Exports to JPG too dark

[MACollum]

After trying the beta version of Lightroom I fell in love with it. I finally got it but I'm having a bit of trouble with color. After editing the photos, they look good in LR but when I export them to JPG they look darker than they did in LR. I tried doing googling the problem but everything I found dealt with problems with pics printing too dark. I send all my pictures out to be printed at a lab, so that's not the problem. The problem is that the exported JPGs are too dark.

My monitor isn't calibrated but I would think that the picture would look the same regardless. There was something when I set LR up about Pro(something) color profile but I chnged it to sRGB so that all my stuff would match (presumably). Any ideas to fix this or am I going to have to lighten them more to compenste (which I've been doing in the meantime)? Did I miss something? Keep in mind that I'm new to PP so I don't yet know everything about the settings :x

 

[Big Mike]

Sounds like a color profile issue to me.

 

[MACollum]

So are you saying that the profile displaying the picture in LR isn't the same as the one displaying my picture in Windows Picture Viewer? I thought that the monitor would display the same picture regardless as long as the profiles used were the same for both. Please excuse my ignorance; color profiles (and much about PP) still elude my understanding. Is there something specific I should look into (or read about)?

 

[Big Mike]

This is still a little bit of a mystery to me as well. I'm not sure I would trust Windows picture viewer (or anything from MS) but I don't know if that's the problem. Double check which color space Lightroom is using (or what your files are importing with)...just to be sure. It might be set to Adobe RGB...which is different from sRGB.

 

[MACollum]

I read up some on the help file in LR. It says "It’s not necessary for you to understand how Lightroom manages color internally, but the following information may be useful in your workflow." (WTH does that mean??)

It also says, "Raw photo files generally don’t have embedded color profiles. For raw files, the Develop module assumes a wide color space based on the color values of the ProPhoto RGB color space. ProPhoto RGB encompasses most colors that cameras can record."

Also, The Library module stores previews in the Adobe RGB color space. These previews are also used when printing in draft mode." Does this mean that before I export to JPG I'm seeing the pictures in Aobe RGB? (I know it's a dumb question, I just want to make sure.)

How in the hell am I supposed to make sure the pictures look right if they al display different? The thumbnails (in a folder) look too dark too, it's not just Windows Prevew. Should I just have a few printed to see if they match? Wouldn't that cause even more confusion since you never really know if a printer's machines are tweaking your pictures?

I spend WAY too much time PP my pictres to have them come out different from what they look in LR. Not to mention the fact that I can't learn if everything's off...

Sorry, I'm starting to get frustrated with this.

 

[Zatodragon]

I've noticed that with my copy of Lightroom that my pictures appear lighter there than anywhere else. But i havn't been using Lightroom to actually edit as much as i use it for looking threw my raw photos, selecting them, then take them to photochop to do the fine editing.

There is definitely something about how Lightroom displays photos.

 

[MACollum]

They do tend to look lighter. Are you talking about how they lighten up after the loading is done? I haven't really used it to look at anything but RAW files.

Personally, I find PS to be too time-consuming and tedious to work with on a regular basis. I tend to only use it for the stuff that I couldn't really do in DPP or Picasa, such as fine tuning. I originally got PS to do graphic design...turns out I'm not very creative (I suck at art-type stuff). Photography is easier because the image is already there, just needs to be recorded, then you're free to play with it. :mrgreen: Trouble is, I'm not very good with PS. I can do basic stuff but working with lots of layers, blending and all that (with all those options) is a lot for me to handle.

Unless someone else has a better idea, I suppose I'll just keep doing as I have been doing...setting the exposure a little higher and checking the JPG to make sure. I don't really know what else to do. I've spent all day trying to find answers :x. I've got studying and housework to do.