Colour Management

W00DY

Hi All,

I am sure this has been discussed many times before but I am still not sure what I need to do to ensure colour consistency between camera - Mac - Web & Print.

I shoot with a Fuji S5 & a Nikon D300 (just picked it up today) both set to the Adobe RGB colour space. I then import them onto the Mac via Adobe Lightroom.

First issue - If I open them in Lightroom or Photoshop CS3 they look different.

Then I make global changes in Lightroom and sometimes export directly to the web from here. I export at 72dpi using the SRG Colour Space.

Second Issue - The images always look a lot less vibrant on the web, I pressume it has something to do with the change of colourspace but not sure.

Then if I print them out it is a hit or miss what they will look like :rofl . I am more interested in getting the web side of things sorted out at the moment though.

So would anyone be kind enough to let me know where my process is going wrong and what I need to do to fix it.

Much appreciated. :bow

W00DY

claudermilk

Do you have your monitor calibrated? With a hardware-based calibrator? That is step one & the foundation for everything else.

W00DY

claudermilk wrote:

Do you have your monitor calibrated? With a hardware-based calibrator? That is step one & the foundation for everything else.

Hi Chris,

Yes, I calibrate my monitor with a Spyder2pro (gamma set to 2.2 I think, this is correct isn't it?)

I just want to make sure I have the correct colour spaces set wherever I need to.

Cheers,

bwg

Lightroom operates in the ProPhoto color space. There is no way to change that.

Photoshop works in whatever color space you tell it to.


Depending on the colors in your image, you'll notice a lot or little change exporting from ProPhoto to sRGB. The conversion tends to give a warm cast to my photos occasionally boosting the oranges too much.

Check out this blog post for an explanation on why images may look dull on the web: Your Mac on Drugs


If you think getting consistent color in your photos is frustrating, try editing a movie with photos and video in iMovie08...I was about ready to throw my Mac out the window last night.

claudermilk

must....resist....can't..... But I thought Macs were supposed to make everything super easy? :poke



:hide:hide:hide

Back OT. Since you've done the basic necessary step for proper color management, it sounds like possible a LR issue. I'll now step aside for the LR experts.

SloYerRoll

claudermilk wrote:

must....resist....can't..... But I thought Macs were supposed to make everything super easy?

Color management controls are an equal opportunity PITA. Once you "get it" though. It's easy. (I know you already get it Chris) I've always thought Mac's were on drugs. They are always so stoic and easy to get on with. Definitely opiates.

Can you please provide a screen shot of your Lr export dialog box? This will help troubleshoot your issues.

BTW:
Lr operates in a pseudo prophoto colorspace. It's actually an Adobe proprietary colorspace. The closest response curves and gammut belong to prophoto, hence it being know for using this CS..
That only matters to true color geeks though. (which I'm not, I just studied this a bit back when I was having major issues w/ Lr and Ps color management)