Who is an Expert in Image Viewing Software?

Hi all,

A few months back I joined my first photography club ever, a club I chose as they are quite renowned for having an intermediate to advanced level of members which suited my own level. I've entered some images each month and have received Gold and Silver nominations on each exhibition night. The judges always tell us that they view the entries in Photoshop rather than an image viewer as PS has great colour management. I agree with that and that's what I do when judging.

On the exhibition nights however, the 30-40 odd members view all the entered images projected on a standard projector screen, that's the best we can afford and all that is really necessary. Most images are seen with accurate colour matching, some are not too bad and a few like mine look terribly off with blues looking too purple, reds/yellows looking very bright and the whole image looking quite alien. Just as reference all submitted images are entered in AdobeRGB profile. Though I process in ProphotoRGB, my images are converted and sent in as AdobeRGB. They look fine in my Lightroom, CS6, even on the Windows Photo Viewer.

A weak link in the clubs set up as I see it is the image viewing software they use (FastStone Image Viewer) which though is "colour managed" (CM turned in settings) doesn't seem do that great a job. I've even tested it at home and my images look as bad at home as on the projected screen at the club. I downloaded Fast Picture Viewer which is also colour managed and my images look spot on (though with possible an acceptably little less contrast).

My home setup is CS6, a wide gamut Dell U2711 monitor calibrated with a Spyder Elite. My CS6 colour settings are as per image below.
Any tips on getting my images to look right on the FastStone Image Viewer or should I be suggesting the club change over to using LR, Fast Picture Viewer or something better but inexpensive?

It sound like the images might being viewed in sRGB --try converting to that and comparing/Soft Proofing you results?

tonylong wrote in post #17041304
It sound like the images might being viewed in sRGB --try converting to that and comparing/Soft Proofing you results?

Hi Tony, I think I follow you. I converted a couple of test images to sRGB and viewed them in the faststone software and they were still we'll off.

For viewing with Faststone Image Viewer I' think your images need to be aRGB since you have a wide gamut monitor. I'm not certain if that software is color aware (a quick Google search suggests it isn't), but if that's the cast viewing an sRGB image with it will show oversaturated colors and a ProPhoto RGB image will look way off. aRGB will be the closest match to your wide gamut monitor.

Maybe the following will help. If I have any errors below I'm certain someone will point them out

Following is what I use:

• Web viewing - sRGB
  
• Viewing with a normal or wide gamut monitor with proper color managed software - ProPhoto RGB is fine
  
• Viewing with a wide gamut monitor with software that isn't color managed - aRGB
  
• Viewing with a normal gamut monitor with software that isn't color aware - sRGB
  

Can you post a link to one of your images, exactly as you sent it in for judging?

Yeah, it would be helpful to get access to one of your files directly to figure this out.

OP: Check the calibration software for the Spyder Elite and make sure its set to create ICC v2 Profiles; Windows cannot handle ICC v4 profiles so avoid using them.
Also, what operating system are you using?

Faststone Image Viewer is color managed; go to Settings > CMS to enable it.

Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 7 is also color managed but the implementation is somewhat erratic presumably because it is tied to the older WIM color engine for Vista rather than the newer Windows Imaging Component (WIC) in Windows 7/8:

• Windows Explorer honors embedded profiles and displays thumbnails correctly
  
• Windows Photo Viewer honors embedded profiles in Single Image/Preview mode
  
• However, for some odd reason, embedded profiles are ignored in Windows Photo Viewer Slideshow mode
  

Thanks for posting all.

I'm using Win7 on a PC.

I have updated the OP with a link to a sample image and a screen shot comparison of the same file in both FastStone and Fast Viewer. Both of which are colour managed. The same file is also attached as in image below the screen capture.

FastStone does have colour management if it is turned on in Settings->CM which was conducted when I first started using the software. I have read reports from users who are also unhappy with their images results when viewed with this software, however I have not found anyone who has yet provided comparisons or a study on the matter.

PixelMagic: I will have a look at the Spyder Elite set up tonight. Had a brief look this morning but could not see where the ICC profiles became a selection in the software.

Thanks for your input.