RAW and Jpeg question

[rgboy]

Hello,

I have recently downloaded free plug-in for my CS3 to edit and convert RAW files. There is some strange thing. When I edit save any image in Jpeg format I see a good color balance, contrast, brightens etc. Then I open this file to view with ACDSee and see a different image, I mean it is the same picture but color isn't that bright, contrast is bad. In other words the quality of the picture much worse then originally saved in photoshop. Any suggestions.

[ride_the_spiral]

Hello,

I have recently downloaded free plug-in for my CS3 to edit and convert RAW files. There is some strange thing. When I edit save any image in Jpeg format I see a good color balance, contrast, brightens etc. Then I open this file to view with ACDSee and see a different image, I mean it is the same picture but color isn't that bright, contrast is bad. In other words the quality of the picture much worse then originally saved in photoshop. Any suggestions.

Hi, I think I had the same problem however I was viewing my saved files on Pbase once uploaded. The problem was the colour profile which I assigned to my photo wasn't being recognised by the web browser (which is likely what is happening with ACDSee).
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Anyway, this is how I fixed mine:

Open photoshop CS3 > go to 'edit' > go to 'colour settings' > click on the 'settings:' pull down menu > and select 'North America General Purpose. This will active the 'SRGB - IEC61966-2.1' setting, which I believe is the standard for most applications these days.

Whenever you save a file, make sure that in the colour box ICC PROFILE: 'SRGB - IEC61966-2.1' is selected.

Hope this works for you

Tim

Whenever you save a file, make sure you select

[ride_the_spiral]

I also forgot to mention that when you load your RAW file into CS3, make sure "SRGB - IEC61966-2.1" is selected. This appears at the bottom of the RAW window in the form of a blue underlined hyperlink, along with some other photo details.

If you follow my first steps first, however, it should always appear automatically.

[madlights]

Yes it does sound like a color profile mismatch. Check all your program settings to see if the color spaces match...if you are set up for or working in ARGB (which a lot use because of it's wider gamut and there are other wide gamut spaces IE:prophoto etc.) make sure that when you save for the web in photoshop that it's converted to SRGB. In CS (since I don't have CS3) it's Image/mode/convert to profile or to set up a color space Edit/color settings. It could be the plugin you're using has it's own color space settings...so check there too. They've all gotta match....I tried a demo of ACDSee a long time ago so forget how to set it. Good luck

[jchambers]

Colour profile is the problem. I guess you are shooting in AdobeRGB on your camera. This is actually quite good as it has a wider range than many others.

However, when you save as a JPG, it saves in sRGB which has a more narrow range.

What you can do is either change your camera to sRGB format, or keep shooting in AdobeRGB and if you want to save as a JPG convert the profile from Adobe to sRGB (from memory this is somewhere on the 2nd menu list at the top)

I shoot in Adobe as when saving as TIFF it retains the wider range. And then do a simple conversion to sRGB for my JPG's and web use.

[dharden]

You can save a JPEG in aRGB as well - the problem is that the file ISN'T being saved in sRGB.

If you shoot RAW then don't worry about the colour space in the camera as NONE is attached (although it can be better to leave in in sRGB as this is more often used with JPEGs - where the camera WILL assign a colour space). RAW files don't have a colour space assigned until you convert them on your PC. You can assign profile and bit depth in the Photoshop RAW converter. You can re-edit the file at a later date and change these settings if you wish.


In CS2 (and I guess CS3?) you go on the "Edit" menu and do "Convert to profile to switch from aRGB to sRGB (or to any other colour space). All images destined for the web need to be in sRGB if they are currently aRGB or they will look "muddy". Likewise with any other software that can't handle Adobe RGB profile.

If you're printing then you're better using Adobe RGB where there a lot of greens, blues and yellows (ie landscapes). Most decent inkjet printers have a colour space bigger than sRGB - especially for greens - so using aRGB for printing is beneficial there. Canon have a PDF you can download that explains it all...

If you're sending the images elsewhere for print then check with the printer what their requirements are - for example the place i use in the UK (Peak Imaging) ask for 8bit sRGB, 254ppi.

A point to be aware of is that the bit depth you are working with has a bearing on the smoothness of the changes between tones. 16bit allows many more shades than 8 bit, but if you use a wider colour space such as Adobe RGB then you are risking "posterisation" or banding compared to squeezing the same number of colours into a narrower space like sRGB (8bit aRGB is potentially more risky in this respect hence it's usually better to shoot JPEGs in sRGB). However I almost always start with 16bit Adobe RGB images for landscapes i might want to print and then convert to 8bit sRGB if they're to go on the web....

HTH!

[jacklouis]

This color profile mismatch is a problem I've wrestled with also. Besides using the sRGB color space mentioned above, my workaround is to process the image in Photoshop (CS2) and then to display the image in Irfanview. Irfanview gives me an accurate rendition of what the photo will look like on the web, in other applications & as a print. If I'm going to upload the photo to Pbase or the web, I use Irfanview to make the JPG for upload.