Why does colour/brightness etc change depending on how I view my images?

wonderer

wonderer

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Hey everyone

Im having a bit of trouble in that I don't seem to know how my images are being seen. Let me explain a bit more :lol:

My monitor is adjusted using a Spyder pro3 and obviously I was a bit naïve in thinking this was all I needed to do to have my images look the same when viewed on this one monitor. I understand all images will look different depending on the settings of individual monitors but I am seeing different levels of brightness, contrast etc depending on what software I use to view the image.

I get the images adjusted exactly how I want in Elements 10 and all is well. I then view the photo using Picasa photo viewer and bang, the brigness has been bumped up making it look bad and nothing like what it did in PS. Using another photo viewer has the same effect, it changes again.

Obviously this is meaning I have no idea how my image ACTUALLY looks and whether how I edited it is how it is or how others will see it. What could be causing this and do I solve it. Does every photo viewer software have their own default settings which need to be changed or am I missing something very simple ( the most probable answer ) I have attached the image below as a good example. In PS I had it exactly as I wanted with dark shadows where I needed them to be but when viewed in Picasa viewer for example the brightness has been whacked up making the editing more obvious and resulting in a much worse photo and I have no idea which is correct.


3 by Wonderer1981, on Flickr

Im not su
 
Looking at it as it is posted on the site it looks fine and as it did in PS so maybe an issue with my other photo viewers and how they are set?
 
If you're getting different results in different programs, then it's definitely a colour management issue. What colour profile are you saving the image in?

To ensure everything is correct, the safest way is to make sure your images are using sRGB unless you know what you are doing. sRGB is a colour profile used for screen viewing, and is the default profile for most viewers, web browsers etc.

Adobe RGB is a wider colour profile, that contains a wider gamut of colours, but images tagged with Adobe RGB can be displayed incorrectly online, in web browsers, stand alone image viewers and some programs.

If you are using windows, it's often a good idea to ensure that when using your spyder, you create a version 2 ICC profile, NOT version 4. Windows doesn't play nice with version 4 ICC profiles, so try this first. Re profile your screen and generate a version 2 profile, not version 4.

Then ensure that windows is definitely using the profile generated by your spyder:

Right click on the desktop, and select "screen Resolution"
Select "Advanced settings"
Select the "color Management" tab, then click "color Management"
Then make sure the profile you created with the Spyder is set as the default profile. If anything else is set to default, then your screen isn't even using the profile you created.

Then make sure that anything you want to view on a computer screen is saved with "sRGB IEC61966-2.1" as it's colour profile.

Best way to do that is to ensure your colour settings in Elements is set for screen use as default.

In Photoshop Elements, choose Edit > Color Settings
Select "Always Optimize Colors For Computer Screens" and click OK.

When you save a file, select ICC Profile in the Save As dialog box.


Doing all of the above should sort it. If anything was set wrong, you'll probably have to resave all your images again to ensure they are tagged with a sRGB profile.
 
Last edited:
aaghhhh just had a look at options for me using CS6 boy are they confusing.

Settings >> monitor colour

but then I have working spaces:
RGB
CMYK
Gray
Spot

then another section colour management policies

Another section conversion options

then Advanced controls


Can anyone give any guidance on some of these too - thanks
 
Pookeyhead said:
If you're getting different results in different programs, then it's definitely a colour management issue. What colour profile are you saving the image in?

To ensure everything is correct, the safest way is to make sure your images are using sRGB unless you know what you are doing. sRGB is a colour profile used for screen viewing, and is the default profile for most viewers, web browsers etc.

Adobe RGB is a wider colour profile, that contains a wider gamut of colours, but images tagged with Adobe RGB can be displayed incorrectly online, in web browsers, stand alone image viewers and some programs.

If you are using windows, it's often a good idea to ensure that when using your spyder, you create a version 2 ICC profile, NOT version 4. Windows doesn't play nice with version 4 ICC profiles, so try this first. Re profile your screen and generate a version 2 profile, not version 4.

Then ensure that windows is definitely using the profile generated by your spyder:

Right click on the desktop, and select "screen Resolution"
Select "Advanced settings"
Select the "color Management" tab, then click "color Management"
Then make sure the profile you created with the Spyder is set as the default profile. If anything else is set to default, then your screen isn't even using the profile you created.

Then make sure that anything you want to view on a computer screen is saved with "sRGB IEC61966-2.1" as it's colour profile.

Best way to do that is to ensure your colour settings in Elements is set for screen use as default.

In Photoshop Elements, choose Edit > Color Settings
Select "Always Optimize Colors For Computer Screens" and click OK.

When you save a file, select ICC Profile in the Save As dialog box.


Doing all of the above should sort it. If anything was set wrong, you'll probably have to resave all your images again to ensure they are tagged with a sRGB profile.
Click to expand...

Thank you for that. I am using sRGB in camera and will go through the things you listed. Cheers buddy :thumbs:
 
specialman said:
I thought sRGB gave a smaller colour gamut than AdobeRGB when set in-camera?
Click to expand...

If you shoot RAW it has zero effect no matter what you set. The camera colourspace settings only affect JPEG or TIFF shooting.


Mystery57 said:
aaghhhh just had a look at options for me using CS6 boy are they confusing.
Click to expand...

CS6 what? Photoshop, Lightroom? CS6 is an entire quite of programs.

specialman said:
I thought sRGB gave a smaller colour gamut than AdobeRGB when set in-camera?
Click to expand...

It does, but unless you know what you're doing, using a wide gamut colourspace can cause you more problems than it cures, and there's also little advantage unless you have print output that can utilise it, or a wide gamut screen that can show it.
 
Last edited:
It was a good question :)
 
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