Can I recover RAW conversion settings from a JPEG if I still have the original RAW files?
Asked 12/13/2012
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2 answers
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I lost my Lightroom catalog during an OS migration, but I still have the original RAW files and some JPEGs that were previously exported from them. I’d like to create more JPEGs from other RAWs with a similar look.
Is there any practical way to recover or reverse-engineer the original development settings from a JPEG when I also have the matching RAW file? For example, can Lightroom, Camera Raw, or metadata in the JPEG help, or is this mostly a manual process?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
5
If all else fails do it the hard way.
I assume you have only done raw conversions and nothing more. If you look at it from a theoretical point of view then you have a high dimensional input (raw file), a high dimensional output (jpg) and you need the function that maps input to output. You are lucky because you have the function but need some parameters.
The dcraw and ufraw are two raw converters that can be used from the command line, I don't think that Lightroom let's you do this.
What you would need:
- A distance function between two jpeg images. The sum of |pixel-differences| might work.
- A search function. A Genetic Algorithm would be easy but probably not the best solution. Directed search is better. Maybe a greedy algorithm?
Anyway, this could be done with a bit of time and a quick computer.
Originally by user7718. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user7718
13y ago
0
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Usually, no—not completely. A JPEG is the rendered output of many RAW-processing decisions, and there isn’t a reliable way to reconstruct all the original Lightroom/RAW settings from it.
A few points:
- Some workflows may write limited processing metadata into the JPEG, so it’s worth checking the file’s metadata/EXIF/XMP.
- Even when metadata exists, it may only include some settings, not everything.
- Lightroom generally won’t “reverse” a JPEG back into the exact RAW edit settings.
In practice, the realistic approach is manual matching: open the RAW and JPEG side by side and recreate the look by eye using your RAW editor. Since you made the edits originally, the images may help remind you of the adjustments you used.
In theory, you could try an automated optimization approach—adjust settings until a converted RAW looks as close as possible to the JPEG—but that would be complex and is not a standard feature in common photo software.
So: check metadata first, but expect to rebuild the edit manually rather than recover the exact original settings.
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