Calibration driving me nuts

[GHP]

Hi all.
Sorry about this but it's yet another monitor calibration question.
I have a laptop and a separate monitor.
I have recently bought the Colormunki Smile to calibrate both and it all seemed to go ok.
I use LR & PS CC over both monitors.
When I first looked ,after calibration there was a difference from pre calibration but overall I'm quite happy with it.

Or at least I was until I looked on Flickr at some pics posted before I calibrated.
The ones online look oversaturated and totally the wrong tones. The skin tones are hideously Orange.
This is on both Chrome and Firefox.
When I have shared these images previously no one ever said they looked like that so I can assume they look OK on others` monitors.

Any ideas?
Is there a setting I need to change or something ?

Thanks for reading this far.
Cheers,
Gary.

 

[redhed17]

Have you got a link to the site where you are seeing the images looking odd?

 

[droj]

Yes - show us. How else can we talk, w/o the evidence in front of us?

 

[GHP]

Have you got a link to the site where you are seeing the images looking odd?

Here's a link to an album.
Nothing too special in there, but the images look really orange on the skin tones.
(Ignore the 1st 2 images, they should look magenta/bluish)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/13975971@N07/albums/72157632740281724/with/8462490283/

Thing is, in LR Library, the skin tones look fine.
Appreciate if you could have a peek and see if you think she looks like she has been dipped in creosote?
(This one, on Flickr looks like she's been tangoed !
So I'll post it on here so I can see what happens.

Fiona York-18 by Gary Hickling, on Flickr




Thanks,
Gary.

 

[GHP]

Now that I've posted in here, she also looks orange here too !
But they look fine on my PC when viewed in LR !

Confused now.

 

[droj]

Deeply orange!! Talk about a fake tan!!

 

[GHP]

I'm wondering whether Flickr has done something. Tomorrow I'll try re-uploading them after correcting them on my pc and see what they turn out like.

 

[droj]

I don't know that Flickr does anything, at least not like that.

Try to stay calm and retreat to basics. Have you been working with your displays too bright pre-calibration, eg 90 or 100%? And then reduced them to about 50% as part of the calibration process? It looks to be more a brightness issue than a colour issue.

 

[GHP]

I don't know that Flickr does anything, at least not like that.

Try to stay calm and retreat to basics. Have you been working with your displays too bright pre-calibration, eg 90 or 100%? And then reduced them to about 50% as part of the calibration process? It looks to be more a brightness issue than a colour issue.

You may well be right, but the thing is that some of those from that album were posted on here for crit, when they were taken and no-one said anything then
about the colour/brightness etc .

My monitor was definitely too bright pre calibration though. Also was a bit cold too, quite a blueish cast

 

[droj]

You may well be right, but the thing is that some of those from that album were posted on here for crit, when they were taken and no-one said anything then
about the colour/brightness etc .

Trouble with posting artificial light images like these for comment may be that no-one knows what your intentions were (unless you explain) - which makes it harder to comment.

My monitor was definitely too bright pre calibration though. Also was a bit cold too, quite a blueish cast

Well that sounds like part of it, but I don't get the LR dimension ....

 

[GHP]

It is a bit odd.
What I'll do is revisit the raws over the next couple of days, process them the way I normally do, and post them into the same album
on Flickr, then I can compare side by side as it were.

 

[droj]

Silly of me - think I've got it now. Sort of. But how big's your local image archive, of images that are going to be 'off'?

Everyone ought to calibrate their display somehow. In the old CRT display days there was a free app called Adobe Gamma that helped. Even now, you're not forced to invest in a device - it can be done by eye to a good degree, by comparing screen to output, & getting them to coincide. Not everyone needs ultimate accuracy, despite what marketeers and the resultant popular groundswell would have you believe ...

 

[Box Brownie]

Hi Gary

Can I check something with you? You say you have a laptop and also plug an external monitor in, calibrating both?

I stand to be corrected but as far as I know a laptop screen when calibrated will load the calibration profile into the graphics cards LUT (LookUp Table), now AFAIK only the high end monitors allow for hardware calibration I.e. the calibration profile is loaded into the monitor itself.

Therefore it is likely/possible unless you can confirm otherwise that your external monitor is relying on the profile that is being loaded into the onboard graphics. If so depending on the prioritisation of the calibration profiles you have created one of the screens will be wrong, so to speak.

Based on my surmise you should calibrate for the screen used to appraise and edit the images, leaving the other secondary screen for the tools pallet and not use it for colour accurate tasks............because as explained above unless your setup is provably capable of having two calibrated monitors consider trying what I suggest???

 

[GHP]

Hi Gary

Can I check something with you? You say you have a laptop and also plug an external monitor in, calibrating both?

I stand to be corrected but as far as I know a laptop screen when calibrated will load the calibration profile into the graphics cards LUT (LookUp Table), now AFAIK only the high end monitors allow for hardware calibration I.e. the calibration profile is loaded into the monitor itself.

Therefore it is likely/possible unless you can confirm otherwise that your external monitor is relying on the profile that is being loaded into the onboard graphics. If so depending on the prioritisation of the calibration profiles you have created one of the screens will be wrong, so to speak.

Based on my surmise you should calibrate for the screen used to appraise and edit the images, leaving the other secondary screen for the tools pallet and not use it for colour accurate tasks............because as explained above unless your setup is provably capable of having two calibrated monitors consider trying what I suggest???

Thanks for the reply.
Visually they look very similar, but having read what you have just said I realise that the external monitor may not be as accurate, so I only use that for the pallettes etc, and the laptop screen is for the main image editing.

 

[Box Brownie]

Thanks for the reply.
Visually they look very similar, but having read what you have just said I realise that the external monitor may not be as accurate, so I only use that for the pallettes etc, and the laptop screen is for the main image editing.

From the point of view of starting with a clean slate, I would suggest tidying up the installed monitor profiles by deleting the ones known to be created by you I.e. leave all os default ones. Then calibrate the laptop without the external one attached, make sure following a reboot that the new profile is being loaded aok. Only then try the rig again with the external one attached..... but make sure that the laptop screen is properly designated as the #1 primary monitor.

Do not even calibrate the external monitor because as I surmise such second calibration is possibly a source of your issue.

In other words eliminate possible sources of conflict then add in the extta hardware checking that all is well as appropriate.

HTH

Edit - in regard to the look of images, are you posting web images with an sRGB profile, if so = good, if not do so and see how they "look" then?

 

[GHP]

Thanks again for your help.
I will try and start from scratch tomorrow, and post my results in this thread.
Thanks again.

Cheers,
Gary.

 

[Box Brownie]

Thanks again for your help.
I will try and start from scratch tomorrow, and post my results in this thread.
Thanks again.

Cheers,
Gary.

Hi Gary

Did you see my edit above?

 

[GHP]

Hi Gary

Did you see my edit above?

Yes I did, thank you. (Sorry I logged off before I saw it.
I'll do as you suggest, and not bother calibrating the external. It's only there to free up space on my laptop workspace from palletts etc.
sRGB is the only profile used AFAIK, but I will check.
Thanks again.

Hoping to get the chance later, if not It will be in the morning.

 

[ellishmelike]

This may seem like a long shot but when you export the images for posting in the Web. You do export them with the srgb colour Profile?

 

[GHP]

This may seem like a long shot but when you export the images for posting in the Web. You do export them with the srgb colour Profile?

Yes I do. TBH, it was one of the first things I thought of.
The weird thing is that these images were taken a couple of years ago, processed in LR, on an un-calibrated monitor, even posted on here for critique, and they all looked just fine.
It's only since I calibrated my monitor that they look so wrong.
I'm wondering if I have somehow re-synched with the folder on Flickr to my Lightroom, and somehow that has changed them.

 

[Brian G]

Yes I do. TBH, it was one of the first things I thought of.
The weird thing is that these images were taken a couple of years ago, processed in LR, on an un-calibrated monitor, even posted on here for critique, and they all looked just fine.
It's only since I calibrated my monitor that they look so wrong.
I'm wondering if I have somehow re-synched with the folder on Flickr to my Lightroom, and somehow that has changed them.

But you're saying they look OK when you view them in LightRoom?
In which case it must be something in the way you're exporting them, although if you have them as srgb then they should look OK on Flickr.
I assume you save to a temporary file and then upload that to Flickr?
In which case, what does the temporary file image look like before you upload to Flickr? When I export from LR I have the program set to automatically open the exported image in Photoshop.
If the temporary file also looks wrong (i.e. different to viewing in LR) then I think you need to carefully examine your "Export" settings in LR, since there maybe something you are overlooking.

I don't have any issues with Flickr altering them once uploaded, and my images always look right when I link to Flickr from here.
Firefox is supposed to be color managed, so that shouldn't be the issue and I use also Firefox with no problems.

PS, The difference between Calibrated and UnCalibrated on my Dell Monitor is quite small.

PPS I just looked at your Flickr pages and I would NOT say, in general, that the skin tones are too orange there, although the sample at the start of this thread certainly does look too orange.

 

[GHP]

But you're saying they look OK when you view them in LightRoom?
In which case it must be something in the way you're exporting them, although if you have them as srgb then they should look OK on Flickr.
I assume you save to a temporary file and then upload that to Flickr?
In which case, what does the temporary file image look like before you upload to Flickr? When I export from LR I have the program set to automatically open the exported image in Photoshop.
If the temporary file also looks wrong (i.e. different to viewing in LR) then I think you need to carefully examine your "Export" settings in LR, since there maybe something you are overlooking.

I don't have any issues with Flickr altering them once uploaded, and my images always look right when I link to Flickr from here.
Firefox is supposed to be color managed, so that shouldn't be the issue and I use also Firefox with no problems.

PS, The difference between Calibrated and UnCalibrated on my Dell Monitor is quite small.

PPS I just looked at your Flickr pages and I would NOT say, in general, that the skin tones are too orange there, although the sample at the start of this thread certainly does look too orange.

I think you are right about the export settings TBH.
When I exported these I must have had a dodgy setting somewhere in the Export settings.
I'm wondering whether I applied a print profile by mistake, I'm not sure.
Normally I export as sRGB, so I must have changed something just that one time, as other exports have been fine.
Since reading your post I have changed it to show the exported images in PS, as a safeguard to prevent this again, as per your idea.

I have since uploaded some portraits, and they have been fine.


As far as the calibration, I have calibrated the number 1 display Using the Colormunki, and the 2nd display I have matched (visually) to the first monitor, so they look the same.
I use screen 1 for editing, and screen 2 for pallettes etc.

Thanks for all the help and advice to all.
Cheers,
Gary,

 

[Pookeyhead]

Now that I've posted in here, she also looks orange here too !
But they look fine on my PC when viewed in LR !

Confused now.

Check they have a colour profile attached. They look orange to me too on my wide gamut screen, but OK on my sRGB second screen. With no colour profile, the RGB values are merely expanded to fit the space, so they'll be over-saturated on a wide gamut panel.

Always encode internet destined imagery to sRGB.


[edit]

Looks like you may have sorted it already.. ignore.