File Conversion, RAW to JPEG

lcouturelcouture Registered Users Posts: 7 Beginner grinner
edited April 11, 2008 in Finishing School
I am converting my RAW files into JPEGS so that I can upload them into my Smugmug galleries. When I convert the files, I am losing contrast and color brilliance. The converted JPEG files do not look as nice as the RAW files. I have to figure this out. I have tried it in both ACDSEE and FastStone Image viewer. The same thing happens in both programs. Help! I cannot have my clients seeing the JPEG images the way they look.

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  • claudermilkclaudermilk Registered Users Posts: 2,756 Major grins
    edited April 7, 2008
    What color spaces are you using? This sounds like the common aRGB-sRGB saturation problem.
    Chris
    http://www.chrislaudermilkphoto.com/
  • jfriendjfriend Registered Users Posts: 8,097 Major grins
    edited April 7, 2008
    lcouture wrote:
    I am converting my RAW files into JPEGS so that I can upload them into my Smugmug galleries. When I convert the files, I am losing contrast and color brilliance. The converted JPEG files do not look as nice as the RAW files. I have to figure this out. I have tried it in both ACDSEE and FastStone Image viewer. The same thing happens in both programs. Help! I cannot have my clients seeing the JPEG images the way they look.

    Three questions:
    1. What RAW converter are you using?
    2. Have you set your RAW convert to create images in the sRGB colorspace?
    3. Can you post a link to an image (with originals enabled so we can see the original) that you uploaded to Smugmug that has this problem?
    --John
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  • lcouturelcouture Registered Users Posts: 7 Beginner grinner
    edited April 7, 2008
    claudermilk wrote:
    What color spaces are you using? This sounds like the common aRGB-sRGB saturation problem.


    Sorta new at all of this. Hope this doesnt sound stupid, but i am not sure. How can I check?
  • jfriendjfriend Registered Users Posts: 8,097 Major grins
    edited April 7, 2008
    lcouture wrote:
    Sorta new at all of this. Hope this doesnt sound stupid, but i am not sure. How can I check?

    Whatever program you are using for making JPEGs from your RAW files HAS to have a setting for the colorspace that it converts to. For upload to Smugmug, you should set that to sRGB or sometimes it will look like "sRGB-IEC66196-2.1". If you tell us what RAW converter program you are using, we may be able to help you find this setting.

    If that is set to something else like AdobeRGB or ProPhotoRGB and you then upload to Smugmug, you may lose color saturation.
    --John
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  • claudermilkclaudermilk Registered Users Posts: 2,756 Major grins
    edited April 8, 2008
    What he said.
    Chris
    http://www.chrislaudermilkphoto.com/
  • lcouturelcouture Registered Users Posts: 7 Beginner grinner
    edited April 10, 2008
    File Conversion
    Hey guys! Thanks!
    I am using Fast Stone Image Viewer. And sometimes ACDSEE Pro. Same thing happening in both.


    jfriend wrote:
    Whatever program you are using for making JPEGs from your RAW files HAS to have a setting for the colorspace that it converts to. For upload to Smugmug, you should set that to sRGB or sometimes it will look like "sRGB-IEC66196-2.1". If you tell us what RAW converter program you are using, we may be able to help you find this setting.

    If that is set to something else like AdobeRGB or ProPhotoRGB and you then upload to Smugmug, you may lose color saturation.
  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited April 10, 2008
    Google is your friend.

    Find an EXIF reader and use it to find out what color space your images are coming of RAW. If you are seeing saturated colors on your monitor ( it IS calibrated isn't it?) and then they are de-saturated in Smugmug ( what browser do you use to access Smugmug? ) the usual reason in that the images were shot and tagged as AdobeRGB, but that the tag was stripped off when the image was saved for the web, and hence are interpreted as sRGB files, when they truly are not.

    Are you working in Vista, XP or Mac OS 10.x ?

    Post links to your smugmug images with the EXIF data as well.

    Do these things, and someone will help answer your questions.
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
  • claudermilkclaudermilk Registered Users Posts: 2,756 Major grins
    edited April 11, 2008
    I suspect even with the tags intact, anything other than Safari will have the same problem as all other browsers are unaware of ICC.
    Chris
    http://www.chrislaudermilkphoto.com/
  • jfriendjfriend Registered Users Posts: 8,097 Major grins
    edited April 11, 2008
    claudermilk wrote:
    I suspect even with the tags intact, anything other than Safari will have the same problem as all other browsers are unaware of ICC.

    If an AdobeRGB tag is intact when it's uploaded to Smugmug, Smugmug will convert it to sRGB for you so that it won't looked washed out in non-Safari browsers. That's why it matters whether the tag is intact or not. Of course, if it's some other colorspace besides AdobeRGB, then you're probably right.
    --John
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