Why does "Save for Web" desaturate my photos? How do I compensate?

[S-Man]

I'm in the process of uploading my photos to a CMD website, but when I go to "Save for Web", all the photos get desaturated and look blah.
I really have to bump up the saturation to get it to look right.
I also just noticed that using Adobe ImageReady shows what it will look like before I upload it, I just don't know how to use IR.
What can be done to either 1) stop the desturation or 2) compensate so I can batch-process photos?

Thanks.

P.S. After a search turned up nothing, I had to ask. Sorry if this has been covered before.

[Rson]

Can you post a unedited one and a SFW one. My guess is that the SFW is dropping the dpi, and maybe altering the color profile.

[S-Man]

Original (linked from Smugmug):


And the Save for Web version:

[S-Man]

I'm not sure, but maybe on your monitor the SFW version looks better. It's just an example of what's going on. It kind of desaturates the photo.
I too was thinking that it might change the color profile. But it should be sRGB all the way across...

[boxofrocks]

One other thing to note--SM applies some sharpening in galleries. Can't remember what the default level is, but you can control it in the customize gallery settings.

[joedanger11]

is the original color profile in sRGB also? i was working in adobe RGB then did "save for web" and it shifted the colors a bit. I solved this by converting the color profile to "sRGB" before saving.

[brad]

Easy Answer: Don't use Save For Web .. resize it yourself, reapply sharpening, and save it at a compression rate of 8 or so... it'll be fine for the web at that point.

[srwatters]

+1 Brad.

If you don't want the EXiF data to show, strip it yourself.

[S-Man]

I'm saving for a flash site from CMD, and just following instructions from there.
Thanks for the tip, Brad.
Could you expound a bit on what to do?
Ideally, I need to make an action for it, as I have quite a bit of images to resize.

They say to save it in 72dpi, so I resize that first, then resize to the maximum image size allowable, (max = 1600x1000) then save for web.
Why is SFW necessary after you resize it? Does it compress the file even more?

Sorry for my ignorance, but I really haven't taken the time to learn all these technicalities about 'the internets'

[msabas]

I havent tried the sRGB then save for web but save for web is only meant to save a small sized file for uploading to web. Which helps out with loading and website performance. But for people like us who's sole purpose is to showcase our wonderful work at its highest level of quality Save for Web does us no good.

but as Brad stated...resize it yourself and save it under a lower compression rate...

Originally Posted by brad

Easy Answer: Don't use Save For Web .. resize it yourself, reapply sharpening, and save it at a compression rate of 8 or so... it'll be fine for the web at that point.

[joedanger11]

agreed. i only use save for web when i want to optimize the entire webpage. i normally keep my images as uncompressed as possible.

[srwatters]

Just a side note... You mention 72dpi. That number means nothing when you are displaying images on a computer. The only thing that matters is the number of pixels. Unless you are combining two or more images, then they need to be at the same dpi (or more properly ppi). Add to that the fact that most modern displays are more like 96-110ppi, the old 72ppi makes no sense.

[Jfiumara]

I ran into the same problem regarding the SFW totally washing out the colors. I am wanting to make an action that I can run on a batch that will resize, sharpen, add my watermark, etc so they're ready for blogging.

I know how to do all of the steps except resizing. If I were doing each photo individually, I would manually resize the long edge to 800 pixels. Is there a way to write it into an action so that it recognizes which is the long edge and resizes accordingly?

[srwatters]

Originally Posted by Jfiumara

Is there a way to write it into an action so that it recognizes which is the long edge and resizes accordingly?

In Photoshop (at least CS3 or CS4) you can use the image processor or fit image. In CS4 it's under File->Scripts->Image Processor and File->Automate->Fit Image.

Either one works. I believe the image processor uses the underlying Fit Image engine. Remember to set your image resize method in the 'General' preference (options) page. I use Bi-cubic sharper for the default since most times I'm downsizing.

Good luck!

[Jake]

The "Fit Image" command is in CS2 as well.

The resize action I use goes like this:
Downsize to 1800px using Bi-cubic sharper.
Then it resizes to 600px using "Fit Image" and just Bicubic.
Then I apply a small amount of USM (50-0.4-1) and save.


I do not like "Save for Web."