Color inconsistency between Photoshop/Desktop/iPhone and clients uploading to their Websites

[KyleAndrew]

Hello everyone. I am posting this trying to find a solution to an ongoing problem I have been noticing in the hopes that someone else has experienced and solved this, or perhaps is armed with technical knowledge that I do not have. 

I am a fashion photographer that shoots tests with agency models. I shoot and edit the images and send them to models and their agents. Often the agents update the models online portfolio with my images. In several cases I have noticed a dramatic inconsistency between the colours I am seeing and the colours that show up on their websites. 

Now to be clear, I don't believe this is on my end. My colours are consistent between all my devices with the subtle variations that exist between screen types and settings. I also have confirmed this on other peoples iphones and devices and my editing monitor though aged, is calibrated using a spyder. It just seems that certain agencies websites are displaying/rendering the images incorrectly. I share the images via dropbox folders always and have confirmed that dropbox is in no way altering them. 

What I'm trying to determine is, what is happening after I send these images out to these agencies that is causing this? Could it be something happening in the upload process of the websites themselves? Are the sites possibly using some sort of images compression that is altering the color settings? 

I have attached a sample to this message. A screengrab from one of the websites, and small versions of the two edits as they should appear. Any input on this issue is appreciated. 

Thank you in advance! 

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

• Convert to sRGB
• Embed the color profile (sRGB)
• Done

That covers most real life scenarios. Anyone using a properly color managed web browser will then see them correctly (or as close as their displays are calibrated).

Most problems happen because the profile is not embedded. Make sure to check the box. Unfortunately, a lot of websites strip the profile even when it's there to begin with.

But even that isn't the big problem it used to be. All major web browsers today will treat untagged material as sRGB, and color manage based on that.

Phones, however, is a different story. Most of them have half-way generic color management, but not the degree of accuracy you now have with computer displays.

[KyleAndrew]

I just wanted to circle back to this as I was waiting for something to occur on my end. I have verified that the response posted below corrected the problem immediatley. I was not exporting with these options checked. I re-exported, re-sent the images and had the agencies re upload the new versions and the colors are now displaying correctly. 

Thank you very much, all of you, for contributing!

• Convert to sRGB
• Embed the color profile (sRGB)
• Done

That covers most real life scenarios. Anyone using a properly color managed web browser will then see them correctly (or as close as their displays are calibrated).

Most problems happen because the profile is not embedded. Make sure to check the box. Unfortunately, a lot of websites strip the profile even when it's there to begin with.

But even that isn't the big problem it used to be. All major web browsers today will treat untagged material as sRGB, and color manage based on that.

Phones, however, is a different story. Most of them have half-way generic color management, but not the degree of accuracy you now have with computer displays.

By @D Fosse

[TheDigitalDog]

You cannot control how others see your images on the web (or elsewhere). Yes, saving as sRGB is a good start but you have no control over others who may or may not be using color managed applications (without, sRGB is meaningless), if or how they calibrate their displays, etc. The best you can do is control your images on your end using color management. 

See:

sRGB urban legend & myths Part 2

In this 17 minute video, I'll discuss some more sRGB misinformation and cover:
When to use sRGB and what to expect on the web and mobile devices
How sRGB doesn't insure a visual match without color management, how to check
The downsides of an all sRGB workflow sRGB's color gamut vs. "professional" output devices
The future of sRGB and wide gamut display technology
Photo print labs that demand sRGB for output
High resolution: http://digitaldog.net/files/sRGBMythsPart2.mp4
Low resolution on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyvVUL1gWVs

[Leslie Moak Murray]

Agree.

[J E L]

I'll also add (again) that some browsers, for example, Edge, recently introduced settings that can alter image appearance. These are sometimes turned on by default.

"With a new option enabled, Microsoft can render images on websites in an improved way. The browser will change the image brightness, contrast and improve tones to make it look impressive on your screen."

[Leslie Moak Murray]

Came here to say what @thedigitaldog said. (I also came to ask if your monitor is caibrated, but I see you use Spyder) But mainly the thing is, like @thedigitaldog said, you can't control how others view your images.

Another issue, though, is that others don't care about the same things you care about. So you can shoot everything the way you always do and achieve the pro result you're after, only to find that the modeling agency or the model care about tweakng it so the model looks a certain way. I am a former model, and believe me when I tell you this! I'm looking back on how I saw things when I was on the other side of the camera. When you're a creative, it's sometimes annoying when your creative output is monkeyed with by non-creatives, but that's how it is when you have to separate the creative from the professional. I'm now also a humor illustrator, and I have seen my work utterly destroyed on the other end, but hey they paid me.

[Leslie Moak Murray]

Came here to say what @thedigitaldog said. (I also came to ask if your monitor is caibrated, but I see you use Spyder) But mainly the thing is, like @thedigitaldog said, you can't control how others view your images.

Another issue, though, is that others don't care about the same things you care about. So you can shoot everything the way you always do and achieve the pro result you're after, only to find that the modeling agency or the model care about tweakng it so the model looks a certain way. I am a former model, and believe me when I tell you this! I'm looking back on how I saw things when I was on the other side of the camera. When you're a creative, it's sometimes annoying when your creative output is monkeyed with by non-creatives, but that's how it is when you have to separate the creative from the professional. I'm now also a humor illustrator, and I have seen my work utterly destroyed on the other end, but hey they paid me.

[KyleAndrew]

Just putting this at the end of this thread as well, the first person that responded, their solution corrected the problem as marked above. Thank you all for contributing your thoughts.