Checking my Color Profile

[myfotoguy]

I don't know if this is a valid way to do this or not. But thought I would see what others think about the images below.

I processed the same image, one version with Color Management (CM) on and the other with it off. I'm using Dell2209WA, Spyder 3, with Color Eyes Display Pro software.

What I am checking is the CM settings in my software. In this case, ACDSee Pro 3. I can tell you which is which, but thought I should simply ask first which looks better to your eyes. Maybe this is totally subjective.

The first one appears a little overcooked to me, what do you think? Are they both fairly accurate looking, close enough to be simply a matter of opinion?

1.

2.

 

[Josh66]

The first one looks a little more saturated, other than that ... ?

I can tell that they're different, but I wouldn't know which was which...

Neither of them really looks 'wrong' to me ... just slightly different saturation...

 

[Scatterbrained]

2 looks better to me. The colors look more realistic.

 

[myfotoguy]

Thanks for looking and commenting.

The second one is processed with CM enabled.
The first I increased contrast and increased the whites (slid white in toward the center of histogram) too much (IMO) since the CM was turned off.

In the second, with CM ON, I made less drastic changes.