Using Color profiles and exporting for web browsers

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Level 1

8 points

Using Color profiles and exporting for web browsers

I've been trying to figure out the answer to this question. As I'm sure you're aware Safari supports color profiles while other web browsers like Firefox do not. I would like to setup Aperture so that it displays and exports images for the widest audience possible. Unfortunately it embeds a color profile and my images on the web only display correctly in Safari. I've tried changing the proofing profiles and export settings to no avail. I didn't seem to have this problem in iPhoto, a picture there looked the same on screen as it did in Safari and Firefox but I can't achieve the same with Aperture...

Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Posted on May 12, 2008 10:33 AM

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Answer 1

KBeat

Level 3

800 points

May 12, 2008 12:01 PM in response to warpdesign

I was going to type a lengthy reply here, but I figured it best to direct you to a site that has already done an extensive posting, with very good examples, on this very issue:

http://www.gballard.net/psd/golive_pageprofile/embeddedJPEGprofiles.html

Bottom line, calibrate your screen to 2.2 gamma, and save your JPEGs with sRGB profiles.

Message was edited by: KBeat

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Answer 2

warpdesign Author

Level 1

8 points

May 12, 2008 12:59 PM in response to KBeat

Thanks for that information, unfortunately I'm not really any closer to solving the issue since I've already tried that. 1) by default, doesn't Aperture automatically embed the sRGB color profile? 2) if I set view>proofing mode to sRGB shouldn't what I see on screen match what a "dumb" application such as Firefox does when it ignores the embedded profile and display sRGB? I've tried going into the preferences>export settings and changed everything to sRGB IEC61966-2.1 but I see no difference in the final image between that and the default setting.

I guess my question is more specific to Aperture since I don't have this problem with other applications. For example, in photoshop if I do Export for Web it strips out any embedded profile and when I open that image in Firefox and Safari side-by-side they are exactly the same. But not so when I export an image from Aperture, when opened in Firefox it is desaturated and flat and of course in Safari it honors the embedded profile and looks fine.

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Answer 3

May 12, 2008 1:23 PM in response to warpdesign

You should specifically tag your images for the web with an sRGB profile. The export presets in Aperture handle this correctly.

All issues will go away if you explicitly export and tag as sRGB. Apps that read the profile will treat it as sRGB, and apps that don't do the right thing will still treat it as sRGB.

No need to obfuscate the issue.

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Answer 4

KBeat

Level 3

800 points

May 12, 2008 1:32 PM in response to warpdesign

Well, AFAIK there isn't a way to export images untagged from Aperture. If you want you JPEGs profile free, I think you'll need to export them from Photoshop. (As I'm typing this, I know someone is about to jump in and tell you how to do it from Aperture.)

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Answer 5

-g

Level 4

3,449 points

May 12, 2008 3:07 PM in response to William Lloyd

All issues will go away if you explicitly export and tag as sRGB. Apps that read the profile will treat it as sRGB, and *apps that don't do the right thing will still treat it as sRGB*

Maybe under Windows Vista, but not on a Mac (in my experience).

OSX/ColorSync will 'treat it' (untagged color) as the Default Monitor profile...this is very easy to observe in the sRGB tagged-untagged rollover in above link.

I like to explain the short answer on this subject as:

1) calibrate/profile the monitor to 2.2 gamma, D56/6500

2) convert web file to sRGB (if not already there)

3) strip the ICC profile

4) publish.

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Answer 6

-g

Level 4

3,449 points

May 12, 2008 3:12 PM in response to -g

On embedding web images with ICC profiles.

That is certainly a good point, but here's why I don't embed color spaces:

Because the embedded profile adds about 4K to the file.

In my world, I may have over 100 thumbnails and dozens of photos on one page.

Plus, I may have an image sliced into many pieces.

That additional 4k per image, per slice, will add up fast and kill my dial-up traffic.

Further, I may have an image's edges or background color matched to blend into a filled box or page color. ON A MAC, if I tag the image, it will mismatch the box/page color on managed browsers.

If I publish untagged sRGB, the box/page color will match in all browsers and blend correctly.

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Answer 7

warpdesign Author

Level 1

8 points

May 12, 2008 4:42 PM in response to William Lloyd

How do I "explicitly export and tag as sRGB" in Aperture? Isn't this the default setting if I do nothing? In which case the issue has certainly not gone away! As I mentioned I tried specifically setting the export settings to sRGB IEC61966-2.1. That didn't seem to do anything.

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Answer 8

warpdesign Author

Level 1

8 points

May 12, 2008 4:44 PM in response to -g

I think you may be on to what I'm trying to do. Since my current workflow is specifically in Aperture, how do I:

A) convert web file to sRGB?

B) Strip the ICC profile before publishing?

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