What do you guys think about sRGB?

[BikerFox]

I posted some pix on "another forum" and some people said they were pretty dark, yet they looked fine on my crt at home and work both. Someone suggested converting to sRGB before putting them on the web - thoughts? Thanks

[Scottes]

Yes, do that.

Most browsers expect sRGB so they just assume that an image will be sRGB, and will display the image as if it were sRGB regardless of the true profile. So if the image is actually AdobeRGB (or anything else, really) it will look weird. Sometimes it's not so noticable, but it often is.

[BikerFox]

Yes, do that.

Most browsers expect sRGB so they just assume that an image will be sRGB, and will display the image as if it were sRGB regardless of the true profile. So if the image is actually AdobeRGB (or anything else, really) it will look weird. Sometimes it's not so noticable, but it often is.

I tried that tonight. The images won't even show up in Netscape. I did image/mode/sRGB in photoshop. When I try and pull one up, netscape says "Can't display this image because it has errors" - any ideas?

[Scottes]

Trye Image... Mode... Convert to Profile and choose sRGB.

Then do File... Save For Web which will allow you to save as a JPG and you get to fidle with the Quality setting to get a good file size without compressing it too much.

[Jesper]

I posted some pix on "another forum" and some people said they were pretty dark, yet they looked fine on my crt at home and work both. Someone suggested converting to sRGB before putting them on the web - thoughts? Thanks

Yes, you should make sure your images are in sRGB before putting them on the web.

Is your monitor calibrated and profiled? If not, the brightness on your monitor might be set so high that your photos look good on your monitor, but too dark on someone else's monitor. Have a look at the following page for more information: http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/monitor_calibration.htm

When you post images on the web, you must make sure that they are in the sRGB colour space. Scottes already described how you can make sure your images are in sRGB (in Photoshop, Image / Mode / Convert to Profile).

It's not entirely true that browsers expect the image to be in sRGB. Many applications, especially for Windows and including Internet Explorer and most other browsers, are not colour management aware. That means they don't take the colour profile in the image file into account. The sRGB colour space was invented by HP and Microsoft to match the range of colours that the "average monitor" can display. By converting your images to sRGB, you'll have the best chance that they'll look OK when viewed in an application that is not colour management aware.

Other colour spaces, like Adobe RGB, differ significantly from what the "average monitor" can display, and if the software with which you view the image doesn't take this into account, the image will look strange. When you view an Adobe RGB image in a non-colour management aware application, the colours often look muted and undersaturated.

Here is more info on colour management and how to set up Photoshop properly:
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps8-colour/ps8_1.htm