesn't actually contain any of that information in lightroom......and your editing capabilities go up.

Means I have to learn to do it all manually, but that's okay. Sorry I'm an idiot sometimes.......

That is what I was wondering, but since I don't use Lightroom yet, I wasn't sure. I notice the same thing with my cameras LCD screen. When reviewing my images in the field, they look great, once on the computer my RAW files don't look so great. But with a little processing, they get back to where I want them.

That is what I was wondering, but since I don't use Lightroom yet, I wasn't sure. I notice the same thing with my cameras LCD screen. When reviewing my images in the field, they look great, once on the computer my RAW files don't look so great. But with a little processing, they get back to where I want them.
It's definitely annoying though to have to go through every picture and edit it to get it the way I wanted. I've really only taken film images for my entire life and it was easy! What you shot is what you got.

Complexity and capabilities are good but I need to learn how to use them for my advantage now.

The screen on the camera can be misleading. It has to adjust the image to show it on a tiny screen, and in suboptimal conditions too. It will have to boost the brightness and contrast to cope with being shown in a bright environment, nothing like your computer at home.

Your best guide while shooting is the histogram, we have an article under the Learn tab at the top of the page, here's the direct link http://www.photographyreview.com/histogramguidecrx.aspx.

I'm not familiar with how Lightroom handles the Nikon raw file format, I suspect it respects the settings for white balance and little else.

I haven't used them yet, but Lightroom can have defaults in the develop module for combinations of camera body, lens, and ISO setting.
I've just used one setting so far for ISO800 indoor shots of a go kart race, it made reprocessing them simple.

On the rare occasions I use RAW I use the Canon DPP as it looks just like it did in camera to start with and doesn't adjust anything unless I do it. Not sure if Nikon has a similar program but I'd try it if they do just to see what they look like straight from the camera.

JS

I don't have the same problem with Canon raw files, they look just the same.
BUT I chose RGB as my working colour space in Lightroom.
And I shoot in RGB colour space.
I think if you change to Adobe it may produce similar effects.