That is clever what does the preset do? What modules does it use?
I have developed a number of presets for DXO. I have a single one for JPEGs, the rest for raw, which is what I usually use for my own photos.
I obviously used the JPEG preset for your images. That uses (quotes from the embedded help in DXO):
- DXO Smart Lighting, which "optimizes the dynamic range by unblocking shadows and/or recovering highlights. This correction is most efficient with RAW images"
- DXO Clearview, which "lets you improve the contrast and sharpness of your images by removing the effects of atmospheric haze or fog" (but I find it of wider use than that)
- Microcontrast adjustment, which "enhances or softens very small details. Particularly useful for textured images, or to compensate for a lack of sharpness"
- Noise reduction
- Chromatic aberration reduction
From JPEGs I produce TIFF files from DXO and open them in Lightroom.
For raw files I have sets of ISO-specific presets, one set for my small sensor cameras and one set for my micro four thirds and APS-C cameras. All the presets in a set do the same thing except that the noise reduction is turned up as ISO increases. They use the same settings as above for JPEG, except that they use a better form of noise reduction, DXO's Prime noise reduction, which only works on raw images.
In addition, with raw DXO can take account of camera/sensor and lens characteristics (based on laboratory tests that DXO do on cameras and lenses - so it only works for equipment that DXO have tested - which is everything that I use as it happens). In particular I use:
- Lens sharpness, which "lets you increase the sharpness of your lens automatically".
- Distortion, which "lets you correct geometric distortion introduced by the lens (i.e. straight lines curving)."
From raw I produce DNG file from DXO and open them in Lightroom (or Silkypix, and then from there as TIFF in Lightroom).
There are parameters you can alter for most or all of these adjustments and by experimenting I have settled on parameter values that suit my equipment/visual taste etc. In most (perhaps all) cases I have chosen a value for the main "Amount" parameter and left the others alone.
The Auto Settings preset in Lightroom is a single, generic preset. It has a poor reputation in earlier versions of Lightroom. In the current version it has been updated and is now apparently based on AI derived from loads of edits made by professionals on their images. This new version has received a mixed response, some people saying that it is still useless. My experience is that it has proved extremely useful in my workflow. Quite often now all I do after applying these presets is to crop, and otherwise the changes I make are generally very simple, straightforward and quick, unless there are particular issues with an image that need detailed local adjustments.
Why do you use DXO and Lightroom?
They are good at different things, and I can get better (more pleasing to my eye) results using them in combination than I can by using them alone.
For my own invertebrate images, working from raw, I also use a preset in Silkypix, so the sequence is DXO > Silkypix > Lightroom. That doesn't work well for JPEGs, so I just use DXO then Lightroom. For flowers and general purpose images I most often use DXO > Lightroom, but sometimes use Silkypix when there are difficult highlights to deal with, as Silkypix is particularly good for that. It also adds extra detail visibility for my invertebrate images.
Mite EF7A0493 by davholla2002, on Flickr
Woodlice EF7A0459 by davholla2002, on Flickr
Caterpillar IMG_0620 by davholla2002, on Flickr
Springtail IMG_0513 by davholla2002, on Flickr
Fly IMG_0533 by davholla2002, on Flickr
Caterpillar
Caterpillar
Fly IMG_0533
Fly IMG_0533
Mite EF7A0493
Mite EF7A0493
Fly IMG_0533
Springtail IMG_0513