Problem with website display colours vs Flickr

AdamBlyth

Hi,
I am having a problem with the colours of the images on my site - they are noticeable different to the same images on my Flickr account. Every image is different including the thumbnails in all galleries. This has only started happening recently.

Example:
https://www.adamblyth.com.au/Favourites/i-tZbVsJg/A
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pixelatedempire/49815829168/in/dateposted-public/

The Flickr image is much more vibrant and true to colour. Smugmug looks terrible
All images on uploaded to Flickr as .png, then transferred to smugmug via the uploader.
All images are sRGB.
Browser is Firefox.

I have Color Correction switched off but enabling it makes no difference.

Thanks for your help.

Shinrya

Colors are 100% identical for me between the SM and Flickr versions. I'm viewing on a Macbook Pro retina screen which supports wide color gamuts. (in Chrome). So the problem is on your end.

I can't read your EXIF data on the Flickr upload, but could it be that you are uploading in a wide color space like AdobeRGB or ProPhotoRGB?
Keep in mind that Smugmug automatically converts any images uploaded to the standard sRGB color space. Flickr doesn't.

Depending on the screen you are using, and browser, you may see wonky colors if you are uploading images in a colorspace other than sRGB.

AdamBlyth

All images are sRGB.
As I mentioned this is only a recent issue.
I don't understand why the images would display differently on one site vs the other.

Shinrya

Ok, very interesting.

So, I've compared your image in Chrome, Safari & Edge browser, plus checked on my phone browser too and Smugmug/Flickr uploads are 100% identical.

I then checked them in Firefox, and you're not crazy. The Smugmug version is noticeably duller color wise.

The strange thing is, I loaded an image on my own Smugmug website, and compared against the same upload on my Flickr (both were uploaded in sRGB). In Firefox there is no difference for my images.

Shinrya

Can you try re-uploading the image directly to your SM site as a jpeg, and then compare again to the Flickr version?

It could be some strange bug where the color profile isn't being carried across directly/ignored and Firefox is making up its own rules for how to display it.

AdamBlyth

Thanks for helping. I did the same thing. images look identical in Chrome and Edge and on my iPhone.. but not on Firefox!
So the issue appears to be the way Firefox is presenting images from smugmug. Well at least MY smugmug which is just.. weird.

AdamBlyth

@Shinrya said:
Can you try re-uploading the image to your SM site directly as a jpeg, and then compare again to the Flickr version?

I will give it a go now

AdamBlyth

This is a jpg version, still looks washed out:
https://www.adamblyth.com.au/Australian-birds/i-FMj9f99/A

These are the PS Save for Web settings:

Shinrya

Tick 'Embed Color Profile'.

AdamBlyth

Done.. same result (washed out)
https://www.adamblyth.com.au/Australian-birds/i-LgRmDnL/A

Shinrya

Also not a bad idea under the 'Metadata' drop down menu to tick 'Include Copyright info'. This saves the ITPC exif data into the file. So if you're adding things like Tags, contact info, e-mail address etc. It will get saved to the file also and many sites like Flickr and Smugmug will take onboard that information. Can be helpful down the line with respect to Google searches and following where your images have been shared/stolen across the web.

Shinrya

Same here. Just checked again in Firefox and it is still washed out a bit.

Very strange mate

AdamBlyth

I've emailed support to see if they are able to assist. Something must have changed recently on smugmug and/or Firefox as this was not an issue until very recently.

Shinrya

At least you can think of it this way. Only around 5% of people worldwide use Firefox as a browser. And half the people looking at your images online are doing so using a phone, which if its on an Android device means oversaturated colors anyway due to wild screen calibration. On an iPhone its more neutral, but most iPhone users will be using Safari which means proper colors. So in the end....it all balances out

In short, your wildlife images look awesome no matter what device they're seen on!

AdamBlyth

Thanks Shinrya, appreciate that!

Interestingly, I was seeing the same washed out results on Chrome on both smugmug and flickr. That issue was related to hardware acceleration being on within the browser - once I switched it off the colours look great on both platforms on Chrome.
https://thecomputermouse.com/washed-out-colors-in-your-web-browser/

Unfortunately, the issue still persists with Firefox (good on flickr, washed on smugmug). I am in contact with smugmug support, although it feels like we aren't making much progress. It can't just be a coincidence that the hardware acceleration issues fixed the colours in Chrome.

It's a shame as Firefox is my default browser, so my own site looks average to me.. looks like I'll have to finally switch to Chrome.