Weird colour issues

Vertigo · 17 Jan 2008 at 10:41

Can't get my head round this one.

Have a look at this:

http://www.iconia.org.uk/pics/IMG_2990.png

Now right-click-save the image and then open it in Windows Picture & Fax Viewer (i.e. the default viewer).

On any machine I've tried this on, the downloaded image appears much more saturated than the one viewed online, despite it being the same file! Even more weird is that, if I view the downloaded file in IE, it appears like the less saturated "online" one.

Someone on IRC mentioned colour profiles but tbh I'm lost here. How can the same image look different depending on what application I view it in?

Any help getting my head round this would be appreciated.

Messiah Khan · 17 Jan 2008 at 10:53

Save everything as sRBG colour profile and you'll be 90% of the way there. Then hope that internet browsers other than safari start to read colour profiles.

Mohain · 17 Jan 2008 at 10:57

Vertigo1 said:
How can the same image look different depending on what application I view it in?

Any help getting my head round this would be appreciated.

Because some applications (e.g. Windows Picture & Fax Viewer) use embedded profiles and others (e.g. IE) don't.

As MK said, covert to profile sRGB (which is pretty standard for viewing in browsers) and you should be able to see it in all it's glory in IE

Helium_Junkie · 17 Jan 2008 at 11:20

Look up Color Management for browsers for more info, but these guys have explained it

V-Spec · 17 Jan 2008 at 11:22

I had this problem last week as I screwed my colour management up and was saving Jpegs with PhotoProRGB and not sRGB, and wondered why they all looked dismal viewed in IE.

Vertigo · 18 Jan 2008 at 10:45

Hmm, well I've checked the colour settings dialog in PS and it says it's set to sRGB already so now I'm doubly-confused.

Anyone got any good web links where I can read up on all this technical colour stuff as I'd like to try to understand it better?

Mohain · 18 Jan 2008 at 11:19

The image you posted has an AdobeRGB colour profile attached.

Did you convert it from a RAW? If so you should ensure that your RAW converter is set to export files with a sRGB colour profile. If you are shooting to JPEG in your camera ensure your camera's colour space is set to sRGB too. Also make sure that Photoshop colour space is set to sRGB.

If you want to use AdobeRGB for editing ans saving hi-res's then ensure you 'convert to profile' to sRGB before saving a web version.

Some info here if you want to read up about it all, several articles relating to colour management.

www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/color-management-feeling-lost.html

V-Spec · 18 Jan 2008 at 13:26

Vertigo1 said:
Hmm, well I've checked the colour settings dialog in PS and it says it's set to sRGB already so now I'm doubly-confused.

Anyone got any good web links where I can read up on all this technical colour stuff as I'd like to try to understand it better?

If you've got the colour management turned on in photoshop, it'll read the profile of any image when you open it and if its not the same workspace (sRGB/Adobe/Ppro) it'll pop up a window alerting you of this, and ask you to convert or keep the colours the same.
The problem I had is that I *thought* I had colour management turned on when infact it wasn't, even though the settings said sRGB, I was infact processing in photoproRGB which looks rubbish in browers but great on prints.