johnpolizzi

I'm having a problem that just started happening. When I edit in LR and export to desktop, the colors change dramatically. Windows 10, all color spaces set to Adobe rgb98. Any ideas on how to fix?

Ourspolair

set your export preferences to sRGB. Your screen cannot handle the Adobe RGB gamut.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

How is your monitor calibrated. Have you recently calibrated your monitor. Between LR and what other app are you seeing the difference? In other words the photo is open in LR and looks different when exported and opened in __________________.

johnpolizzi

How can calibration be the issue when both images are displayed on the same screen? Images that I edited before the issue started display just fine. Some opther problem is involved.

johnpolizzi

Tried that. Same problem.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I think you will notice that there will even be a difference between your Develop and Library modules. The Develop module has an internal "color space" that is as wide and deep as ProPhoto, but instead of a gamma of 2.2 is has a gamma of 1. It is sometimes referred to as MelissaRGB. The Library module shows previews that are roughly like AdobeRGB. If your images do not extend beyond sRGB the differences between the two views, and even the exported images when viewed as jpeg with an sRGB color space - should all be pretty close to one another. If you have colors that are not part of the smallest color space - in this case presumably sRGB jpeg, you will see this kind of color behavior.

This can also be an incorrect or corrupted monitor profile.

When this happens, set the display profile to sRGB if you have a standard gamut display, or AdobeRGB if you have a wide gamut display. If the problem goes away, then you need to create a fresh new profile.

This may help:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-change-my-monitor-profile-to-check-whether-its-corrupted/

bleirer

A possibly useful article below. Check your lightroom preferences to make sure it is sending the file to photoshop as you want it. In lightroom check under edit/preferences/external editing. Then in photoshop check under edit/color settings to make sure preserve imbedded is selected for the working space. Then when you export from photoshop for the web or to email use file/export as and choose jpg and convert to srgb and imbed profile.

If exporting from lightroom rather than going to photoshop, if it is for the web or sending to someone or just for opening in a photo viewer it is best to set the export with srgb imbedded. As Gene said, check or reset your monitor profile if needed.

https://photographylife.com/srgb-vs-adobe-rgb-vs-prophoto-rgb

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

Calibration can be an issue especially on a Windows system. If you have the image open in LR (Develop), LR will use the ICC profile for your display created by the calibration software. While a Windows app like Windows Photos will not. That can produce a color mismatch.

Mike Hardisty Loc: North Wales

I'm having the same problem except it more noticeable when I send from Lightroom to Photoshop. I've only just noticed that it is happening.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

As mentioned above, look at (a) your LR external editor definition where you send the file from LR to PS. Assure the colorspace is ProPhotoRGB and if TIFF, 16-bit. Then (b) look at your LR export settings. Assure your export JPEG writes to colorspace = sRGB.

If after making / confirming these settings in your Adobe workflow you have a colorspace issue, post and attach an example JPEG so we can look at the technical details of the image file.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Don't use Adobe RGB unless INSTRUCTED to do so by a lab, service bureau, or editor. It is a wide gamut color space. Many monitors are incapable of displaying it properly. Some softwares, including operating system environments, are incapable of displaying it properly without the proper equipment or settings.

To USE Adobe RGB properly, you really do need:

A monitor capable of displaying 99% or more of the Adobe RGB color space (not a cheap desktop monitor or gaming monitor)

A color calibration kit from X-Rite or Datacolor that works with your monitor

To calibrate and profile your monitor with said color calibration kit

To set your software to use the proper profiles (input profile, monitor profile, and output profile)

To be sure your operating system is set to display proper profiles


The system DEFAULT profile for images without tagged or embedded profiles is sRGB. So if you save an image without an embedded profile and without a tag in the EXIF data listing the proper color space, your system just ASSUMES it is in sRGB. That's okay for some workflows, but you have to be able to control all the assumptions.

I ran a portrait lab where we used sRGB as our standard profile. We told our employees and customers at every turn that we used ONLY sRGB.

Occasionally, we would receive Adobe RGB images from clients. They were okay if tagged or embedded with the profile, UNTIL our system stripped off the EXIF table. Since we processed over five million images a year, server space was at a premium, and we saved about 500K by dropping the EXIF data from every submitted file. If we KNEW we were receiving Adobe RGB files, we would convert them to sRGB on arrival, so we could still strip off the EXIF tables. Otherwise, the prints looked like bird cage liners...

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

So the problem doesn’t seem to be the profile itself but rather not knowing what it was before the EXIF got stripped.

I have viewed several versions of an image saved with different profiles and they look and print the same because the EXIF is still there.

anotherview Loc: California

Agree:

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Most color management engines (Adobe, Microsoft, Apple) will read the profile tag in the EXIF table and interpret the image correctly. But yes, if you strip off the EXIF table, the color engine assumes sRGB and if the image was created in any other color space, you get a mess!

I should add that some software can let you choose whether to keep the EXIF data or not. Kodak DP2 lab software, which we used where I worked, can do it.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

Cambridge in Colour has a good description of what this is all about in a three part tutorial starting with part 1, OVERVIEW OF COLOR MANAGEMENT.

As is often discussed here, UHH strips the EXIF from the thumbnails but leaves it in the download version (see attached).

Some posters deliberately remove the EXIF to hide things. When they don't save as sRGB then both images look the same but maybe not as intended.

I tried to pick an image where the additional gamut might be visible in the download versions but it's not apparent here, only the mismatch in the thumbnails (the first two thumbnails look duller than the third).

Adobe RGB

(Download)

Pro Photo RGB

(Download)


(Download)