GeriatricNinja asked this question on the artcone forums: I’ve noticed something very odd about the color of the images that I take when I try to post them somewhere online or even use them as my desktop background. The color looks muddy and not as vibrant as it really is. I’m not really sure what’s causing it. The starting images is 240 dpi and a few of them I’ve taken were raw files that have been converted to jpeg. I change the dpi to 72 and the color is set on RGB, but it still doesn’t look right. The images appear fine in photoshop and when I view them in windows, its when I try to use them as backgrounds or upload them somewhere (photobucket, flickr) that the colors appear muddy.
Here’s what I’m talking about:
REAL image color

MUDDY color

The way I got that picture to work is by copying the canvas and putting it on its own document, but thats a quick fix and doesnt work with my larger pictures. If anyone can explain this and tell me how I can avoid it i’d appreciate it.
Lombi
July 31st, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Try looking at your color space. It’s most likely you;re using Adobe RGB. Use save for web and see if the image looks normal.
GeriatricNinja
July 31st, 2010 at 8:30 pm
ahh thanks alot. You were close – the color profile was set to ProPhoto RGB but once I changed it I got things right.
btw sorry about strething the page..i thought the images were smaller :thinkover:
RevolutionX
July 31st, 2010 at 8:30 pm
i personally use sRGB and things seem to look the same from PS to web to print =)
if anyone know of a better profile set to use i would be interested.
Lombi
July 31st, 2010 at 8:30 pm
sRGB (standard rgb) was created as the most common denominator for color spaces, and it was made so it can display colors on even the cheapest of monitors.
Both color spaces – AdobeRGB and Profoto RGB are far better to use while editing the images (but you will still need to save as sRGB for the web)
ProfotoRGB is only a good colorspace for 16-bit images.
AdobeRGB is the best one to use for both 8 and 16 bit images and is usually the best choice if you want to set and forget this.
Just remember to always save for web instead of using save as.
pinkbellycat
July 31st, 2010 at 8:30 pm
making sure that the software you are using is adjusted properly is the key. It sounds like you got it worked out which is great. Some times digital camera’s do not always make the item look as good as you are hoping, but thanks to software you are able to make it look the way it should look or the way you had seen it from the start.