JPG color / contrast issues

I can't guess why you are seeing such a difference. Are you using a hardware-calibrated monitor? Without calibration, the color has no fixed point of reference, and discussions tend to be not worthwhile.

I can suggest never using JPG for any image file sent for printing. The JPG format was developed as a transmission format for display on Web pages, for which it works extremely well. It is not designed as a transmission format for printing -- which is why TIFF files (the format was designed for transmission of files to be printed) are much bigger and therefore take longer to transmit.

What was the image quality of the JPEG set to on export? As JPEG is compressed image quality will differ and the greater the compression the greater the difference.

Also what was the color space of the JPEG as opposed to the Tiff on export. The color space is set in the export pane when exporting the image.

JakeBlade45 wrote:

Frank,

I just double checked this again to be sure.

JPEG orignal size, Include MEtadata, Image quality 12, DPI 400, Color Profile Nikon sRGB

Black point compensation checked...I tried this before un checked and no differnece.

The color space is the first thing to look at. Can you take "Nikon sRGB" out of the equation? Can you use regular "sRGB" for the JPG export?

If you open the JPG and Tiff in preview and using the tools menu are the settings you expect from what you set in Aperture on the export what you see in the exported file?

I'm out of ideas then. Hopefully kirby will have something else.

regards

The color space setting for export is under presets.

Checking the TIFF format I see some differences here as well.

Quality set to 10

Color space is correct but DPI is only 72... Changing to 400 to see what happens.

I am using TIFF 16bit... Trying now with 8 bit to see.

None of the above changed my TIFF image in any noticable way. Still much better than the JPG file when viewed on the display.

What application are you using to view and compare the exported image files?

How is the" Gamma adjust" slider set? You have not mentioned it sofar?

Have you checked, if you have multiple versions of your color profiles installed? Maybe the programs you are using to view the image files are using different versions of the same color profile:

For example, searching for AdobeRGB1998.icc results in only two installations - one is a link to the other:

• /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Profiles/Recommended/AdobeRGB1998.icc
• /System/Library/ColorSync/Profiles/AdobeRGB1998.icc

But the image editors may have private copies of the color profiles in the application bundle, and I am not sure, which version they will use, if there are multiple versions, or if the profile used may depend on the image type, like for example for "sRGB.icc":

Hermione:~ dreschle$ locate sRGB | grep icc

• /Applications/GraphicConverter.app/Contents/Resources/sRGB.icc
• /Library/Printers/hp/Profiles/sRGB_A.icc
• /System/Library/ColorSync/Profiles/sRGB Profile.icc
• /Volumes/HermioneLion/System/Library/ColorSync/Profiles/sRGB Profile.icc
• /usr/local/etc/ImageMagick/sRGB.icc

You could search for duplicate profiles with the Finder's "Find" ⌘F and add a search rule for the extension ".icc", search range "This Mac": Look for duplicates and compare the dates.

You are welcome, Jake!

Your mentioning of the "lighter darks" made me think of the Gamma adjustment.

No change I still get the same ligher darks image.

I am glad you could solve this mistery.

I also will take another detailed look at the color profiles as you have mentioned as well to see if I should do some general cleanup .

But be carfeful! Some apparent duplicates may be just links. They will be harmless, unless you are seeing versions with different dates.

Cheers

Léonie