LR4 auto tone continues to be a disaster?

Are there any improvements noticeable in Lr5.2?

ref: http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/lightroom_5_2_auto_exposure_has_been_improved_to_be_more_consistent_across_images_and_across_different_image_sizes

This plugin solves most problems with Lr's auto-toning, granted it is more cumbersome to use than native.

OttoTone

I'm having the same problem. Auto Tone often massively over exposes, or under exposes. It is completely unreliable. The 2010 process was much better. The first image is as shot. 2nd image is 2012 process "auto tone". 3rd image is 2010 process "auto tone". This is a pretty mild sample.

Is auto-tone any better in Lr4.2RC1?

(I've heard that it is, but I can't tell yet)

More auto-tone observations:

* I've yet to see contrast outside the range -25 to +25, nor highlights outside the range 0 to -50 nor shadows outside the range 0 to +50 (highlights/shadows values always mirroring one another symmetrically, as previously noted).

* I've seen -blacks & +whites all over the map, and exposure of course.

* I don't recall ever seeing any large +blacks or -whites values - always very small values.

All of this seems fairly reasonable to me - just wondering if my observations are consistent with other users.

Anybody else?

Rob

How to edit a photo in Lr4, the quickest way:

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1. Click Auto.

2. Adjust Exposure (left or right).

3. Adjust Blacks (left).

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Explanation:

* Often, exposure is off.

* Sometimes, more black clipping is desirable.

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Fine tuning requires PV2012 editing skills and some time.

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Note: If this "procedure" doesn't cut it, please do tell. No improvement will come unless Adobe knows what to do. More specifically, do any settings other than exposure (and blacks) seem to be off much, in your opinion?

In my opinion, Lr4 auto-tone does what it's intended to do pretty good, e.g. compared to Lr3, except for a larger variance in exposure (in Lr3, brightness and/or exposure was off a lot too, just less of a swing, right?) and I think it's too shy with the -blacks sometimes too.

Bottom line: Lr4 auto-tone is a very useful tool, once you accept that you need the most basic of editing skills to go with it: exposure adjustment (and blacks).

I know some folks want "Auto" to be 100% automatic - and I agree, some improvements are in order, but @now, it is what it is, and I hate to see folks throwing out the baby with the bath water...

PS - I think ssprengel pretty much nailed where the tendency toward underexposure comes from, but what about the overexposure?

Cheers,

Rob

Here's another option - percent auto-toning.

You edit as best you can without auto-toning, then you click to move your photo(s) a fraction of the way toward the auto-tone settings. If you like what you see, click again...

Cookmarks (photo adjustment links -> basics -> auto tone)

Rob

I've been watching this to see what develops.

My experience, mostly events, is the auto tone is now a do not touch button. It was a huge time saver.

I loved the high 'hit rate' of auto before. Now, every stinking image needs to be put through a deep dive.

Frustrating... not advancement in my opinion.

Chris

I too have experienced similar problems since upgrading to LR4 (currently on 4.1RC) which is seriously impacting the time it is taking to process photos.

My workflow is typically as follows:

1) Create a new catalogue for the event

2) Import RAW images (typically from 500 - 2500). In LR3 I used to apply auto-tone as a preset on import. It wasn't perfect, but got most shots close enough.

3) Quickly go through all the images, selecting and rejecting photos as required.

4) Delete rejected shots from catalogue and disk

5) Tweak remaining shots with sliders, normally doesn't need much (if any) tweaking to be acceptable for web gallery upload.

6) Export photos for web upload.

7) Fine tune purchased images before delivery to customer.

With LR4, when auto tone is applied, in the majority of cases it reduces the exposure by up to 2.5 stops and sets contrast to -25. This results in an unusable image, so have to set exposure and contrast to zero, and work manually from there.

Here is one of the worst examples I've come across:

1) Original image with no processing at all

2) Auto tone applied in LR3

3) Auto tone applied in LR4

4) Manual tweaking of develop sliders in LR4

I would expect a similar image to the final one above by tweaking the sliders in LR3 as my workflow step 7.

Previously, I would have to "tweak" about 1 in 10 shots after applying auto tone adjustment in LR3 before upload to my web gallery, but in LR4 it's probably around 90 - 95% that I have to tweak manually.

The extra workload means it is now taking anywhere from 2 to 5 times as long to process a batch of images.

John

I think Photoshop CS5 Auto Tone is a fairly straight forward operation to stretch the tonal range to go from 0 to 255.  From the help:

The Auto option for Levels and Curves and the Auto Tone command automatically adjust the black point and white point in an image. This clips a portion of the shadows and highlights in each channel and maps the lightest and darkest pixels in each color channel to pure white (level 255) and pure black (level 0). The intermediate pixel values are redistributed proportionately. As a result, using the Auto option or Auto Tone increases the contrast in an image because the pixel values are expanded. Because the Auto option and Auto Tone adjust each color channel individually, it may remove color or introduce color casts.

I assume LR does something more complex - perhaps Eric can explain the difference?

PS - If I understand correctly the above description for the CS5 function then it's very easy to achieve in LR4: simply drag the ends of the linear tone curve in until they meet the ends of the histogram.