Help me get consistent color between my digital camera, Lightroom and online.

December 26, 2006 2:48 PM

Help me get my color photographs to look as good (or at least the same) online as they do locally.

I'm shooting pics (both NEF and JPG) with my Nikon D70s, doing 'developing', colour correction, sharpening, etc. in Lightroom and uploading them to flickr.

The problem is that once uploaded to flickr there is a significant color shift. I suspect my problem is that I'm not using the right color profiles. They come out of the camera in the sRGB space, but from there I don't know what I'm doing. Converting to Adobe RGB (1998) -- which I've heard tell is better? Convert them to Color LCD (Calibrated) -- the colour space produced by the Apple ColorSync utility for my 12" PowerBook? Something else?

And when I go to have them printed, what colour profile should I use then?

And how do ICC profiles fit into all this?

Thanks!

posted by docgonzo to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Best answer: ICC profiles are device specific. They describe the gamut a device is capable of, with respect to a standard color space.

If you're not out at the margins of saturation, you're not doing yourself any favors using Adobe 1998. Basically, A1998 is a larger space, but each individual RGB number is a little farther away from its neighbor -> greater chance for banding.

Regarding posting to the Web, you want to be in sRGB, which was developed specifically as a default color space on the web.

Regarding your monitor, the monitor colorspace is neither sRGB nor aRGB. However, your OS should be converting between the colors of the file - sRGB or aRGB - and the monitor space.

Short version: convert to Adobe 1998 if you like, but convert back to sRGB before jpegging it out for the Web.

(Side note: since Macs and PCs use different gamma values, the lightness of photos viewed on one or the other is usually going to be different.)
posted by notsnot at 3:18 PM on December 26, 2006

Best answer: epp has a sRGB vs aRGB comparison for applications that are not colour space aware like browsers so you can decide for yourself. (you'll need to click on introduction > colour space to get to it, the site wont allow you to directly link to the frame).

This windows user is guessing but your display settings might be why your not seeing colours correctly over on flickr. Smugmug has an overview for mac browsers that might be helpful.
posted by squeak at 4:15 PM on December 26, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks, squeak and notsnot -- your tips helped!
posted by docgonzo at 12:21 PM on December 29, 2006