A cheery splash of pastels wakes me for a day of meetings.
Before takeoff from San Jose, I heard something new from the pilot: “we have been cleared for takeoff, the first flight for today.”
(P.S. unfortunately, the colors are muted here compared to the original. Some shots that I upload look notably different from the original color-space when I place them side by side on the same screen. Anyone know how to fix that? I tried re-uploading)
Is your camera or post-processing software set to the Adobe RGB color space? That could cause the colors to get messed up when uploading to Flickr.
I am pretty sure that I only shoot in sRGB. This is a default shot from a new pocket camera (and it does not have color space switching options that I could find). I have had this problem sporadically with other cameras as well. The colors are rich and deep in the original, and faded on flickr. It only happens with some shots though, and I never switch the color space settings in the camera…
Awesome!
I read somewhere (can´t search now, I´m rushed) that different browsers render images with different richness in color and depth. They were comparing IE and Firefox in the same computer (with one same screenshot, it was very clear the difference. Maybe this happens.
Also I´d say that the algorithmic resizing (shrinking) of images flickr does tends to alter pictures, and in some cases is quite notorious (the larger the original, the worse it gets as far as I perceive with my pics).
My two cents.
Firefox really does a terrible job with color. If you you want to browse and see the right colors of things (as they were shot or processed) use Safari on the Mac.
my friend Jack advises you should email Dave Hyatt (one of Safari’s chief developers) to ask about the rendering of images by browsers… he’s known for being good at answering questions 🙂
yeah, i was so annoyed when i realised that after all my work on grading an iimage, most people would see a faded and less saturated image than i had intended if they used firefox instead of safari.
i did a side by side comparison previously…on the left is the image in Safari, and on the right is the exact same image in Firefox:
The problem is with Flickr. They strip out all the color space exif tags, including "Color Space" and "Interoperability Index." So the browser is left to guess at what color space to use. I suppose Firefox is guessing wrong, although I’m not sure why you would assume anything other than sRGB.
Flickr does helpfully leave in some of the obscure tags that Macs make use of, including the tone reproduction curves and color matrices, so that may explain why Safari does a better job.
To verify that this is the problem, find the image file you uploaded and view it directly (via a file: url) in Firefox. Compare that to the same image viewed in Firefox but on the flickr web page.
If that’s not the problem, then it’s probably Firefox ignoring those curve and color tags. Not much you can do about that.
Jim – when I open the JPG file directly in Firefox, it is faint (just like the flickr rendering in the browser)
When are these color and curve tags used then? All the time, or just in certain situations (like post processing in iPhoto)? thanks.
nels1 – but if we are looking at your comparison in Firefox, we are still not seeing the original…. =) The delta is clear though…
Then I suppose we can’t completely blame flickr, although they really shouldn’t be stripping the color space tags. If you ever did post a photo in Adobe RGB space, it would appear wrong to everyone.
The key is probably in all those extra tags. Your photo also has tags for white point, which is one of the key ingredients of any color space. My guess is that firefox ignores them but Safari uses them. If that’s the case, there should be some sort of post-processing you can do. Time to consult an expert, maybe Dave Hyatt (as suggested by biotron).
I’ve had this same problem recently. Trying to compensate, I (unwisely) oversaturated and oversharpened a few before uploading. So I would assume that if the browser really is the difference, then people viewing my stream w/ Safari on a Mac are seeing some scary stuff.
Anyone have any idea why this happens to some photos and not others? I’ve only really begun noticing this in the last couple of weeks. Thanks.
I checked, and Firefox 1.5/2.0 does no color management at all. Safari does. Firefox 3.0 does, but not by default, you have to turn it on. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do to your image before posting to flickr to compensate. I’m afraid the best you can do is plead with your users to use Safari.
Flickr still shouldn’t be stripping the color profile tags, but in this case it makes no difference.
To test your browser and find more info on color management in web browsers, go here,
Though I can’t vouch for the accuracy or up-to-dateness, I’m boiling it down to the lists:
List of Color-Managed Browsers:
Apple’s SAFARI for Mac
(Assumes monitor profile on untagged files)Apple’s SAFARI for Windows XP Vista Pro
(Likely Assumes monitor profile on untagged files)
(Read about it on robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-8740-9003)
Safari 3 Information and free DOWNLOADOmniWeb 5.1.3 (Mac)
(ColorSync® must be checked in OmniWeb> Preferences> Appearance> Use ColorSync)Microsoft EXPLORER (Mac)
(ColorSync® must be checked in Explorer> Preferences> Web Content: Use ColorSync)
Note: Microsoft Internet Explorer for the Mac was discontinued in 2003 and hasn’t been supported since 2005.List of Un-Managed Browsers:
Mozilla FIREFOX (Mac & Windows)
CAMINO (Mac)
Universal Application, runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel-based MacsOmniWeb 5.1.3 (Mac)
(using default preferences)Microsoft EXPLORER (Mac & Windows)
(using default preferences)OPERA (Mac OSX, Windows, Solaris, O/S2, Linux, FreeBSD i386, BeOS)
I was told that no PC Windows web browser is color managed (so the new Safari 3 is the only Windows XP Vista Pro browser that will display this white paper with the correct calibrated color).
NEWS 12 June 2007: Apple released Safari 3 Beta, a color-managed WINDOWS browser.
SAFARI 3 Information and free DOWNLOAD.
Hi Steve. I don’t know if my comment is still relevant for you or not…
I’m still figuring out all this color management myself, so I may not be the best person to answer this, but – how about just working in your monitor profile color space, and then saving the files with no associated profiles?
That way it will look the same while working in your editing program, then in firefox, IE, safari or whatever. And it should look the same on someone else’s computer if their monitor is properly calibrated.
Or is this just a bad idea? It’s what I do anyway…
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