Windows 11 color profile with LR

[jfarrellpa]

Lightroom Version Number

11.1

Operating System

1. Windows 11

I use Windows 11, calibrate my Benq monitor with Spyder Pro and the Spyder 5 puck, and in LR and PS the colors look great. When I export an image the colors are muted and not vibrant at all. I tried the Pallete Master software for Benq but same result. I think I have tried every thing I can think of. Any suggestions? In the interim I have to grossly oversaturate an image then export. The exported images look bad on a Mac, the Windows 11 machine and the Android phone. I have all software updates to Spyder Pro 5, to the OS and have rebooted.

Thanks in advance.....

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Muted colors are usually caused by exporting the image in a large color space such as AdobeRGB and then viewing it in a non-color managed application.

 

[jfarrellpa]

Thanks for the quick response. I have the color space set to sRGB but still get the muted colors. I know I am doing something wrong. I checked and am using the Spyder profile but then went to the Pallete Master Pro profile for the Benq and get the same thing.

 

[johnrellis]

When I export an image the colors are muted and not vibrant at all.

In which application are you viewing the photos? On Windows, many applications, including Microsoft apps such as Photos, are not "color-managed", i.e. they don't use the profile assigned to the display by the calibrator. LR, PS, Firefox, Irfanview, and Faststone are all color-managed (though you have to enable it in the latter two); Chrome still has color-management bugs, last time I checked.

 

[johnrellis]

Another consideration that I forgot about: There are many reports that Windows 11 color management has been broken since its release:
https://www.google.com/search?q=win...rome..69i57.7982j0j2&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

EIZO recommends against using Windows 11 with its software:
https://www.eizoglobal.com/support/compatibility/software/win/windows11/

Several months later, Microsoft finally acknowledge at least some problems and said they'll be shipping "late January":
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/status-windows-11-21h2#2768msgdesc

But the symptoms Microsoft describes, "white colors, which could display in bright yellow or other colors", don't match your symptoms, "colors are muted and not vibrant at all".

So the first step is to verify you're using a color-managed program, as listed above. Then research the various workarounds that have been posted for the Windows 11 color-management problems in the last several months.

 

[jfarrellpa]

Another consideration that I forgot about: There are many reports that Windows 11 color management has been broken since its release:
https://www.google.com/search?q=win...rome..69i57.7982j0j2&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

EIZO recommends against using Windows 11 with its software:
https://www.eizoglobal.com/support/compatibility/software/win/windows11/

Several months later, Microsoft finally acknowledge at least some problems and said they'll be shipping "late January":
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/status-windows-11-21h2#2768msgdesc

But the symptoms Microsoft describes, "white colors, which could display in bright yellow or other colors", don't match your symptoms, "colors are muted and not vibrant at all".

So the first step is to verify you're using a color-managed program, as listed above. Then research the various workarounds that have been posted for the Windows 11 color-management problems in the last several months.

John thanks for your observations. My issue is no soley Windows 11. When I view the images in LR they look great. When i export as JPG, at 100% size, sized 2560 on the long side and in sRGB, they look bad on Windows 11 Photos, look bad on my MacOS in it's photo program, look bad on a Windows 10 computer, look bad on an iPad, bad on iPhone and bad on Android. Bad means color muted and lack of "vibrance", clarity and just look dull. The only workaround I have to boost saturation and clarity, a lot in LR and then export as jpg. I use a BenQ monitor, use Spyder 5 Pro for calibration and no matter what I seem to do, it looks muted. Now as I am typing this, I will process this same image on the Mac OS and what happens. Will do that this evening. Trying to narrow down the possible issues to find the culprit.

Thanks to all who have responded. I will report back.

 

[jfarrellpa]

Well i had access to a MacBook and the image and tried it on the Mac and it exported the image just fine with the clarity and punch without having to goose up the image in LR. So it seems the problem is not in LR on the Windows machine, rather the exported image in a jpg, sRGB format. I will try the following on the Windows machine and if any other suggestions i would appreciate them. My list: change video card driver, re calibrate with Spyder 5 Prol recalibrate with Benq's Pallete Master Pro, create a calibration using Windows manual process, check the manual settings on the monitor and that is it. I sense this will be for naught as the images look great in LR and PS. Oh yes I will open the raw file in On1 and DXO and export from both of them to see what happens.

Joe

 

[johnrellis]

To test my understanding, you imported the same photo into Mac LR, with the same Develop settings, and exported it with the same Export settings, and when viewed in Mac OS Preview it looks good, whereas the same photo with the same settings looks bad on Windows 11 when viewed in Mac OS Preview.

Given the outstanding Windows 11 bug(s) with color management, it could be very hard to determine the true cause here and you could be thrashing around quite a bit. Why don't you attach here the "bad" JPEG exported from Windows LR and the "good" JPEG exported from the same photo in Mac LR. Then we can view them on trusted calibrated displays and, if they look different, put them under the microscope. Even if you're getting struck by the Windows 11 color management bugs, the JPEGs exported from Mac and Windows LR should in fact be identical (as long as they have the same Develop and Export settings).

 

[Eric Bowles]

To test my understanding, you imported the same photo into Mac LR, with the same Develop settings, and exported it with the same Export settings, and when viewed in Mac OS Preview it looks good, whereas the same photo with the same settings looks bad on Windows 11 when viewed in Mac OS Preview.

Given the outstanding Windows 11 bug(s) with color management, it could be very hard to determine the true cause here and you could be thrashing around quite a bit. Why don't you attach here the "bad" JPEG exported from Windows LR and the "good" JPEG exported from the same photo in Mac LR. Then we can view them on trusted calibrated displays and, if they look different, put them under the microscope. Even if you're getting struck by the Windows 11 color management bugs, the JPEGs exported from Mac and Windows LR should in fact be identical (as long as they have the same Develop and Export settings).

Thanks, John - I was pondering whether to upgrade to Windows 11 and based on your comments won't be in a rush to do so now.