Is there a way to mimic Photoshop Levels adjustment feature in Lightroom?

Question

I've found that pretty much every photo looks better if I start by editing it externally in Photoshop using the Image>Adjustments>Auto Levels feature then brining it back into Lightroom to tweak color temperature, exposure, clarity, etc. I call it the "Claritan Effect" after the Claritan TV commercials that start out looking normal but then they peel back a film on the camera to reveal brighter colors and contrast.  You can see it in the samples where nothing has been changed in the 2nd photo except to run Auto Levels in Photoshop.
Is there a way to replicate this in Lightroom?  It's the only reason I take most photos into Photoshop so it would save a lot of transfer time if I could do this editing in Lightroom.

Answer 1

function(){return A.apply(null,[this].concat($A(arguments)))}
AviatorTim2 wrote:
I've found that pretty much every photo looks better if I start by editing it externally in Photoshop using the Image>Adjustments>Auto Levels feature 
Or, you can use the auto feature in the tone section of the Basic panel.  You can save this as a preset and then automatically apply it during import.  I never use auto features myself, but I tried it on your original and it gave different results than photoshop auto-levels (I liked it better) but it may not meet your criteria.
You can also experiment with the outside sliders in the tone curve or with the clarity slider and save to a preset, if that works better for you.
However, I have not found a one-size-fits-all solution, and with a little practise, and the use of autosync in the develop module, you can make customized adjustments very rapidly in LR.