In my last post I talked about the new camera profiles available for Lightroom 2.0 and Camera Raw 4.5 (available here). Along with the new profiles, Adobe is providing a Profile Editor, making it possible to create new profiles, or fine-tune an existing profile, creating what Adobe is calling “recipes”. There are a number of features in the Profile Editor, so I’ll break this into three parts. This week we’ll cover the basics of fine-tuning a profile.
To get started, you’ll need a DNG file - I’ve selected a file that I’d like to adjust the reds and yellows on. Opening the file, I can see that the white balance is off, so the first thing to do is correct this. Right click (or Control click on Mac) an area in the image that should be neutral in tone, just like you would correct white balance in Lightroom.

Now, adjusting colors is simply a matter of clicking on the color I want to edit, and then making Hue, Saturation, and Lightness adjustments. Starting with the magenta tones, I’ll adjust to be more accurate to what the flower was actually like:

As you make a selection and edit, the color patch will show a split of before and after. You can go back and fine-tune any of these adjustments after the fact by selecting the color bar and making new adjustments.
There is no limit to the number of color selections and adjustments you can make, which gives you an incredible amount of control over color in your images.
When complete, save your adjustments as a new Recipe, which will then be available in Lightroom 2.0 and Camera Raw. This type of recipe adjustment is ideal for studio work where you have controlled lighting and need to insure color consistency from shot to shot.
Next week, I’ll cover creating a new camera profile from scratch.