>>2575938>It seems like the jpgs that come straight out of my camera have far better sharpness, color, and saturation than anything I can churn up in light roomAnything your camera can do, Lightroom can do better.
But by default it doesn't do anything.
You have to tell it to apply the sharpening and color corrections you want.
I find a good way to start is to apply a medium contract curve. - this stops your pictures from looking very flat.
You can tell Lightroom to apply a medium contrast curve on import.
Also make sure to enable output sharpening, to compensate for the jpeg compression.
Next you can just experiment with the basics panel.
Hold alt when changing the whites and blacks, to highlight when they are clipping.
You normally want both the whites and blacks to just start clipping - this means you're utilizing the entire range of levels available on a computer screen.
