Lightroom Export for Clients

alycat06 · Oct 13, 2015

Hi! I've had some issues with Lightroom exporting images that look very different from my edits. It's so frustrating because I spend so much time getting things just right...then the result looks off. But I've read that it may be a monitor calibration deal. Here's the issue though, even if I fix that on my computer, how do I solve this issue for clients viewing my photos online? That's how people see photos from me initially, so how do I edit in a color space so that this will look right on all computers?? Help!

KmH · Oct 13, 2015

You have zero control over if your clients displays are, or are not, calibrated, or id they are capable of displaying the full color gamut of the color space you have chosen to use.
You also have no control over what browser or image viewer they choose to use. Not all browsers/image viewers are color aware.
In other words, there is no way for you to have the degree of control you desire.

The only color space to use for computer displays then is sRGB, because few of your customers will have displays capable of displaying a wider color gamut, like Adobe RGB, accurately. TN type displays can't even display sRGB accurately.

If fact, unless you have spent nearly $1000 or more for your display, you may not even see any color space accurately.

All of that points to the issues related to doing proofing online.
Not only do you have no control of the clients display type/calibration/browser/viewer, if your customers are retail customers you lose the opportunity to do in-person sales.

alycat06 · Oct 13, 2015

KmH said:
You have zero control over if your clients displays are, or are not, calibrated, or id they are capable of displaying the full color gamut of the color space you have chosen to use.

Those are very good points, and I completely get that I can't have 100% control by any means. I'm just looking for a general solution to at least have the colors look correct when I export them on my own mac (currently uncalibrated since I'm just learning about this) because that should at least give me a general range for them looking okay on a common display (so to speak). Right now, they're not looking great on my own display.

I wasn't sure if you could convert the color space to work with that or if there was a solution people were using. This is not my full time job, so in person sales are not important to me currently, but I want to give great results. Honestly, most of my photography lives in the digital space rather than the printed one...so a digital result is the main piece for me.

astroNikon · Oct 13, 2015

first calibrate your mac, as you have identified as an issue.

alycat06 · Oct 14, 2015

astroNikon said:
first calibrate your mac, as you have identified as an issue.

Once I do that, though, I will not have a baseline for what the photos look like on uncalibrated computers - the most common place they will be viewed. That's the correct answer for print, and I likely will do that...but that's not solving my larger digital issue.

The_Traveler · Oct 14, 2015

Let's take a step back.
When you export them for viewing, I assume that you are exporting jpegs with the colorspace setting as sRGB.

If not, and they view on a web browser, colors will look dull, unsaturated and there will probobly be a shift in hue.