Help needed with uploading files

[njb]

Here's my problem... When I view my images in Photoshop on my computer, they look

great. I use the "Save for Web" dialogue to resize them for upload to the site, but after

I do, I preview them in Internet Explorer. There I usually find that the image is

severely degraded, I don't just mean from the jpeg compression. The image usaully

appears to now be over-exposed and have lost the original color balance that was so

carefully achieved in photoshop. In short, it looks like crap, not something I'd want to

share. I'm assuming this is some type of color management problem, but at this point

I've exhausted my limited personal expertise on the matter to no avail, and am now

seeking professional help. Please assist, so I can share my photos with you!

[tom lavin]

Hi Nick...Welcome to the club. I'll be watching this string for an answer.

 

I've had exchanged several emails with Jim McNitt over this, and his recommendation is to find the little pull-down menu in the upper right portion of the "save for web" window, and select "use document color profile". It worked for him - didn't work for me. Also, Jim's work around is to save it in an older version of Photoshop, but that still doesn't work for me.

 

If somebody out there has a workflow for this problem, it's time to be a hero to hundreds (well, a few anyway) and post it.

[brainbubba_motornapkins]

Color management is too complex an issue for me to go into here, there are some tutorial web sites out there (can't think of the url's off the top of my head, but a google on "Photoshop color management" may yield something).

 

Probably the easiest quick fix for you is to observe the nature of the tonal & color shifts you are seeing in the conversion to jpeg, and compensate for it in Photoshop using whatever adjustment tools you are comfortable with. As long as you're aware that your photos are almost always going to look different on everyone else's monitor, no matter what you do. Not much you can do about that except try to aim for a reasonable balance, so most people will see the photo more or less as you intend.

 

For example, I know when I create jpegs on a mac, they will look too dark on pc's, unless I boost the picture gamma by about 10%, using the middle "Levels" slider. Individual photos can benefit from custom tweaking, but this usually is a good starting point in *my* workflow.

[tom lavin]

I don't think this is a color management issue, although one could use color management tools such as you suggested to approximate the original image. I think this is something the administrators of the site should address. I know for me, this issue is the one item that prevents me from paying my $25. It's a real ordeal to upload images, and I just don't have the time to mess around, or create a whole seperate folder of images just for this site.

 

Go to the "save for web" window, find the little triangle in the upper right portion of the window, and check "use documnet color profile". This is the only selection that doesn't change the color and contrast of the image, but when this "unaltered" image is uploaded, it resembles an image 2 stops overexposed and one grade of contrast too low (approx.). None of the other selections are any better - I've tried them all.

 

I've asked the administrators for help, although I'm not a member and they basically tell you not to hold your breath for an answer.

[njb]

Okay, here's what I think is going to work.... (after extensive fiddling and general

tinkering with three different computers and half a dozen different browsers). Take

your image, Open in photoshop. Convert to sRGB. This should present little to no

change when viewed immeadiately after. Now open the Save for Web dialogue and

save your image at the appropriate jpeg settings. Make sure to select the "use

document color profile" option in the main pull-down menu. You should then have

an image that is identical in your browser to what is seen in photoshop, and a

reasonable facsimile when viewed on other machines (allowing for descrepancies

between different monitors, obviously). Make sure that when closing your image in

photoshop after creating the jpeg, that you do not save the profile conversion to

sRGB. This would detrimental to "archival" type files that you later wish to print from

(use a wide-gamut space such as Adobe RGB). For the possible satisfaction of having

answered my own question, I'm attaching an image I saved using this process so I can

view it on several different machines and browsers. Update to follow....

[njb]

By George, I think I've done it! I'm posting a follow-up pic to the last one that was

saved WITHOUT the profile conversion and using "uncompensated color" in the pull-

down menu. I think there should be a discernable difference when viewed side by

side. The first image has much better saturation and tone, IMO. I'd be interested to

hear results from anyone else.... Thanks for the suggestions to get me going in the

right direction.

[brainbubba_motornapkins]

I'd have to say that the shift, while noticeable, is so minor that differences in others' monitors and ambient light (etc.) -- which are beyond your control -- will probably have far more impact. Glad you resolved it to your own satisfaction, though.

[njb]

After testing with several different photos, it seems that the difference between the two versions is somewhat variable. In other words, Adobe RGB files that have more out-of-gamut colors (compared to sRGB)suffer more when not converted before saving.