Lightroom: jpeg images appear darker than Library images

[gardenfly]

I've been using Adobe Lightroom for several weeks, and, for the most part, love it. One thing I have noticed, however, is that the exported jpegs, whether full-sized or email-sized, often appear darker than what I saw/edited in the Library. My PC runs WindowsXP, so I go directly to the folder containing the exported images to view them, usually as a Filmstrip. I can open the images in PE4, go to Levels and move the right slider to the left to eliminate the "gap" and lighten the image, but I'm disappointed when I need to do that. I watch the histogram when I'm editing in Lightroom, and, if I do the adjustments necessary to move the "mountain" further to the right to the point of eliminating the "gap", the image appears over exposed. How can my "view" of the images be so "off" compared to what I see outside of Lightroom? Does something happen when they are exported as jpegs? I would expect a slight decrease in vibrance between RAW and jpeg, but some are considerably darker. Does the darker background surrounding the picture in the Lightroom Library affect what I'm seeing when I'm making the adjustments? Maybe the images aren't as light as I think. Have any of you experienced this and found a solution?

[peirceman]

I am with you in the opinion that Lightroom, for the most part, is a nice program. I too, however, have noticed quite a few quirks in the program that drive me crazy. Your JPGs should not be any darker in Lightroom than in Photoshop. The programs are made by the same company, for goodness sake. Viewing them in Windows File Viewer could create differences, but they should be minor. I have also experienced problems getting my print output to match what I see on the screen using Lightroom. I know my monitor is calibrated correctly, because I get correct print output using CS2.

Maybe we will get lucky and Adobe will release an update to fix some of these issues.

[gryphonslair99]

Have you calibrated your monitor? If not there is really no way to tell which program is the closest to correct. Photoshop and Lightroom, like most photo software have adjustable profiles that can be used to adjust the way an image looks in the program. The problem is getting them to match. Matching them up requies a calibrated monitor with a profile created during the calibration process. This allows you to then have whatever photo editing program as well as the monitor use the same profile.

[gardenfly]

It's not just that I'm seeing a difference between the two programs, but that I'm also seeing the difference when I simply open the jpegs in Windows in the folder stored in My Pictures, viewing them as is and not through a photo program. Those and what I see in PSE4 seem to match. I calibrate my monitor regularly. If anything, I'm wondering if Lightroom is out of adjustment. Since there is so little out there in the way of "how-to manuals" (I'm still waiting to get the one recently written by Scott Kelby) and the 77 page booklet that comes with Lightroom is at best a broad overview but no help when it comes to technical issues like these. Do any of you know if there is a way to check and adjust the calibration of Lightroom?

[AstroImager]

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gardenfly wrote:
It's  not just that I'm seeing a difference between the two programs, but that I'm also seeing the difference when I simply open the jpegs in Windows in the folder stored in My Pictures, viewing them as is and not through a photo program. Those and what I see in PSE4 seem to match.  I calibrate my monitor regularly.  If anything, I'm wondering if Lightroom is out of adjustment. Since there is so little out there in the way of "how-to manuals" (I'm still waiting to get the one recently written by Scott Kelby) and the 77 page booklet that comes with Lightroom is at best a broad overview but no help when it comes to technical issues like these.  Do any of you know if there is a way to check and adjust the calibration of Lightroom?

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A couple of things...

 

1. Yes, looking at your images against a dark background (such as in Lightroom) makes them appear brighter, while looking at them against a white background (the default for Windows Picture & Fax Viewer) makes them look darker.  I wouldn't judge *anything* by what you see in Windows P&FV.  Another reason not to trust it is because...

2. Lightroom (and CS, and Elements, etc.) are using your monitor's profile to display your images.  WP&FV is NOT.  If your images were shot in Adobe RGB space, the Adobe products are also all properly mapping your image in that space to your monitor's profile, while WP&FV doesn't know diddly about your image's color space or your monitor's profile, and so is showing your AdobeRGB-space images in sRGB space with NO mapping.  It's not a good place to make judgements on images.

 

If you're saving images that are intended to be shown on the internet, convert them to the sRGB color profile IN Lightroom or CS, make brightness-contrast-levels-color adjustments in that space (which is what internet users will see them in), then save them seperately from the originals.  These will better match what you see in Lightroom -- but you'll still have that dark/light background difference   That is purely perceptual (it's not actually changing the brightness of the image, just how you see it), but you need to be aware of it and adjust your images so they look reasonable on all kinds of backgrounds for web showing.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Paul

[gardenfly]

Thank you, Paul. Yes, I had edited RAW images to eventually upload to a web site. When I began opening the converted jpegs in PSE4 to add captions, I noticed how dark they appeared. Every converted image had to be edited in PSE4 in order to lighten them. I believe that if I'm understanding the process you described, your suggestion is exactly the process I followed (I'll explain). Please let me know if this ISN'T what you meant: Opened the RAW images in Lightroom. Edited. Exported as jpegs (setting the color space setting in the Export window to sRGB). Opened them in PSE4 and lighten, added captions to a few, etc. Created a PSE web gallery and uploaded to the server. If that's the process, then I won't be disappointed, but simply know that the additional editing step is necessary in order to achieve the end result I want. I'm particularly concerned when I upload photos to a lab for printing. I often wait and do 200-300 at at time. I would be VERY disappointed if they all came back darker than I expected. The extra step is worth it to get satisfactory results.