Aperture seems to apply a color profile to raw by itself

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Aperture seems to apply a color profile to raw by itself

When I open up a image in aperture, it shows the image as shot for a second and then disorts the colors for some reason, applying some kind of preset profile to every raw I open. Below, it shows "processing" for the second before changing the colors. In lightroom the camera calibration profile can be changed to neutral since adobe's own calibration translation profile burns colors easily- which seems to be the case here as well? Apples support site says that no profile is used or applied when processing raw, but its definitely doing something, pretty much burning the colors flat. Translator problem? Where to change it to neutral?

I may be a retard, but gimme a hand here. 😊

edit: iMac '11, MBA '13 (same problem with both) + aperture (latest). Camera is 1Dx, if that makes any difference.

Message was edited by: finomad

Aperture 3, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Jan 13, 2014 7:14 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 13, 2014 7:56 AM in response to finomad

All RAW conversion is just that, a conversion. NX2, Aperture, LR etc. conversions each look different because they are each their respective vendor's attempt to convert the camera vendor's proprietary data.

However my guess is that you briefly are seeing the jpeg from the camera before the slower RAW conversion. The fact that you reference "flat colors" may support that premise because converted unedited RAW files will almost always look "flat" because most cameras do not sharpen RAW files. JPEGs however are almost always sharpened in-camera.

A downside of shooting RAW is that every image must be edited. For that reason many folks shoot RAW+JPEG, so the

JPEG file can be used for usages that do not require the extra image data and extra work involved in RAW files.

HTH

-Allen

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Answer 2

finomad Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 13, 2014 7:55 AM in response to SierraDragon

Well yes, I know the difference between jpeg and raw, but the problem isn't that the colors are missing or that the image looks flat, but that they are disorted towards red in most cases and nowhere near what you call neutral colors. Secondly, they are BURNT as in a pitch black shadows or way overexposed highlights. Just this time with a color. When I open up the same raw in acr, it shows as fairly neutral.

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Answer 3

Jan 13, 2014 7:59 AM in response to finomad

Curious. Does it happen with multiple cameras? It is certainly not some kind of common Aperture characteristic.

-Allen

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Answer 4

finomad Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 13, 2014 8:16 AM in response to SierraDragon

I've tried with 1Dx and Lumix Dx7, which I have for backup/ pocket solution and its files haven't shown any signs of this behaviour. I'll add later tonight some samples, when I get to my computer and you'll perhaps understand better what I'm talking about.

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Answer 5

Jan 13, 2014 8:28 AM in response to finomad

Technically, you are not seeing the "JPEG" when first importing into Aperture, but the jpeg preview embedded in the RAW file that was created according to the camera presets.

Could you have set some wierd RAW processing preset that messes with your colors?

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Answer 6

finomad Author

Level 1

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Jan 13, 2014 8:35 AM in response to Keith Barkley

Thats what I'm here to find out 😍

Only thing that I know of that processes the image when imported is Apples own 1Dx-profile in "raw fine tuning". If theres another option where the problem could be, I'll be glad to have a look.

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Answer 7

Jan 13, 2014 8:57 AM in response to finomad

Sometimes it happens to me, too, that I like the OOC JPEG or camera processed RAW better than the output of Apertures RAW conversion. My camera is the Nikon D800. This happens especially with strong colors and difficult lighting situations, where Nikon's in camera Active D-Lighting image enhancement was involved.

Sometimes that's the point where I switch to Capture NX2, Nikon's own RAW converter, that converts the RAW excactly the way the camera has "seen" and processed it. Or I start tweaking exposure, WB, curves and colors in Aperture until I like what I see. It is usually possible to get a similar result as the OOC JPEG would have been, but it takes more time, of course.

ACR or Capture One will also generate different, sometimes more pleasing, results.

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Answer 8

finomad Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 13, 2014 11:51 AM in response to Johannes Lietz

Cheers J Lietz- that was the key. Any kind of "in camera" dynamic range extender + boost changes the color balance and mushes the image. I tried retouching photos with pictures that had no D+ or any other in camera- dynamics assist on and it there seems to be very little color shift.

The thing is, that especially in images that have a lot of dynamic range to cover (strong backlight i.e.) , aperture chooses by default to apply full boost + hue boost even if I thought I had set a default preset to do otherwise (and therefore didn't doublecheck them) and that combined to somewhat compressed data from higher and lower end of the histogram seems to shift the color balance toward purple / red and mush the image to the point of being unusable. It makes it even worse if the picture has been initially even a little underexposed. The effect was not easily visible in pictures taken in daylight or even in night-time pictures (although could be seen with some pixel peeping) with landscape or mildly coloured objects being the subject, but in nightclub scenery the boost has a pretty much a horrific effect.

Solved.

😍

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