problem with exporting using lightroom

[cheeken]

Hi, recently i noticed that when i export JPEG file after editing a RAW file, the end product looks extremely different from the one in the editing screen. Alot of banding can be seen, images are much softer than in the develop screen. I set my export to 100% quality. Dont know what's the issue. Can someone tell me isit because when a RAW file is exported and compressed into JPEG, there is some damage done? I would like to upload a comparison of both photos here but i cant upload a RAW file here! Please advise thank you

 

[Octarine]

Please post the problematic jpg file.

 

[cheeken]

i'm trying to upload a screenshot of the RAW image placed beside exported but clubsnap keeps telling me undefined...

 

[SkyStrike]

you need to uncheck that checkbox "Retrieve remote file and reference locally" Was facing this issue yesterday.

 

[emlee]

without seeing your post, 1 suggestion is to generate a 1:1 preview of your image in Lightroom after you are done with the editing (before export). some changes are drastic and the standard preview may not reveal the extend of the change. Also, zoom in 1:1 in the area you say there is banding to check.

 

[cheeken]

you need to uncheck that checkbox "Retrieve remote file and reference locally" Was facing this issue yesterday.

sorry, where is this checkbox? Cant find it under settings....

 

[cheeken]

here is the comparison between the lightroom preview screen and the exported jpeg file, i lose a lot of lighting, and everything becomes softer...help please!

 

[bonrya]

Please post a screenshot of the dialog box that appears during export. Could be one of your settings.

 

[SkyStrike]

I get the feeling it's the color space thingy. Can't be sure till TS posts the export settings dialog box

 

[kineticworks]

MOst probably due to colour profile thingy. I have yet to solved mine yet

 

[SkyStrike]

(most prob) have to wait for another week before TS reply back to this thread ;p

 

[cheeken]

well i didnt take another week, but here are the settings, i believe whatever above these (file location/name) are not important....

 

[Octarine]

1) Which program do you use for viewing the jpg?
2) Is your system calibrated?

 

[Michael]

i cannot see the banding.
the change in colour might have something to do with colourspace
softness of the picture, could be a) due to reduction of no of pixes and b) no sharpening applied during export.

 

[SkyStrike]

(oops, that is fast..)

Have you also tried to use the "Long Edge" instead of specifying "Width & Height"?

 

[cheeken]

1) Which program do you use for viewing the jpg?
2) Is your system calibrated?

I use windows photo viewer, may i know how do you calibrate the system?

 

[cheeken]

i cannot see the banding.
the change in colour might have something to do with colourspace
softness of the picture, could be a) due to reduction of no of pixes and b) no sharpening applied during export.

Thanks for the tip on sharpening application, much better photo export sharpness now

I also suspected the colourspace problem, i tried all options but they seemed to give me the same result, I will go home and experiment further!

 

[Octarine]

I use windows photo viewer, may i know how do you calibrate the system?

Seems you need to read up a few things... Ok.. here we go.
Some technical basics... good to know: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/calibrating.htm
In short: calibrating will measure how colours (which are digitally coded in image files) are displayed at your monitor. Since the data from the file go a long way through application, operating system, display driver, cable and monitor till they reach your eye there is plenty of space for deviations. Calibrating measures the deviations for all base colours, generating a colour profile. This profile describes all deviations and (when loaded at system start) it is applied in negative way, thus balancing off all system-induced colour shifts and giving a neutral colour reproduction.
There are software tools and hardware tools. Software tools will use your eye to compare colours and patterns with given examples. It might work for a beginning, but our eyes are far from being accurate, easily deceived and getting tired. Hardware tools are reliable and never get tired, the newer ones can even consider ambient light in the room. You can check Spyder3 from Datacolor.
The next point is about embedded colour profiles and colour spaces. Two colour spaces are mainly used: sRGB and AdobeRGB. The first one is widely used in Internet and for consumers, the latter one is used for professional work. They are not the same, obviously. So any image file should have a remark about the used colour space, this is called embedded ICC profile. And: in order to render your image properly an application should recognize these profiles and apply the info. That's the point where the Windows Picture Viewer is loosing badly. It simply ignores all this colour profile stuffs and renders whatever it thinks it should be. Since we as photographer want to define how the picture looks like this program is clearly off.
Here a simple test for your browser: http://www.gballard.net/psd/go_live_page_profile/embeddedJPEGprofiles.html#
You will see the effects of embedded profiles between pictures in sRGB and AdobeRGB.
Here is a list of image viewers and their details: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Comparison_of_image_viewers
Check "Features" and compare the column "colour management (ICC)".

 

[seanyzf]

So in a nutshell, by using a hardware calibrating device will solve all the problem with colour? I also notice that AdobeRGB has duller colour as compare to sRGB on the same pic, if we send our print to photolab, using sRGb will be more than sufficient right?

 

[Octarine]

So in a nutshell, by using a hardware calibrating device will solve all the problem with colour? I also notice that AdobeRGB has duller colour as compare to sRGB on the same pic, if we send our print to photolab, using sRGb will be more than sufficient right?

Calibration will help you to make sure that whatever is coded in the image will be displayed properly. There are other issues, still.
AdobeRGB is a different colour space. What you observed is nothing but the rendering of an AdobeRGB image using sRGB colour space, the colours appear muted, duller. Reason could be that a) there was no ICC profile embedded or b) the application was not able to recognize the AdobeRGB ICC profile and to render the image accordingly. Check the browser test link in my previous posting.