LR working w Canon RAW with Picture Style

Question

Hi there,
I LOVE LR, like it workflow & retouching but... i very confuse recently with LR
I know LR can't "read" those picture style setting...one day, i tested Canon 5DMKII raw Canon DPP vs LR, sigh....Canon is much better I do think, color in LR is not so good enogh
any comment n idea to deal with raw in LR,
superb appreciate!
Teddy

Answer 1

I shoot Canon but have never experimented much with Picture Style settings.  But looking at my camera's Field Guide Book, it says that Picture Styles make adjustments in Tone Curve and Color Saturation.  In the Landscape Picture Style specifically, the book suggests the camera also adjusts Color Temperature for greens and blues.
There's no foolproof automatic, one-click way to get the exact same effect as you'd get with a Picture Style in LR, of course, but you can experiment in Develop Mode.  You should be able to come close. In fact, you should be able to find more nuanced adjustments that look even better to you, with some practice.
In most cases, rather than adjust the Color Saturation slider in LR, try the Vibrance slider first.  (I would slide Vibrance to the right a bit to duplicate in LR's Develop mode what Canon's DPP is doing in these shots.)
To adjust color temperature in LR, you can experiment with the various presettings found when clicking the arrow to the right of "As Shot," or in the second shot, by clicking the eyedropper icon to the left of "WB" and then clicking something purely white (the left subject's jacket, or a white part of a cloud).  More nuanced adjustments can be made with the Temp and Tint sliders.  It appears to me that in the first shot, Canon's selecting a slightly warmer color temp (higher Temp number) than you set in LR, and in the second shot, Canon's selecting a slightly cooler color temp (lower Temp number) than you are in LR. You could try those adjustments in LR and see if you agree.
I would avoid using the Brightness or Contrast sliders or the Tone Auto button in LR to adjust the tone curve, and instead experiment with three other ways LR's Develop mode can help you adjust the tone curve in a more nuanced way.  One is to position the LR cursor in the Histogram so you get a double-sideways arrow icon, and drag the bars left and right, particularly near the two sides of the histogram, until the tone curve extends to each end of the histogram without lighting up either of the triangles in the two upper corners of the histogram.
A different way to adjust the tone curve in LR is to start by moving the Exposure slider so that the overall exposure looks correct.  For these two shots, the histogram will be highest in the middle if the Exposure slider is set correctly.  (With a nighttime scene or other predominantly dark shot, of course, you want the histogram highest on the left side, not balanced in the middle.) Then, if the histogram does not extend all the way to the left of the graph, move the Blacks slider to the right until the triangle in the upper left lights up, then reduce the Blacks slider just until that triangle goes dark again.  Then, if the triangle in the upper right corner of the histogram is lit, move the Recovery slider higher just until the upper right corner triangle goes dark.  (If that triangle is already dark, leave the Recovery slider at 0.) Finally, you can move the Fill Light slider if you want to decrease contrast, as in your second shot, make the shadows a bit lighter.  Otherwise, leave it at 0. Some photographers would, and some wouldn't.  Others would just say, don't take a shot like that in harsh midday light if you have a choice, but not everybody can wait around for a week until the light is perfect! 
The third way to adjust the tonal curve in LR is to scroll down in Develop mode and manipulate Tone Curve in various ways.  You can drag the sliders in the Tone Curve graph, click points on the graph and drag them up or down, or move the sliders under the Tone Curve.  Both your shots appear to me to have slightly lower levels on the dark side of the graph, as if Canon's DPP had pulled LR's Darks and Shadows sliders slightly left.  But you'll have to experiment.  And this is why it's best not to use Brightness and Contrast in LR, particularly in the second shot, but instead use the Tone Curve or Histogram sliders, because you don't want to affect the contrast everywhere in the shot to get the effect DPP is getting; you want to adjust the contrast specifically in just the darker or shadowed areas.
Finally, are you using a hardware to device to calibrate your monitor?  If your prints are not matching what you see displayed in Lightroom, particularly in color and contrast, and you haven't tried a monitor calibrator (hardware, not just software with eyeball adjustments), I'd suggest trying one.  Don't just plug it in and use it, read and follow all the instructions carefully.  Otherwise it may not help or may even make things look worse.