Getting Autoblacks in Camera Raw and Lightroom

[peterkrogh]

DAvid,
The *Profile* is not what you edit.  The *Preset* is what you edit.
Peter

[David Nobel]

Peter,

All is well--I finally sorted this out.

I have had no other presets of any kind applied while working with this.

But I just tried creating the Auto Black preset again, as I have several times before, by creating a dummy preset, navigating to the Develop Presets/User Presets folder to open it in Textedit, and then replacing all text with your script which I have copy/pasted from this thread. Again, no luck. But this time, instead of simply deleting the preset in frustration, I quit and restarted Lightroom. Success at last! The preset now works.

Unlike the other user presets I have created, which took effect immediately, this one required a restart. After doing a little experimenting, it seems to me that this relates to manually editing the file. As an experiment, I altered other, existing presets in various ways in Textedit and noticed that the changes only take effect after restarting Lightroom. It makes sense, I suppose, but it really had me stumped for awhile.

Thanks for your help as I worked this through.

David Nobel

[peterkrogh]

David,
Thanks for posting the follow-up. It does make sense that Lightroom would load the preset on startup, or when it's created, and presents changed outside of Lightroom would need to be reloaded.

I'm sure this will help someone else later on down the line.
Peter

[danaltick]

With the much improved Auto function in ACR5 (which has autoblacks built-in), I haven't really found a need anymore for a separate Auto Blacks.  Peter, do you still use Auto Blacks?  Thanks.

Dan

[peterkrogh]

Dan,
I have still been using it as a starting point. I've been wary of using auto since is can erase the difference between brackets, and I might inadvertently pick an underexposed image, rather than a properly exposed one.

That said, it's definitely worth another look. I'd still probably use autoblacks as the generic starting point, and only apply full auto to certain shoot types.

Are you using auto for everything on import?

Peter

[danaltick]

Peter,

I use Auto on ingestion for everything except bracketed exposures.  The reason, it makes the most efficient use of the data/histogram.  I then control the brightness through the Brightness/midtone slider if necessary, keeping the endpoints of the histogram anchored.  You of course can also massage the quarter and three quarter tones with the other sliders and the curves if necessary without ever moving the endpoints.

If I'm doing bracketed exposures, the objective would be to have one exposed for the shadows.  If I'm taking a set into PS, I would more than likely tweak it in ACR first and might apply an Autoblacks manually if necessary at that time by double clicking the blacks slider on that one image.  I probably wouldn't concern myself with the other sets that didn't make the cut.  The midtone proofs are probably all I might care about anyway.  Hope that makes sense.

BTW,  I really like this DVD from Jack Davis http://www.software-cinema.com/training/adobe-photoshop/jack-davis/34/adobe-camera-raw-5-indepth-unleashed.  In it he talks about his 4 step tango to tonal adjustments.  It's what I typically use.  It makes allot of sense and I highly recommend his DVD.  I've studied Jack's techniques for quite some time now.  I think he's really good at cutting to the chase and giving photographers the nuts and bolts of what they need to create great images non-destructively in both ACR and PS.  I think his degrees in both Graphics Design and Digital Imagery give him an indepth working knowledge of the subject matter.

Dan

[ckelly77]

Peter,

I just wanted to say say THANK YOU for that Custom ACR script on page 370.  Couldn't get it to work on first try - then realized I had spelled Autoshadow instead of AutoShadow in the script.  I am LOVING it now. 

Chris Kelly
ckelly01@gsb.columbia.edu

[peterkrogh]

Chris,
Thanks for the big thank you.  I agree that it's really valuable.
I wish Adobe would bring it back as a real feature. BTW, in LR, you can do it one-at-a time by shift-double-clicking "blacks" in the Develop, but that's much less useful than applying to a whole set of images on import.
Peter

[spin498]

I stumbled on your site, looking for something else, but found this thread. Tried the preset and works great. I had to register and say thanks. I just ordered your book through my local book store chain too. Great stuff.

[bslanger]

This may be hopelessly old fashioned, but I still us PS,Bridge, and
The old version of iView Expressions.   I used to be able to get AutoBlacks
In ACR by using the script given previously.  Now in ACR 6.6
I put in the AutoShadows replacement script code in ACR settings,
And it no longer works.  The code looks different.  So in short,
What is the simplest way to get AutoBlacks in ACR 6.6?
Brian S.

[bslanger]

I got the autoblack issue solved in the latest ACR. 
The script IS different in the latest ACR, so simply
stripping in the little line of code that worked
before in earlier versions was not working,
ie. putting AutoShadows in the lines did not work.
I just used the older entire settings for ALL the
options that was a download from Peter,
and used that as separate setting, and now it
works. 
Brian