Image colors in Lightroom appear off

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Mario.Q

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When viewing RAW, JPEG, or any other image files in Lightroom I’m finding the colors are off from what I see when opening the files in any other software. I do not have a calibrated monitor, which may be part of the problem. However, I was using Canon DPP for my file editing and printing, and the results from software to screen to printer were dead on. Also, when I view my files on other computers (work computers, friend’s computers, etc) the files look darn close, if not just the same to what I see on my monitor.

I know the root of the problem probably has something to do with color management in Lightroom, or in general. I’m a new Lightroom user and I’ve been reading up on the issue for the past couple hours here and on the net, and my head is now spinning. I can’t seem to find a way to address this problem in Lightroom. If any one could share some advice with me on this problem that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
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Mario - take heart - it all makes sense eventually. If you can, calibrate the monitor. It's the basic building block. The fact that some of your applications seem to work well together, and even match, is not to be relied upon.
 
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If you don't have a calibrated monitor, then your problem is probably a corrupted monitor profile - the canned manufacturer's profiles are often to blame. Initial port of call, would be to change the monitor profile to sRGB as a temporary measure until you can calibrate it properly.

Instructions for Windows XP:
1. Exit Photoshop Lightroom.
2. Choose Start > Control Panel > Display.
3. Click the Settings tab.
4. Click the Advanced button.
5. Click the Color Management tab.
6. Click the &#822';ADD...” button.
7. Choose a standard RGB color profile, such as sRGB IEC61966 - 2.1.
8. In the &#822';Color profiles currently associated with this device” field, select the new
profile you just picked.
9. Click the &#822';Set As Default” button.
1'. (Optional) Select the old profile.
11. Click the Remove button.
12. Click the &#822';OK” button.
 
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I'm looking in to getting monitor calibration equipment. I'll see if that helps at all with my issue.

The thing I can't get over is that I can open the same RAW file (.CS2) - one in Lightroom and one in Canon's Digital Photo Pro - and the color in DPP looks perfect and lightroom the colors look off. They are both reading the same file, the same data, but the colors are rendered differently. Seems like there should be a way to adjust how Lightroom is rendering the color from the RAW files. Maybe the canon software will just always be better with colors since the RAW files are proprietary?
 
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Victoria Bampton said:
If you don't have a calibrated monitor, then your problem is probably a corrupted monitor profile - the canned manufacturer's profiles are often to blame. Initial port of call, would be to change the monitor profile to sRGB as a temporary measure until you can calibrate it properly.

Instructions for Windows XP:
1. Exit Photoshop Lightroom.
2. Choose Start > Control Panel > Display.
3. Click the Settings tab.
4. Click the Advanced button.
5. Click the Color Management tab.
6. Click the “ADD...” button.
7. Choose a standard RGB color profile, such as sRGB IEC61966 - 2.1.
8. In the “Color profiles currently associated with this device” field, select the new
profile you just picked.
9. Click the “Set As Default” button.
1'. (Optional) Select the old profile.
11. Click the Remove button.
12. Click the “OK” button.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I'll give this a try and see how it works. I'll let you all know how it goes.
 
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Last edited:
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Thank you for the responses, Victoria. FYI, I just starting using Lightroom recently and I'm deep in the learning process right now. But, from the few images that I have currently imported in to lightroom, it does appear that I'm only seeing this color issue on RAW files. When I get some time this evening, I'll take a closer look at that and maybe import a few more images for comparison.

I can tell you this though - when I edit a raw file in Lightroom, export it as a jpeg, and then open the exported jpeg file with another program (the windows image viewer, the ms office viewer program, DPP etc.), the jpeg file has different colors than the raw file that’s open in Lightroom. This leads me to think that it’s probably a problem with color management on my computer, rather than a problem with processing the raw file in lightroom.
 
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Yeah, the view you see in LR should match the exported file *in a colour managed program*. Photoshop, something like that. Windows viewer doesn't count as it's not colour managed.
 
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I wonder how DPP handles colors, because when I open the jpegs I exported from lightroom in DPP the colors are also off from what I see in lightroom.

Anyway, I hope I can get this problem resolved. I think if I end up switching to lightroom I'll be able shave a good chunk of time off my workflow, which is nice.
 
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Yep, that does sound like a monitor profile issue. See if switching to the sRGB solves it for now - that should confirm it.

Workflow - yeah, that should save you some time. Stick around and we'll be pleased to help.
 
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Victoria - the temp fix you posted above worked like a charm. The display was set to the defult from my monitor. I switched it to an sRGB setting. Gosh, I feel like I can see again now that the colors in Lightroom are showing up properly. Thanks for the help!
 
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Glad to hear that the temp fix helped. But thats not a permanent substitution for a proper calibrated environment, especially when you use a wide gamut monitor.
You said that DPP showed the colors correctly. That's half true. As long as you don't have and use a monitor profile, you can't see "correct" colors.
DPP is color managed and uses both important sources for color information: The embedded profile in the picture file and the monitor profile. For the last, you have to change a property. See Extras > Properties (sorry, I have only the german version here). The second Radio Group chooses between sRGB, OS-Info and an explicit monitor profile. I guess that your DPP is set to sRGB. That's the same behaviour that Victoria's temp fix now brings to LR and Photoshop. Both are aware of the embedded profiles in the pictures and use the monitor profile attached to the monitor in the control panel.
So, if your monitor is worth it, get a good calibration tool, create a monitor profile and use it. And don't forget to set up a matching lighting in you work area. 5'''K-Lamps aren't expensive now.
 
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