Why do exported JPEG thumbnails look washed out after processing RAW files in darktable?
Asked 9/23/2020
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2 answers
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I process RAW photos in darktable on Ubuntu and export them as JPEGs. The exported JPEGs look correct when viewed normally, but in some apps the thumbnails appear much lighter or washed out. I see this in gThumb, Nautilus, and when generating thumbnails with Pillow. What causes this, and how can I export JPEGs so thumbnails display correctly across apps?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
1
Your image contains an embedded color profile for "PQ Rec2020 RGB". According to the Exif, Darktable appears to be the source of the profile. (See ExifTool output below.)
Some programs ignore embedded color profiles, which results in the washed out appearance of the thumbnails. For better results, select "sRGB (web-safe)" as the output profile for export. Be aware, there are two locations where the output profile may be set. One is set on a per image basis. The other is in the export options. Make sure they are both set correctly.
In the export settings, if you select "image settings" it should use whatever is set for each image. If you put something else, it would over-ride the image settings. Based on information you've provided at the Darktable github site, it appears the images were set for sRGB output, but the export was set for Rec2020, so Rec2020 over-rode the sRGB setting.
If you are meticulous about checking the per image settings, it would be fine to export to "image settings". If you're not sure, it's safer to set it to "sRGB". The only time I would use something else is for 16-bit TIFF output that I'd want to edit in another program. Then when done editing, I would still export to sRGB JPGs.
Another scenario in which it might make sense to export to a different profile is if you are absolutely certain all of your intended output devices are compatible with a different profile, and you either don't care or are certain that everything else is properly color managed. If I were using 100% Apple devices and high-gamut monitors, I would consider using an Apple Display P3 profile, since that is what iPhone already uses by default. But it could cause problems similar to what you've experienced for non-Apple users (eg, images posted to social media).
If changing the output profile does not correct the issue, consider using a different raw-processing program, such as RawTherapee.
Here is the output from ExifTool regarding the embedded profile of your image.
[ICC_Profile] Profile CMM Type : Little CMS [ICC_Profile] Profile Version : 2.1.0 [ICC_Profile] Profile Class : Display Device Profile [ICC_Profile] Color Space Data : RGB [ICC_Profile] Profile Connection Space : XYZ [ICC_Profile] Profile Date Time : 2020:09:23 19:05:34 [ICC_Profile] Profile File Signature : acsp [ICC_Profile] Primary Platform : Apple Computer Inc. [ICC_Profile] CMM Flags : Embedded, Independent [ICC_Profile] Device Manufacturer : [ICC_Profile] Device Model : [ICC_Profile] Device Attributes : Reflective, Glossy, Positive, Color [ICC_Profile] Rendering Intent : Perceptual [ICC_Profile] Connection Space Illuminant : 0.9642 1 0.82491 [ICC_Profile] Profile Creator : Little CMS [ICC_Profile] Profile ID : 0 [ICC_Profile] Profile Description : PQ Rec2020 RGB [ICC_Profile] Profile Copyright : Public Domain [ICC_Profile] Media White Point : 0.3127 0.32899 1 [ICC_Profile] Chromatic Adaptation : 1.04788 0.02292 -0.05022 0.02959 0.99048 -0.01707 -0.00925 0.01508 0.75168 [ICC_Profile] Red Matrix Column : 0.67348 0.27904 -0.00194 [ICC_Profile] Blue Matrix Column : 0.12505 0.04561 0.79684 [ICC_Profile] Green Matrix Column : 0.16566 0.67534 0.02998 [ICC_Profile] Red Tone Reproduction Curve : (Binary data 8204 bytes, use -b option to extract) [ICC_Profile] Green Tone Reproduction Curve : (Binary data 8204 bytes, use -b option to extract) [ICC_Profile] Blue Tone Reproduction Curve : (Binary data 8204 bytes, use -b option to extract) [ICC_Profile] Chromaticity Channels : 3 [ICC_Profile] Chromaticity Colorant : Unknown (0) [ICC_Profile] Chromaticity Channel 1 : 0.70799 0.29201 [ICC_Profile] Chromaticity Channel 2 : 0.17 0.797 [ICC_Profile] Chromaticity Channel 3 : 0.131 0.04601 [ICC_Profile] Media Black Point : 0 0 0 [ICC_Profile] Device Model Desc : PQ Rec2020 RGB [ICC_Profile] Device Mfg Desc : Darktable
Originally by user75526. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user75526
5y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
This is most likely a color-profile mismatch. Your JPEGs appear to be exported with an embedded wide/HDR-style profile such as PQ Rec2020 RGB. Some thumbnail generators and image viewers ignore embedded ICC profiles, so they treat the file as if it were standard sRGB. That makes the thumbnails look washed out or too bright.
The practical fix is to export JPEGs in sRGB. In darktable, check both places where output color can be set:
- the per-image output profile
- the export module’s output profile setting
If the export module is set to something other than “image settings,” it can override the per-image setting. For widest compatibility with browsers, file managers, and thumbnail tools, use “sRGB (web-safe)” for export.
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AI5y ago
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