Are SM images displaying a bit darker than they actually are?

duds

I noticed today that when I uploaded some images to SM, they appeared much darker in the gallery than they do on my computer. I've compared the gallery images to the same files in Lightroom and Preview (on my Mac), and the SM gallery is noticeably darker.

When I download the image from SM to my desktop, it appears just fine - same as the original file. So it's something about the way SM is displaying the images in the gallery. Is that possible? Could I have some setting enabled that tells SM to display the images darker? I've never noticed any issue with this before...

jfriend

What browser are you using?

Is your computer monitor profiled/calibrated?

Did you upload sRGB images to Smugmug?

The easiest way to run a simple test is to take the same file you upload to Smugmug and 1) view it in Lightroom, 2) view it in the browser from your hard drive (File/Open right from your hard drive) and 3) view it in the browser on Smugmug.

If you are using a color-managed browser (like Safari) then all three should look identical (Lightroom is also color-managed). If the first looks different from the 2nd and 3rd, then Lightroom and Safari are doing something different (probably not due to Smugmug). If only the third looks different, then there's either something wrong in how you prepared the images for upload to Smugmug (like maybe they're not sRGB and tagged as such) or there's something happening at Smugmug.

duds

Thanks for the reply.

The issue appears to be the same in both Safari and Chrome.

My monitor is calibrated, yes.

I looked at the three versions you suggested.

The version in Lightroom (below left) looks similar enough to the version that gets exported to my desktop from Lightroom (below right). (These are crude screenshots, but you get the idea..)



But once I upload that file to the SM gallery, it looks noticeably darker (see image below), no matter which browser I use. Notice the details in the shadows... her pants, for example. This tells me that either something is wrong on SM's end, or there's something about the way I'm uploading the file (yes, it's sRGB).



The other weird part is that when I download the image from the SM Gallery, it looks fine (see image below). So it's something about the way the SM Gallery is displaying the file, right?

jfriend

duds wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

The issue appears to be the same in both Safari and Chrome.

My monitor is calibrated, yes.

I looked at the three versions you suggested.

The version in Lightroom (below left) looks similar enough to the version that gets exported to my desktop from Lightroom (below right). (These are crude screenshots, but you get the idea..)



But once I upload that file to the SM gallery, it looks noticeably darker (see image below), no matter which browser I use. Notice the details in the shadows... her pants, for example. This tells me that either something is wrong on SM's end, or there's something about the way I'm uploading the file (yes, it's sRGB).



The other weird part is that when I download the image from the SM Gallery, it looks fine (see image below). So it's something about the way the SM Gallery is displaying the file, right?

OK, good testing so far. You've ruled out a lot of possibilities. Can you provide a link to the gallery that the image is in so I can look at the Smugmug versions of the images myself? Can you allow originals so I can see what the original you uploaded looks like?

duds

jfriend wrote: »

OK, good testing so far. You've ruled out a lot of possibilities. Can you provide a link to the gallery that the image is in so I can look at the Smugmug versions of the images myself? Can you allow originals so I can see what the original you uploaded looks like?

I'm going to PM that to you, is that cool?

duds

duds wrote: »

I'm going to PM that to you, is that cool?

I sent you a PM, but I'm not sure if it went through. It's not showing up in my sent messages. Please let me know.. and thanks for the help.

Allen

duds wrote: »

I sent you a PM, but I'm not sure if it went through. It's not showing up in my sent messages. Please let me know.. and thanks for the help.

He does not have PM turned on.

duds

Woops. Maybe I sent an email? Who knows.

Anyway, here is a gallery with just that one image...

http://images.mattdudley.com/Client/dark

jfriend

duds wrote: »

Woops. Maybe I sent an email? Who knows.

Anyway, here is a gallery with just that one image...

http://images.mattdudley.com/Client/dark

I got an email (don't need yet another place to look for messaging so I turn PMs off). Anyway, when I download the original from Smugmug, load it into Photoshop and compare it to what I see in Firefox, they are identical on my system. I'm really not sure if this is an issue with what you're uploading or with how your system is displaying Smugmug's images. Smugmug won't touch your original unless it's not in sRGB when you upload it. I don't really know what to do next. I guess you could email me an original (my email account can accept large attachments) and I can compare on my system to what you have in Smugmug. If those are the same on my system, then it's something in how your system is displaying. If those are not the same on my system, then it's either how the image is prepared or something Smug is doing. I may not be able to look at it for a little while. You could also take it up with Smug support directly if you want them to look at it.