This is where Ian Burley, DPNow's editor and founder, shares his unique thoughts and impressions on subjects that he hopes will be of interest to others on the subjects of digital photography and other related or loosely related topics! You can follow DPNow Editor's blog on Facebook and Twitter, too.

Rate this Entry

Web colour shift revisited what do YOU see?

Submit "Web colour shift revisited what do YOU see?" to StumbleUpon

Submit "Web colour shift revisited what do YOU see?" to Google

Posted 03-07-09 at 07:21 PM by Ian
Updated 05-07-09 at 09:29 PM by Ian

Tags colour, explorer, ie7, ie8, internet, management, shift, web

A while back I blogged about the headache I am having with photos I have posted to the Web that exhibit a nasty colour shift, even though they have been saved for Web viewing in sRGB colour space. I'm now coming to the conclusion that (apart from the issue of using a colour managed browser like FireFox (though you need to switch colour management on) or Safari) to avoid this problem - most do not) it's down to my monitor.

I have an inexpensive, but reasonably high-spec. 24 inch 1920x1200 LCD panel, and it is colour calibrated using an iOne Pro spectrophotometer. The problem is that when I view this picture, for example:

..in Internet Explorer, the fresh clean blues of the sky and the lake are a horride cyan and the saturation as gone into overdrive.

The picture was exported from Lightroom with sRGB assigned, the normal advice for posting photos to the Web.

So now I am wondering if it's actually my monitor, which has a wide gamut, like many new monitors, which is the culprit.

Can you tell me if you see an over-saturated and cyan tinted picture above, or does it look clean and fresh blue as it should? No smart-alecs please using FireFox and or Safar i:D, I'm only interested in what you see when viewing in Internet Explorer, please. Oh - and please let me know what make, model, and type (CRT vs LCD) of monitor you are using.

Thanks!

Posted in Learn about photography, Photoshop, Photoshop Lightroom

Views 4967 Comments 17

« UK retailing moan, part 2 Main Colour shift - is it all down to monitor gamut? »

Total Comments 17

Comments

	I've had IE and FF open side-by-side and the image looks identical in both browsers - ie oversturated with a Cyan cast. It doesn't look right at all actually - certainly not a clear blue, as I imagine it should be. My monitor is an LCD iiyama Prolite E2003WS calibrated with Spyder2. Pol
	Posted 03-07-09 at 09:28 PM by Pol

	I hesitate to ask, Pol, but are you sure you have colour management switched on with FF? The picture looks OK on my laptop.
	Posted 03-07-09 at 09:58 PM by Ian

Hi Ian,
I looked at the image in both FF and IE (I generally always use FF for browsing and I have FF colour management enabled ). On my monitor they appear very similar - both maybe a little on the cyan side? (although the IE version is slightly more saturated and contrasty.) I'm unable to find more specific details about my monitor (it came packaged with a Dell desktop bought last year) all I can discern is, "LCD Generic Non P-nP Monitor"? It is a 22", 16:10, 16.7m colours, TCO03 blah blah. I calibrate it with a Spider2. I did cut "snippets" from the image displayed in FF and IE for you, but couldn't work out how to post them

Posted 03-07-09 at 10:12 PM by jojo jojo is offline

	Quote: Originally Posted by Ian I hesitate to ask, Pol, but are you sure you have colour management switched on with FF? The picture looks OK on my laptop. No, I don't. Nor do I have the add-on yet cuz I'm a technophobe and I'm scared of stuffing the colours on the browser. I was kinda hoping they might eventually include it as the default so I'm waiting a while longer. Pol
	Posted 04-07-09 at 06:32 AM by Pol

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pol

No, I don't. Nor do I have the add-on yet cuz I'm a technophobe and I'm scared of stuffing the colours on the browser.

I was kinda hoping they might eventually include it as the default so I'm waiting a while longer.

Pol

I really don't think you will have any issues with 'stuffing' the colours on FF. Follow the link Ian gives in the OP and you can check at least. You are left with a list of 3 things and the middle one should be clicked so it reads True rather than False. C'mon now don't be a luddite all yer life

. You could also try Safari, its very FF like and it has colour management by default.

Posted 04-07-09 at 12:04 PM by Stephen Stephen is offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen

. You could also try Safari, its very FF like and it has colour management by default.

Oh ok then.

We're just about to shove off in the camper and I'm not sure whether or not we'll be back tonight but I promise I'll have a proper look asap.

I'll prolly try it on my laptop first then I'm less likely to end up having to blubber on the blower to our eldest son to come down to bail me out!

TTFN

Pol

Posted 04-07-09 at 12:40 PM by Pol Pol is offline

	Hi Ian, I'm using 64 bit Windows 7, on an Acer 22" LCD X223HQ(As yet uncalibrated because iOne have not yet produced a driver for Windows 7, not even a beta!!) In both FF 3.0.11 and in IE 8, both pictures look fine, with clear, true blues.
	Posted 05-07-09 at 09:41 AM by rogleale

	We're back. Just enabled the colour management in FF and compared the image again alonside IE. The IE image has a more pronounced cyan cast than the colour managed FF version. The blues are clearer in FF - though there's still with a slight cyan cast. Pol
	Posted 05-07-09 at 08:25 PM by Pol Updated 05-07-09 at 08:55 PM by Pol

	I think that using IE 8 has made a difference for me. It is probably colour managed because it certainly shows images if sRGB correctly on my machine. Is anybody else using IE 8? Roger
	Posted 05-07-09 at 09:08 PM by rogleale

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogleale

I think that using IE 8 has made a difference for me. It is probably colour managed because it certainly shows images if sRGB correctly on my machine.
Is anybody else using IE 8?

Roger

I have IE 8 but I still think the image shows more cyan cast in IE 8 than the way it displays in the colour managed copy in Firefox.

I've done a quick screenshot of them side-by side - FF on the left and IE 8 on the right. Hope this shows the difference adequately.

Pol

Posted 05-07-09 at 09:54 PM by Pol Pol is offline

Updated 05-07-09 at 10:00 PM by Pol (poor use of English ... LOL)

	Hi Roger, IE, including version 8, are not colour managed. FireFox has colour management but it is switched off by default. Safari does have colour management and when I installed it, the CM mode was on by default.
	Posted 09-07-09 at 02:53 PM by Ian

	Quote: Originally Posted by Ian FireFox has colour management but it is switched off by default. The colour management add-on isn't compatible with latest update for Firefox. I discovered that a couple of days ago when I updated my laptop. Oh well ... Pol
	Posted 09-07-09 at 04:34 PM by Pol

	Quote: Originally Posted by Pol The colour management add-on isn't compatible with latest update for Firefox. I discovered that a couple of days ago when I updated my laptop. Oh well ... Pol I have the latest version of FF and when I checked last week CM was switched on. So far as I know its not so much an Add-on but more an integral element of the program
	Posted 09-07-09 at 04:45 PM by Stephen

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen

I have the latest version of FF and when I checked last week CM was switched on. So far as I know its not so much an Add-on but more an integral element of the program

My lappy updated to version 3.5 last night or the night before and it reported that the CM add on wasn't compatible. My PC has version 3.0.11 and I installed the CM add-on the other day and that's enabled atm - so I'm leaving that version in until the add-ons get updated (I can't live without my RP downloads from Youtube).

I think my CM is a Sean Hayes add on. I can't find anything anywhere about it being an integral part of the proggie.

Have I missed summick? Am I being a dumbo again?

Pol

Posted 09-07-09 at 04:59 PM by Pol Pol is offline

	I have just installed FF 3.5.30729, and CM is working just fine. There was a 3.5 bug but it's now reported as solved. In fact there are extra options which I will explore and report back on. FF CM is integral, not an add-on, so I wonder if you have an old CM third party solution that is no longer required?
	Posted 09-07-09 at 05:09 PM by Ian

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pol

Pol

It has changed slightly with the latest version of FF. However if you type about:config in the address bar and hit return, you get a warning first which you accept then a whole list of stuff you don't need to bother with. If you type gfx in the filter window at the top you are left with a list of 4, 2 of which are in bold. You need to click on these and change the value from 0 to 1 this changes the default off setting to user set on effectively.

The plugin you have used must be something else that does this in a more user friendly way

Posted 09-07-09 at 05:15 PM by Stephen Stephen is offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen

The plugin you have used must be something else that does this in a more user friendly way

Oh heck. I just knew I shoulda just left all this well alone 'cos I always seem to end up face down in the clarts.

The version I have couldn't be simpler. The add on just installs and you have a choice - either tick the 'enable' box or don't bother and leave it disabled.

If I do update to 3.5 I intend just leaving things well alone on the defaults. If the colours are messed up by the update I'll just dump FF altogether. I really cba faffing and fiddling about with a browser. You shouldn't have to imho.

Pol

Posted 09-07-09 at 05:33 PM by Pol Pol is offline