Calling all the color experts!

[iceman2058]

OK,

so I've been reading up on color management issues, and reasons why files would look different in certain applications etc. However, this one has me stumped. I've edited a photo (from RAW) in Lightroom, and exported it to JPEG in the sRGB space. If I open this file in Windows Photo Viewer, or Window Live Photo Gallery, it looks exactly as it did on the screen in LR. However, if I open it in the Office Picture Viewer, or IE9, or Chrome, it has slightly different colors, and is a bit duller overall. I made a snapshot of the 2 files via print screen, and sent the original to a firend for testing as well - he gets the dull (and pink!) version, in ALL his applications! I would understand if there was a conversion problem from Adobe RGB (the workspace in Lightroom) to sRGB - but there isn't! The JPEG looks good for me in SOME applications...

I've attached the screen shot of the JPEG opened in 2 different programs. The version on the right corresponds to what I see in LR. The version on the left is the same JPEG, just in the Office viewer...

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'd hate for people to be looking at my pictures like they appear on the left...

Thanks for any help!

[SmartWombat]

If your monitor is profiled for correct colour and other people's are not then I could see difference between computers.
But also if you have the colour profile embedded in the image some applications will display it differently from others.
And it gets worse between OS and browsers too, some use the embedded profile, some do not.

It is pretty much certain that even if you embed the colour profile in the image and it is edited and viewed with a profiled monitor on your computer, anyone else on the web will see it differently.
Very few people apart from photographers and artists will have profiled monitors.

[iceman2058]

If your monitor is profiled for correct colour and other people's are not then I could see difference between computers.
But also if you have the colour profile embedded in the image some applications will display it differently from others.
And it gets worse between OS and browsers too, some use the embedded profile, some do not.

It is pretty much certain that even if you embed the colour profile in the image and it is edited and viewed with a profiled monitor on your computer, anyone else on the web will see it differently.
Very few people apart from photographers and artists will have profiled monitors.

Thanks for the answer, yes, I understand the basic workings of color profiles etc - I didn't realize that an application that supposedely IS color managed (IE9) would still get it "wrong". I mean, my browser passes the "color managed" test pages...but fails my own photo here. Oh well, sounds like there is not much can be done about it...

Note: testing on a couple of different monitors....the newest one I have actually sort of fixes the problem -or hides it maybe :-) (but my old display at home as well as the laptop's screen both show the issue.

[SmartWombat]

Unless everyone's monitor is profiled, and to the same colour temperature, and everyone's software respects the profile embedded in the image (hm and the profile is embedded isnt it?) ... it is pretty much random.

[Franglais]

I think that some applications "improve" the images they show to make them more flattering, especially the ones intended for consumers. I used to see a difference between images developed and edited in (Nikon NX2 and Paint Shop pro) and the final result in the standard version of ACDSee. The ACDSee version was more contrasty and more saturated.

Now I've gone over to ACDSee Pro the view is the same in all my tools.