Strange Colour Problem

[Rob MacKillop]

Just recently my iPad2 has been giving false colour renditions. Here's a cropped screen shot from it:



badcolourdaff by RobMacKillop, on Flickr

and what it should look like:


daffcolour by RobMacKillop, on Flickr

We've checked on three different laptops - they all show the correct colour - a reddish-orange centre.

Our two iPads both show the brownish, mustard-colour centre. Rhona has the mini iPad with the retina display - same problem.

I've only noticed this these last two or three weeks. BUT - all my old photos still render correctly - the plot thickens...

If my old photos are OK, I must be doing something differently with the new ones. Well, I have started using Lightroom, along with Elements 11 and the Nik Suite.

Further, images from my XF1 are always straight jpegs (it can do raw, but I've set it for jpeg only), and the colour with those is normal when seen on an iPad.

Is the problem, then, the raw files? I usually open the raw file in Lightroom, and maybe make a few adjustments - usually Clarity, Whites and Blacks. Then I open in Elements, while keeping the changes made in Lightroom. Then I may or may not adjust Levels, open a Nik filter, etc. I then Save two copies - one as TIFF, the other JPEG. I upload the jpeg to Flickr.

That's my entire process, which I follow every time. It's only since using Elements to open the RAW files that I've started having colour issues - and only on iPads!

Am I doing something wrong? By the way, I'm assuming that you can see definite colour changes between the two images above? If they look the same, please let me know.

Any ideas?

 

[Pete Askew]

Do you do the final export to JPEG from LR? If so what is the colour space setting you are using? Look under File Setting in the Export panel - sRGB will give the most consistent look on web sites and iPad.

- - - Updated - - -

OK, re-reading that you open the file directly in Elements? Or do you go into Elements from LR and then back? I would do the the latter and do my output from LR.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

I go to Elements from LR, then edit and save from there. Do I really have to go back to LR?

I'll check everything is set to sRGB.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Ah, the Export to Nik setting defaults to ProPhoto RGB - whatever that is. I've now set it to sRGB. Will it make a difference? - I'll get back to you soon...

 

[Rob MacKillop]

It worked! Thank you once again, Pete! What would I do with out you?!

colour test by RobMacKillop, on Flickr​

Now I'll have to redo all my colour shots of the last three weeks!

 

[Pete Askew]

Glad that worked.

I would use Edit a Copy with LR Adjustments in Elements from LR and then save and close the image so it ends up as a copy in LR. In that way you end up with all the iterations in a single catalogue (and can make virtual copies to tweak, crop etc in LR). If you want to tweak layers etc in that copy you can still open it in Elements, adjust it and then, when you save, the changes will be reflected in the copy 'stored' in LR. I work in ProPhotoRGB in LR, Nik and PS and only export to sRGB for use on the web. This gives you a less restricted colour gamut for printing etc later.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Well, in that case, I could keep it set to ProPhoto RGB, and change it to sRGB in Elements.

I'll look into your other advice as well, re Edit a Copy.

Next time you are in Edinburgh - any single malt you want!

 

[Pete Askew]

Keep ProPhoto in Elements and Nik as well Rob and use sRGB when you save to JPEG. In that way your master files are in the 'larger' colour space.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Will do.

 

[Glenn Clabo]

Thanks guys...I need to print this out and study it...this whole it doesn't look like that after I post thing is driving me crazy.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Good luck!

 

[Glen Roberts]

I had similar problems when I started using LR then uploaded my shots to photobucket but if I uploaded to Flickr they look fine. So now if I process any shots through LR I only upload to Flickr, but if I want to upload to photobucket or upload to Birdguides (a bird watching Site I visit) I have to process the RAW files in ACR in Photoshop.

 

[Beth Anthony]

my android tablet has tantrums too when it doesn't get photos in sRGB. and it refuses to have anything to do with a very specific shade of magenta.