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technodunce
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Photos go dark after export

Jul 19, 2012 3:39 PM

Tags: #lightroom #export #dark_print

I use Lightroom 2.3 64-bit on a Windows 7 Home Premium operating system to process my RAW photos. When I export a post-processed photo to a folder on my hard drive, it appears very dark and muddy-looking, even though it seemed fine in the Lightroom catalog. I've had prints made from the exported files, and they also appear very dark and muddy. Also, oddly enough, when I return to the Lightroom catalog after exporting a photo, ALL the photos in Lightroom appear darker than they were prior to the export. If I close Lightroom and return later, they seem OK again (except for the already exported photos, which remain dark). Any ideas?

1982 Views   8 Replies   Latest reply: technodunce, Jul 21, 2012 9:19 AM
 
Replies
  • Mandhir Bhatia
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    1. Mandhir Bhatia,
    Jul 19, 2012 7:11 PM   in reply to technodunce
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    It may have something to do with Lightroom automatically working in the ProPhoto color space.

    The Lightroom uses the ProPhoto RGB color space which has a much wider gamut of colors to handle however while saving to JPG you need to check which of the color profile is set during export i.e. Adobe RGB, Pro Photo RGB or sRGB.

     

    If its sRGB it might add up some extra tint and show the file changed.

     

    Second thing would be what happens if you see your exported pic again imported in Lightroom.

     

    Hope this helps.

     

    Thanks

    Mandhir

     
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  • technodunce
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    2. technodunce,
    Jul 19, 2012 9:32 PM   in reply to Mandhir Bhatia
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    Thanks for your input, Mandhir. I had exported the files using Adobe RGB,

    not sRGB. I took your suggestion and re-imported one of the files. When

    compared side-by side with the original processed file, the re-imported one

    appears darker. Any more ideas?

     
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  • Brett N
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    3. Brett N,
    Jul 20, 2012 2:29 PM   in reply to technodunce
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    It sounds like you are saying that everything is bright in Lightroom until you export, and then they are dark, but randomly later they are light again. Are you seeing dark and light versions of your files when you switch between the Library and Develop modules?

     
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  • Andrew Rodney
    1,130 posts
    Apr 16, 2009
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    4. Andrew Rodney,
    Jul 20, 2012 2:57 PM   in reply to technodunce
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    They look darker where (viewed in what application other than LR?).

     

    A ProPhoto exported image viewed in a color managed app should look fine. Any color space viewed in a non color managed app may look awful, or dark, or over/under saturated.

     
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  • technodunce
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    5. technodunce,
    Jul 20, 2012 9:32 PM   in reply to Brett N
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    The photos that have been exported are dark and never get light again.

    The exported file that I tested by re-importing it to Lightroom (Mandhir's

    suggestion) remained dark. If I export a photo from Lightroom and view it

    in Windows Photo Viewer, then return to Lightroom, it seems that all of the

    photos in Lightroom are darker than they were before I exported a photo. If

    I then close Lightroom and re-open it later, the photos there all look

    lighter again. I don't normally see any difference in files when switching

    between the Library and Develop modules, although some time ago there was a

    difference in just one particular file. Thanks, Brett for your interest and

    response.

     
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  • technodunce
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    6. technodunce,
    Jul 20, 2012 9:37 PM   in reply to Andrew Rodney
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    They look darker when viewed in Windows Photo Viewer, and when printed by a

    local lab. I exported them in Adobe RGB(1998) color space.

     
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  • Andrew Rodney
    1,130 posts
    Apr 16, 2009
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    7. Andrew Rodney,
    Jul 21, 2012 8:16 AM   in reply to technodunce
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    technodunce wrote:

     

    They look darker when viewed in Windows Photo Viewer, and when printed by a

    local lab. I exported them in Adobe RGB(1998) color space.

    Let’s forget about the lab... I’m a Mac guy, not sure that Windows Photo Viewer is ICC aware. Do you have Photoshop? Or Elements. What happens if you export in sRGB, closer in Windows Viewer? You really need to find another ICC color aware application to view the images and compare to LR. Even Safari Windows should do this IF you embed the ICC profile, then use it’s Open command.

     
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  • technodunce
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    8. technodunce,
    Jul 21, 2012 9:19 AM   in reply to Andrew Rodney
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    Thanks, Andrew for your input. I don't have Photoshop, Elements or Safari

    Windows. I'm also not sure if Windows Viewer is ICC aware. I tried

    exporting a file in sRGB and viewed it in Windows Photo Viewer (when I go

    to the "Pictures" folder on my hard drive and select a file, it

    automatically opens in Windows Photo Viewer). You're right, I really do

    need to find another app that's ICC aware. I'll work on that. Hope I'm not

    wasting everyone's time with this. I sure do appreciate the help. I didn't

    pick the screen name "technodunce" for nothing! [?]  I DO want to learn

    though, so thanks for your patience.

     
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