# Color Profiles - Getting it right once and for all (or closest as possible)



## neuroxik (Mar 17, 2011)

Alright, so I've been thinking about this for a while, working around through a couple of color profiles and techniques, but I'm still getting headaches over this. I know there *might* not be a "suits all" technique or answer, so anything you can input could be of great help. Whether it be some tips that you've learned along the way, or whatever you feel answers the question.

Before I go on, let me just mention my main specs: PC (Win XP SP3), Photoshop CS5, and as for camera, the color profile is set to Adobe 1998 (Nikon D300s and Nikon D60). Also: I shoot mainly in RAW, and I know this doesn't help for the color profiles according to some articles I've read, but I still benefit much more from shooting RAW in other aspects.

My main problem is: okay, I'm willing to accept that my photos won't look exactly the same when I'm viewing them in a Windows application such as WinViewer than from the Internet, but atleast for the Internet, I'd like to be able to acheive some consistency. I upload my shots mainly on Flickr, Facebook, and another site (let's call it "Other"). Very often, the shots will look different on every three of them. The colors shift, some parts that have more contrast and thus darker become lighter... it's getting to be a real pain in the *ss. I've tried Working sRGB, Adobe 1998 (although that's more obviously for print), along with many others, although Internet Standard RGB (sRGB) with "Proof Colors" clicked to be able to "see what you get" suggests that it would suit for browsers, no? I've also tried embedding, tried converting rgb numbers... practically everything, but there still isn't a "suits all" technique I've come to find and I've come here to ask for help. Any kind of help. 

I understand what color profiles are, how they act, but I can't figure out what's best so that ONE photo looks the same from website to website.

Thanks in advance


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## PASM (Mar 17, 2011)

Someone posts that they sorted things on FB by using 'Color LCD' profile rather than sRGB
Losing color (edits?) when uploading to Facebook - RetouchPRO

..also mentioned in the thread - checking that 'perceptual' intent is specified, (rather than colorimetric).


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## neuroxik (Mar 18, 2011)

PASM said:


> Someone posts that they sorted things on FB by using 'Color LCD' profile rather than sRGB
> Losing color (edits?) when uploading to Facebook - RetouchPRO
> 
> ..also mentioned in the thread - checking that 'perceptual' intent is specified, (rather than colorimetric).


 
Thanks, I'll give this a try


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## Garbz (Mar 18, 2011)

So you want consistency huh? Well here's what to do. Buy a webserver, host your own images on your own webserver, save all of your images as 8bit JPEGs with the sRGB colour profile embedded, and offer to buy every viewer of your site the same monitor and colour calibrator. Ok I'm kidding about the last part but the rest is dead serious. What you do when you upload your files anywhere is release control over the saving process. 

Some sites just recompress, some sites strip the ICC profiles out, some sites convert the profiles to sRGB, some sites just screw with your image just for the heck of it (see beyond the basics forum about the complaint of uploading an sRGB file which ends up with different tone than the original). 

You want consistency you need to control the process. You also need to take into account that colour profiles matter a lot IF and ONLY IF the colour process is managed from the source to the display. Using the word internet you will straight away lose all options other than using sRGB. I.e. Upload an AdobeRGB file. I'll see it in it's full glory. Well 97% of it because of my wide gamut screen. If I go upstairs I can see 70% of the possible colours, but it'll still look right because both browsers have colour management. If I look at your file on my sisters laptop it'll look roughly the same colour as a dog turd since that's what all AdobeRGB files look like without a colour managed browser (like IE), and if I look at it on my phone it'll look psychadelic due to the massively wide gamut on my phone's screen and the complete disregard for any form of colour management or calibration. 

Do you see the problem now? When you hand over the image you lose control of the process and anything can happen. When you upload a file that's not sRGB you're at the mercy of the viewer having a colour aware program installed (hint, most of them don't) For optimum consistency the only profile you can trust at all is sRGB, but then you're still at the mercy of the processing algorithms of the site you upload your photo too (but at least the colour shifts are minor compared to a non standard colour profile).

My advice to you, if you don't make prints, don't screw with colour profiles. Stick with sRGB and embed the profile. It's the format the rest of the world uses, and all of our devices know how to view the data.
Additionally if you come across a site that stuffs up an sRGB file you upload, jump on the feedback form and start complaining, as there's only 2 possible reasons: 1) It's run by programmers who failed maths. 2) They think they know your picture better than you do.

If you do make prints then use wider gamuts, only ever in conjunction with 16bit file formats, but for the purpose of displaying on the net, convert it to sRGB anyway. While the difference is spectacular especially in sunsets 99% of people CAN'T see it (not won't) because of their hardware limitations.



PASM said:


> ..also mentioned in the thread - checking that 'perceptual' intent is specified, (rather than colorimetric).


 
This affects the conversion process only, and you'll know straight away if the intent is not suitable for the picture. It has nothing to do with consistency of the final colour profile when viewed.


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## neuroxik (Mar 18, 2011)

Garbz said:


> So you want consistency huh?
> [...]
> consistency of the final colour profile when viewed.



Geez... thanks! Atleast now I know I'm not the only one. I've been using sRGB for quite a while now, I only tested other ones for testing purposes, but still, as you say, they screw up either in stripping it or whatever.


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## Garbz (Mar 19, 2011)

In general they screw up something else. The beautiful thing about sRGB is that it is THE standard. So if the profile is stripped or you forget to embed it it will automatically assume it's sRGB. Most displays are sRGB so software that isn't colour aware just reads the colour values with complete disregard for the embedded profiles and pumps them out to the video card with complete disregard for the display profile. If every part of the colour process is broken or missing, then what you're doing is essentially processing sRGB from start to end. 

This is unfortunately something that hasn't improved in the last 20 years. Windows only provides a colour API and leaves it up to applications to use them, and very few do. It's disappointing to say the least.


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