Images get darker when importing to lightroom compared to windows image preview

[lukas123]

Hello. I have taken some images with my mavic air 2. I shoot in RAW format and when I open the image in windows preview, it looks exactly how it looked when I was taking the picture. The following image is in DNG format.



When I put it in lightroom, it automatically get darker for some reason:



Is there any reason? is this normal behaviour?

 

[Cymru]

Windows preview will be reading the embedded jpg not the DNG.

Still doesnt explain the huge difference in exposure though.
Have you opened it directly in Photoshop to see if that displays OK?

 

[lukas123]

My photoshop does not open DNG files. However, when I open JPG file, it is exposed the same as windows preview.

 

[slup]

... I shoot in RAW format and when I open the image in windows preview, it looks exactly how it looked when I was taking the picture.

...When I put it in lightroom, it automatically get darker for some reason:

Did you take a combined jpeg+raw ..?

Looking at the exif for the jpeg it says that the exposure bias is -3.0 ... meaning underexposed by 3 full steps. The drones internal raw converter (to create that jpeg) have then modified it slightly & made it a bit lighter.

The raw on the other hand ... that's exactly what the sensor saw & it will directly reflect the under exposure. In Lightroom it's then your turn to tweak the settings to something similar like that from the auto conversion to jpeg internally in the drone.

Why do you under expose with 3 full steps..?

 

[lukas123]

Did you take a combined jpeg+raw ..?

Looking at the exif for the jpeg it says that the exposure bias is -3.0 ... meaning underexposed by 3 full steps. The drones internal raw converter (to create that jpeg) have then modified it slightly & made it a bit lighter.

The raw on the other hand ... that's exactly what the sensor saw & it will directly reflect the under exposure. In Lightroom it's then your turn to tweak the settings to something similar like that from the auto conversion to jpeg internally in the drone.

Why do you under expose with 3 full steps..?

Yes I was taking jpeg+raw. I am just starting out with photography and I am not yet familliar with steps that you are talking about. On my phone screen, the image looked perfect for me, and it did not look under exposed at all as I previously mentioned, the image on the screen looked like the first image I have added which has decent amount light and exposure in it. Can you help me understand what you mean about those steps and how do you know when and by how many steps it is underexposed?

 

[slup]

By -3 steps I mean that you have shot that picture with 3 Exposure Values (commonly known as EV) below 18% grey ?

You find it easily if right click on the jpeg file in Windows and look under the information tab ...


This subject is way to large for a forum post ... you need to do some Google searching your self ...

Here you have two links to start out with ...

Underexposure vs Overexposure - A Beginner's Guide

Understanding Histograms in Photography

 

[NDWildBill]

I spent about 2 minutes with lightroom tweaking this photo of yours. Basically bumped up the exposure by almost 3 stops. Also bumped up the contrast a bit. I would suggest you watch utube videos about using lightroom. The previous posts were all correct about your raw photo being very underexposed.

 

[lukas123]

Okay thank you all. So when I am shooting with my DJI, I want to achieve a histogram which would look something like following for the most optimal exposure?

 

[NDWildBill]

Okay thank you all. So when I am shooting with my DJI, I want to achieve a histogram which would look something like following for the most optimal exposure?
View attachment 126436

That is correct sir. I like to underexpose my raw photos a bit...easier to bring back details in an underexposed photo than one that is over exposed. I'm an amateur still photographer, relatively new to drone photography, but basic exposure and post processing principles seem to apply.

 

[slup]

The exposure rule when using the histogram & working with a raw file ... is to "Expose to the right" for the most clean & noise free result. And so you know ... you can activate a histogram in the DJI Fly app so you're seeing directly there what you are doing.

Expose to the right means that you position the "mountain" in the histogram as far to the right as you can without it going through the right side. This will leave you with a very bright picture to start up with. You then bring the exposure down in the raw converter to a normal brightness ... this minimize the noise in the pic.

Doing the opposite as you did in your pic ... positioned the histogram to the left ...



... and then brighten up the pic in the converter will leave you with A LOT of noise especially in the shadows. Did it with your jpeg above ... & placed a 100% zoomed part on top. Jeez ... that creates noise.

(Click on it to view full screen)

 

[lukas123]

Thank you very much that was helpful. Please allow me to double check one last thing:
So shooting with the correct exposure ( mountain to the right) in the first place will retain much more detail and less noise compared to shooting underexposed and then adding exposure in post processing?

 

[slup]

Thank you very much that was helpful. Please allow me to double check one last thing:
So shooting with the correct exposure ( mountain to the right) in the first place will retain much more detail and less noise compared to shooting underexposed and then adding exposure in post processing?

Yes ... but you need to darken the picture in editing to get a "normal" exposure.

If you want to produce the most noise free picture ... you use the "Exposing to the right technique" which means that you expose so the histogram mountain is as far to the right it can come without breaking the right edge. Here the picture will be rather bright = not quite center or "correct" exposed.

Then you bring down the exposure in the raw converter again to a normal level ... in this way you minimize the noise. The reason why this works is that noise occurs mostly in the darker areas of a picture, so by lighten up the darker areas when the picture is taken less noise is created from start.

When working like this it's better to use the raw format as the editing will be lossless, & then export the final edit to jpeg.

You can find a lot regarding this if you search ... below one example:
Exposing to the Right

 

[Dale D]

My photoshop does not open DNG files. However, when I open JPG file, it is exposed the same as windows preview.

My Photoshop opens up DNG files all of the time! (Adobe cc 2021). You can always install the DNG converter free from Adobe. I shoot all of my timelapse RAW files in DNG and this program converter them to RAW and jpeg. If this link is not for you, Adobe surely will have the most current DGG converter for you. Try to Google Adobe DNG Converter.


.

 

[tlswift58]

Yes I was taking jpeg+raw. I am just starting out with photography and I am not yet familliar with steps that you are talking about. On my phone screen, the image looked perfect for me, and it did not look under exposed at all as I previously mentioned, the image on the screen looked like the first image I have added which has decent amount light and exposure in it. Can you help me understand what you mean about those steps and how do you know when and by how many steps it is underexposed?

The -3 Exposure is the slider bar on the lower right of your screen you use for flying. Right next to whether you are in manual or auto icon. I've only seen it work in auto mode, so there will be a set of numbers that show the exposure increase (+) or decreased (-) just to the left of the auto and AE lock icons. Easy to activate that slider and it can move very quickly - so have to be careful where it is set.

 

[Cymru]

The mavic produces DNGs straight onto the card. No need for a DNG converter.

 

[Josiah S]

I use GIMP and Raw Therapee. I open up the picture in gimp and then it takes me to raw therapee to edit it if it is a raw photo which I always shoot. I am on the free trial for Photoshop and I like it much better but am not sure that I want to pay the fee. I did notice that when I open up the DNG in raw therapee it does darken the image slightly, but not near that much as yours darkened. I am still pretty much a beginner so the only advice that I can try to give you is to just shoot the image brighter straight out of the camera...which has already been said above.

 

[lukas123]

Thanks all for the help. Was very useful