MrMophoto Loc: Rhode Island "The biggest little"

I recently started doing portraits for friends and family members. I shoot in raw and process through PS. I'm very particular (and careful) with skin tones, a college prof once said if you get the skin tones correct everything else will fall into place.
My problem is that when I pull up my final images (I save them initially as TIFFs), they look perfect for about 2-3 seconds then there is a slight shift. It's almost like the image shifts to slightly desaturated, it's enough to bother me and think the image looks off. Since it shifts so fast, I can't make a screen shot to demonstrate.
I run windows 10 with a Dell 7000 gaming laptop, but use a Visio monitor. The same thing happens when I view the laptop monitor but to a lesser degree. I've noticed this in the past but since I do a lot of photocollage the combination of images don't shift as much. I also don't print my own work, but rather use a local high end print house where they view the images on their monitor which is calibrated to their printer and together we make any last minute changes
If anybody out in UHH land has any suggestions as to what may cause this and certainly a way to fix it, I would be extremely grateful.

bobbyjohn Loc: Dallas, TX

MrMophoto, what software do you use to display your images? You indicated that this screen degradation occurs on a Visio monitor and on a laptop monitor to a lesser degree. Suggest that you try to isolate the problem to either monitor(s) or software. If you (hopefully) have access to another monitor, plug in the other monitor and see if the problem still occurs with a different monitor. If so, then it's likely the software causing the problem. Then try viewing through FastStone, and if it displays normally there, you've confirmed that the original software is the problem.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

What colorspace are you using / saving your files into?

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Also put some images on a card and then view them on a good desktop with a top of the line video card with lots of RAM a good Photo/Graphic Arts Monitor.

All but the most expensive gaming laptops have a video card that compared to a good desktop kind of sucks. I have a gaming laptop and compared to my desktop its GPU does suck. But to other laptops it is like a high end Caddy compared to an Impala.

My rig is now coming up on 3 years old: i9 CPU, 64GB high speed RAM, what at the time was a high end 6GB video card. Rate GPU's 0 to 10 mine was a solid 9 at the time- the 10 I wanted was out of stock and on back order so I got the next model down and it was the last one of those they had at any store in the LA Metro Area. I called the on line sales department of all the big electronic chains in the LA Area just to make sure. One company did want to sell me one that would have been about a 99 on that 0>10 scale, it cost as much as a good used car and the guy admitted the only people who bought them were commercial studios, movie and TV industry, a few university tech departments and some software companies.

And one last hint - go over all your settings and preferences for you processing apps, monitor and your GPU. I have found that often updates to the software and firmware will reset things to factory default or what some code writer prefers and thinks everyone should be using.

BebuLamar

I think the problem is with the software. If the monitor shifts color it would do that after power up. It wouldn't change after you open your image for 2 3 seconds and not change before that.

User ID

Sounds to me like your video engine takes a few seconds to finish processing. Its a gaming machine so perhaps the video card is doing a lot of work. IOW its neither software nor monitors but is a particular piece of hardware (video card).

As an experiment, resize an image to double or triple its pixel count and also resize to an absurdly low pixel count. Now observe whether the display takes longer to finalize an image having a large pixel count and file size. Make sure to save your test images with no compression.

If the color shift really is the video card finalizing its processing, it seems to me that the "settled" version is the accurate version while the initial version is simply unfinished.

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Quickly flipping between nearly identical images on my 45MP camera I detect the camera monitor image getting sharper after a very short delay. Ive always figured it just needs time to finish "building" the high density image.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

My first thought as well.
The image is visible but not fully processed and the jump occurs when the final picture is fully processed to display.
So what you finally see is the actual final product that you actually produced and what others will see.

catchlight.. Loc: Wisconsin USA- Halden Norway

Normal, not the monitors fault or data issue...

Tiff will show de-saturation because of the applied non- linear 2.2 screen gamma correction. Here is a copy/ past from: https://www.scratchapixel.com/lessons/digital-imaging/digital-images

This gamma encoding is only necessary for image formats saving data using 8 bits per pixel per channel. Gamma encoding is not necessary for file formats saving pixel values using 16 (half float) or 32 bits (float) per pixel per channel (you will find more details on this topic in the next chapter) as they provide enough numerical precision to store all the nuances of tones we need. Even though we could use these formats instead, they use more disk space and more bandwidth when transferred on the internet, and for these reasons, 8 bits file formats such as JPEG, PNG, TGA, etc. are still the standard for storing images (this apply to video images as well). If you work in the graphics industry though, it is likely that you already use 16 or 32 bits file format such as TIFF, OpenEXR, HDR, RAW, in which case it is important that you don't forget to remove the 2.2 screen gamma correction in order to watch these images in linear.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

CALIBRATE AND PROFILE that monitor. Use a hardware kit consisting of a colorimeter and software or spectrophotometer and software. That is the only way to come close to correct viewing conditions.

All major pro labs run color-managed workflows that adhere to ICC (international color consortium) standards. If you use a kit from Datacolor, X-Rite, or Calibrite, you can match your monitor to your lab's printer, when they supply you with a proofing profile/simulation profile (really, a copy of their printer profile).

Be sure your monitor brightness is turned down to around 80 to 120 candelas per square meter (the calibration software should guide you through this step).

As for the shift in color when you open an image, it is probably caused by the software displaying the JPEG PREVIEW IMAGE stuffed into the raw file by the camera, then displaying a conversion of the raw file made by your post processing software.

If you use the camera manufacturer's software to convert your raw files, it typically starts with whatever your JPEG processing menu settings were in the camera. The conversion it makes is based upon the EXIF data. Because the camera manufacturer color science is in both the camera and the software, the image should look the same (perhaps at higher resolution).

When you use someone else's software (Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, Capture One, etc.), you will see the camera's JPEG preview pop up, then the software will display its own screen proxy, which is based upon whatever your default settings are.

Orphoto Loc: Oregon

Not a monitor problem. Not a video card issue. Not a calibration matter.

The first image you are seeing is the jpg image embedded in the raw file cooked according to the presets chosen in camera. Your computer is then working on and displaying the RAW image using the presets selected for importing images into your software. If you prefer the first one, then adjust the default settings used for RAW conversions.

Burk got it. You just have to dig all the way through.

MrMophoto Loc: Rhode Island "The biggest little"

Thank you all for your advise and expertise. I will follow your recommendations.
Thanks again!

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

I found this sequence informative!

BArthur3

I've encountered something of the same. Depending on the software I'm using for viewing/processing, often when I open the pic I get an initial view which quickly changes as my Datacolor monitor definition kicks in.

Vlemasters

I see the slightly unfinished then gets sharp on my iPad too

User ID

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And when all that fails then youre stuck with blaming the video card :-(

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@OP: Do fill us in if you ever settle on some clear diagnosis.