Lightroom slideshow export prob

[geoffL]

I'm trying to export a slideshow as a pdf slideshow file to use as a demo. However, I'm experiencing colour probs....

When I view the show on my laptop the colours are really washed out.... I'm sure this must be a colour space issue but I can't solve it. I have lightroom set to work in AdobeRGB matched to my camera. When I export from lightroom for web etc I convert to sRGB as part of the export process. My guess is the pics are being exported as Adobe RGB rather than sRGB and hence looking crap! I did try exporting the image files as sRGB files, creating the slideshow using these files then exporting the pdf - but no change.

Any ideas?

[geoffL]

ok - have done a bit more digging...

If I use the slideshow module to 'export jpeg slideshow' the jpeg which come out have no colour space added to them. However, exporting via the std export and converting to sRGB on the way tags the files with the sRGB colour space setting.

So the prob seems to be that anything I create via the slideshow module has no colour space attached and therefore looks washed out on another machine - even when the files it was using are sRGB files...

Anyone know a work around. Frustrating because the pdf slider show does just what I need - but not if all the pics look washed out!

[GlennH]

Geoff, from the Adobe website:

"Lightroom automatically exports images in the Slideshow and Web modules using the sRGB profile so that the color looks good on the majority of computer monitors."

If the files are sRGB, they will usually look anything but bland - whether they are tagged or not. That is almost certainly not the problem.

Do you have another display you can view the slideshow on other than the laptop screen?

[geoffL]

Hi - thanks for the reply - I've now found some info from another forum...here was the reply...

Gave it a quick try on my laptop (worst display I have ), and this is indeed what appears to be happening:

The images inside the PDF are sRGB, but there's no profile embedded.
Preview (which is color managed!) and Adobe Reader (not sure if it's color managed) assume that "no profile" means "Monitor Profile" (Safari is equally stupid in that respect)
Really, really silly. What makes it even more silly: If I open the pdf in PSCS4, then *assign* sRGB, and then resave, the .icc profile is embedded, and the image displays correctly.

Do you have PSCS4?
In Bridge CS4 you can also make a pdf, and you can embed a profile there...

Alternatively; try to find some software that let's you assign sRGB to the pdf.

This is stupid programming on Adobe's part. No other word for it really.

Edit: Just filed a bug report on this, since IMO it's a bug, not something to request as a new feature

[GlennH]

Hi Geoff,

Quick response - as far as I know, all PC applications assume sRGB where there is no colour space tagged. In Mac, it's Monitor RGB (which is indeed silly).

Also, 'assigning' a colour space is a temporary action. If an image has no profile embedded, and you assign a profile, you are merely viewing it in that space whilst it is open in Photoshop. If you then close and re-open the file, it will again tell you that there is no profile.

Additionally, when I tested this - I found that LR did embed profiles, at least in the JPEGs. I'll test this again later.

Is the laptop you're viewing these slideshows on calibrated? Are you comparing like with like - as most laptop panels are not wide-gamut, whereas Dell Ultrasharp monitors quite commonly are, for instance.

Glenn

[GlennH]

One final post on this -

I created a PDF slideshow in LR, and upon opening it with Acrobat 9 Pro - it does appear that there is no embedded profile (aka DeviceRGB). Further, Acrobat appears to behave exactly as Photoshop behaves in that instance - it assigns the file with the same ICC profile as the current working space. Hence you can 'control' the appearance of previews by changing the working space.

In the absence of the control over colour that Acrobat possesses, Adobe Reader appears to assume sRGB where there is no embedded profile (in which case, pictures would display okay). Looking at PDF pictures side by side with identical JPEGs in Photoshop, the colour was a perfect match (or very close). In a non-colour managed application, I would normally see big shifts in colour on my monitor with sRGB files (a la Internet Explorer).

Still not sure how the Mac version of Adobe Reader behaves, however.