Photos look bad in e-mail

MK
Posted By
Michael_Koch-Schulte
Nov 10, 2006
Views
332
Replies
11
Status
Closed
It’s a long nagging question. I use a colour calibrator on my monitors (Eye-One). My photos look fine in PhotoShop. If I’m on a calibrated monitor shouldn’t the images look the same in every other application. Shouldn’t the Eye-One be setting my RGB, brightness, contrast settings to a standard? Why does the colour vary so much when I look at a photo attached to an e-mail? When I select "RGB Windows" as my preview profile in CS2 it looks amazingly as bad as my photos in Outlook. Help!
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AC
Art Campbell
Nov 10, 2006
A calibrated monitor only works with an application, like PS, that can use the monitor data. And there aren’t any email programs that do….

Art
B
Bernie
Nov 10, 2006
Convert the file to sRGB. It should minimize the colour shift
MK
Michael_Koch-Schulte
Nov 10, 2006
OK. BUT…isn’t part of the job of the colour calibration system (the colourometer to "tune" the colour of the monitor to a common reference? I still don’t get why the two should differ at all after calibration. Is this basically because I use Adobe 1998 in PS and everything else is sRGB?
D
DeerRaven
Nov 10, 2006
They’re different color models. The web operates on sRGB (simple Red, Green and Blue.) Photoshop is meant for print.

Martha
CC
Chris_Cox
Nov 10, 2006
Deer – no, that has nothing to do with it.

Michael – yes, setting the display to a known standard is good. But that doesn’t mean that your display is exactly the same as everyone elses, or that it is exactly Adobe RGB 1998.

Photoshop compensates for your display (converting Adobe RGB 1998 into the colorspace of your display), and most other applications don’t do that.

If you want the image to look right in most other applications, you’re going to have to convert it into what most other applications will see: your display profile, or (averaging many displays) sRGB.
MK
Michael_Koch-Schulte
Nov 11, 2006
But that’s the very definition of a standard. Everyone is doing something the same way. If a colourometer (or any measuring device) says a particular shade of red is 700 nanometers, then everybody should be setting that shade of red to 700nm. OK I can understand that all monitors aren’t created equal. In fact the computer I do most of my editing on is a higher end aperture grill monitor. When I look at photos on another of my computers which has an LCD display, also calibrated with the Eye One, shadows tend to look a little blocked.
So, how do I reconcile with the image file that lives on my computer? Do I have to save a different version or re-edit each time I want to e-mail a file to someone? Or tell them they should really use CS2 for view the file? E-mail seems to be one of the most popular ways to view photos on the web, along with IE and FireFox. Why haven’t these applications moved to support colour management in a better way? BTW, the e-mail versions of my images now always look more green or blue, cooler in general, is this the norm?
CC
Chris_Cox
Nov 11, 2006
Read what I just wrote, and do what I just said.
B
Bernie
Nov 11, 2006
says a particular shade of red is 700 nanometers, then everybody should be setting that shade of red to 700nm

The first problem is seen in the first line of the disclaimer in this page <http://www.efg2.com/Lab/ScienceAndEngineering/Spectra.htm>

YOu may also want to read the info here < http://escience.anu.edu.au/lecture/cg/Color/printNotes.en.ht ml>

(Warning! Headaches ahead <g>)
Nov 11, 2006
hi michael,

Do I have to save a different version or re-edit each time I want to e-mail a file to someone …

does everyone (most?) of your mail recipients look at the included pictures it with a calibrated monitor?
if it isn’t so, srgb should be imho the profile of your choice …

—

PiT
MK
Michael_Koch-Schulte
Nov 11, 2006
Uncle!!!
Thanks (everyone) for helping me with my understanding of this issue.
Nov 12, 2006
you’re welcome, michael

—

PiT

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