Web site color management

[StevenB]

I have been uploading pictures to various web sites lately. I save the file as sRGB before doing so. These images, when viewed on my shootproof web site look fine. However, some of the other web sites I have uploaded to display the images with a definite color shift, so far always slightly red. Is this because these sites are not color managed? Is there a way to insure that the images will look correct on these web sites? I suppose I could shift the color slightly to cyan.
My monitor is calibrated and I am looking at all of the sites on the same monitor.

[MarkM]

Websites aren't color managed. Browsers may or may not be (they mostly are today).

The most likely explanation of the shifts you are seeing is that some of the sites to which you are uploading are stripping the color profile from the image (Facebook actually swaps the profile for their own for their timeline photos, but it's almost the same as sRGB). It's, sadly, a fairly common practice and there's not much you can do about it. Some browsers will treat untagged content as sRGB, but others send it directly to the monitor. This can cause some big shifts especially on wide gamut monitors.

It's pretty easy to diagnose: just upload a photo to the offending site, then download it from the site, open in Photoshop, and see if it's still tagged.

Trying to second guess it by manually shifting colors is a bad idea. Without a profile you are essentially working in a non managed environment and can't make any real predications about what other people will see in their screens. What looks about right to you, might be terrible to me even if my screens profiled. And some browsers will assume sRGB for untagged content making your shifts unwarranted. There's not a good answer short of not uploading to sites that mess with your image, and not worrying about color on the web beyond specifying sRGB.

[StevenB]

Thank you for your response. I thought this might be the answer, I was just hoping there was a work around.

[Wayne Fox]

what type of websites?  Most of the photography related ones I’m pretty sure leave the profiles alone, or at least assume they are sRGB. 

[D Fosse]

"Assume sRGB" is just another way of saying "not color managed". It doesn't help much if the profile itself is stripped. There are unfortunately still a lot of websites that are coded in such a way as to strip any embedded profiles - probably not sites that are exclusively dedicated to photography, but there are many other types of sites where a photographer might want to present images in the best possible way.

But luckily there is a safe option: Firefox with color management set to mode 1. I really wish more people knew about this, because it elegantly solves all web-related color management issues. What it does is to assign sRGB to all untagged material, including graphic page elements - and then converts to monitor profile. No other browser will do this, they will all send untagged material straight through unmanaged.

This way everything becomes fully color managed, even without an embedded profile. No more "close enough", and no more wide gamut problems. If this became the standard, we wouldn't even have to embed the profile as long as the file is created in sRGB. It would still be seen with full color management.

[john beardsworth]

But luckily there is a safe option: Firefox with color management set to mode 1. I really wish more people knew about this

I know one accesses it by browsing to about:config , but exactly which preference do you mean?

[howardm]

I know one accesses it by browsing to about:config , but exactly which preference do you mean?

John, see this.....

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Gfx.color_management.enabled

Once you get into about:config, do a search for 'gfx'

[D Fosse]

That's it. Scroll down to this, then double click the entry and change 2 to 1.

(edit - mode 2 is the standard mode a la Safari, and the default, while 0 is no color management at all).

[john beardsworth]

Thanks both.

[Paul2660]

This has been a very helpful post as this issue has driven me nuts for years.  I am a windows user running firefox.  I downloaded the color management add on and installed.  After installing it I did not find the numerical settings that were referenced above.  However it does give you two screens for settings.  I have attached two screen shots showing the way I set it up.     

This seems to help but would if there any other settings suggestions I would appreciate it. 

Paul Caldwell

[D Fosse]

That add-on is new to me. It's not really needed, it seems to be just an alternative interface for the options outlined above. But it does seem to present it in a somewhat less cryptic form, which doesn't harm.

Normally you access this directly from the browser, by typing   about:config   in the address bar and hit go.

[digitaldog]

"Assume sRGB" is just another way of saying "not color managed". It doesn't help much if the profile itself is stripped.

Absoulty! The idea that the data is exactly within sRGB spec is iffy at best. Using the sRGB assumption is so far, the least bad solution but it's not a very good solution by a long shot. Plus if you're working on a wide gamut display (that's becoming more common), the sRGB assumption stinks. If the system assumes something dumb like your display profile and the data really is untagged sRGB, still a problem.