Colors very different between PS / Lightroom and Facebook / Windows Explorer

[Daylon]

Okay - this is driving me crazy..

Using Win XP Pro 32bit - Lightroom 2.5, Photoshop CS2

Calibrated monitor using EyeOne Display 2 from GretagMacbeth

Lightroom and photoshop colors / contrast look perfect, explorer and facebook uploads look like crap.

Help?

Daylon added 9 Minutes and 21 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Oh, and am exporting in sRGB color gamut in lightroom.

[Rson]

Facebook looks like crap because they shrink it down to nothing. Probably the same on Explorer

[JohnT]

FB does its own thing with your images during the upload process. I think FB calls it "optimizing." That's probably what's causing the difference.

[Daylon]

I'm going to head over to Wolf on Harry Hines and do a couple of quickie test prints.. my gut feeling is if Photoshop and Lightroom both agree - that's what should come out as a final..

Daylon added 2174 Minutes and 16 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Print doesn't match Lightroom or Photoshop - (printed at Wolf camera - 1hr) - when I import the JPG from the flash drive I used to make the print, it looks fine.. but in windows explorer it looks much darker and has a bad shift towards the warm end of the spectrum. Skin looks orangy..

Any ideas?

[Rson]

As for Wolf....Have you thought about sending a reference picture first. The shots are "automatically" printed and could be edited colorwise to what the computer thinks is right, have you tried through WHCC or Millers? I had my V-day pics done at Walgreens and at Millers, WORLD OF DIFFERENCE.

[jeffkohn]

Assuming the file is sRGB and you don't have a wide-gamut monitor, the difference between PS/LR and Windows Explorer is that Explorer isn't using your monitor profile. LR/PS take the sRGB image and convert it to your display profile which should be more accurate, while Explorer ignores the proflie and just displays the image as-is.

How does the test print differ from what you see in LR/PS? Some labs do auto-color corrections unless you tell them not to, so that could be part of it.

[boxofrocks]

Don't base your colors on anything you send to Wolf.

[Nena2007]

Ok, I wanted to revive this post because I am having the same problem...

My images look great in Photoshop CS4, I upload them to mpixpro and they look different, usually orange. I tried working the mpix cs but I didn't get anywhere. I tried working in both sRGB and Adobe1998.... nothing. They look the same, but when I open the file in anything else (picasa, mpix etc) it looks different....

Any help! ?? This is SOOO frustrating!

[AndrewCCM]

Nena,

Is your monitor calibrated? That can explain differences in print/lab and screen. As far as different applications, Jeff hit the nail on the head... Most do not used the embedded color profile. LR/PS do... The color shift will be exacerbated when viewing an Adobe RGB profile with a non-profile aware app like many browsers...

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by Nena2007

Ok, I wanted to revive this post because I am having the same problem...

My images look great in Photoshop CS4, I upload them to mpixpro and they look different, usually orange. I tried working the mpix cs but I didn't get anywhere. I tried working in both sRGB and Adobe1998.... nothing. They look the same, but when I open the file in anything else (picasa, mpix etc) it looks different....

Any help! ?? This is SOOO frustrating!

Is your monitor calibrated? Have you tried having MPIX do color correction on their end to one image just to see what it looks like?

[Nena2007]

Yes, the moniter is calibrated, I just redid it to make sure and it still looks awful! I wouldn't care so much about it as long as the prints look good, but I just did a session for a woman (who I am working on right now) that had pictures done for her website. I don't want her to look like an oompa loompa!

I don't know how obvious the difference will be here, but I did a screen shot... in the forum it doesn't look so bad, but on my screen its much more severe.

[AndrewCCM]

Picassa is not using the color profile correctly.

In PS, when you "Save for Web" and and "Convert to sRGB", does it look the same in your browser? How does it look in your browser compared to Picassa? Be sure it's sRGB converted (not applied). Pretty much all other apps will make Adobe RGB, etc look like crap....

[Nena2007]

Andrew, do you mean my web browser?

When I click "save for web" it is orange, like it is in picasa.

[AndrewCCM]

Yes

[Nena2007]

Ok, its not quite as orange, but still a little. Now, I just tried opening it in Windows Photo Gallery, and its not orange, it looks more like it does in photoshop.