Please calibrate me...

[Winston]

I have a fully color managed, recently calibrated system
All photos are in RAW format.

After processing an image for the web, I export it using the sRGB color space. I expect the exported image to look exactly the same as it did in Lightroom. It doesn't

It's close but a little larker in the darkest tones...dark enough to ruim dark shadow detail and the colors are slightly cooler. Is this normal?

 

[Brad Snyder]

Depends on what software you're using to view the exported image. Almost all consumer level software is *not* color-management aware. Including most common web browsers, except Safari, and certain flavors of FireFox. The most common offenders are the Picture Viewers provided with Windows, and linked to Explorer's thumbnails and previews.

The reason sRGB is recommended for export, is that it is most likely to be 'least incorrect' when viewed by uncalibrated, unmanaged systems and software.

If you can tell us the viewing software you're using, we can dig a little deeper.

 

[Winston]

Hi Brad,

I'm using IE8 and Firefox. Looks the same in both. The problem had become severe enough that I concluded that something must be wrong as I haven't always had the problem. I found the problem.

I had installed MICROSOFT COLOR CONTROL PANEL APPLET FOR WINDOWS XP some time ago before a trip and had forgotten about it. When installed it replaces the usual mechanism for changing monitor profiles. The result is that my color management had been drifting off course for months with out having the monthly profiles installed.

All is well now. There is still some faint difference but it takes some pretty intense pixel peeping to find it.

Thanks for pitching in,

 

[Brad Snyder]

Glad you got to the bottom of it. There are so many moving parts to color management from camera to output, a lot of things can go askew.