Colour variations between editing and saved image

[Incendium]

Hey all,

I was wondering - has anyone ever had an issue with images looking different in editing software to the final saved result? I've had a few now where the image (generally nightscapes are worst for this) looks fine as I edit it, but then when I save or upload it, the darks are boosted significantly. It's a real problem with night pictures, since a lot of detail is in the darks! I've tried about a million variations on colour profiles, saving (or not) as sRGB, different profiles for my monitor (in case it's a calibration issue), viewing output on different PCs, changing/converting the working space for the image.
Is this something you've ever had, and is there a way to fix or avoid it?

Teale

[pluto]

What editing software are you using?
And what format are you outputting to?
Also what program are you using to view the images? as some programs, like picasa, do an auto levels to images they display so they will look more contrasty.

Personally I've not really encountered this in my workflow:
Lightroom -> jpg
PS -> Lightroom -> jpg
and viewing in many different apps (not picasa) on OSX, Win and Linux.

[Incendium]

Generally, it's
RAW - PS - JPG

For viewing online, I'm using Chrome, though I sometimes check with MS 'preview'. I figured it was a difference between colour managed and non-colour managed software, though it's odd that others pics dont similarly look over-dark in the same browser.

[whzzz28]

No two monitors are the same.
No two color schemes are the same.
No two applications render color the same....

Unless you tell it to. No idea how to do it in Photoshop but look into assigning an ICC profile to the image.
This tells PC's what color scheme to use so the image appears the same (or close to the same) on every PC/application. If a user has there monitor setup to display reds as green there there is nothing you can do about that of course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICC_profile

I generally assign an sRGB profile to my images.

[Incendium]

Yeah I usually edit in sRGB color space and then save the profile when saving... I also have my monitor setup to display in its 'sRGB' mode on the off chance that it would help slightly. Im thinking I might have to try different software and see if it eliminates the problem.

[allan gould]

You need to get a Spyder monitor calibrator and then it will be fine, but they are not cheap.

[Incendium]

I was afraid that was going to be the only way to fix it!

[allan gould]

See if you can borrow one. In reality you only need to do it once as subsequently it hold the settings well.
If you are a member of the AAQ they have one for members. Or contact me by PM as you are in Brisbane.

[Incendium]

Thanks, Allan. I was a member of the AAQ last year, but found that I had more frequent contact with BAS members, and so joined them this year. I'll ask around and see if one of the members has one. :thanx:

Teale