Why do my Lightroom/Photoshop photos look different after uploading to Facebook?
Asked 8/19/2015
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2 answers
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Photos exported from Lightroom/Photoshop match each other on my computer, but the version uploaded to Facebook looks different in color and contrast. Why don’t they look the same across Photoshop, Windows Photo Viewer, browsers, and Facebook? How can I get more consistent results when sharing images online?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
6
What I'm wondering is, why do my pictures not look the same across the board?! I'm sure I will have an experience that one time I upload a picture to Facebook or somewhere online and the picture not coming looking good.
It is not possible to tell from a screenshot what Facebook did to your picture, but I would not be surprised if it converted it from ProPhoto RGB to sRGB. Tablets and phones usually do not have color management and everything that is not sRGB looks bad. The tones might get shifted in the process and possibly look more punchy after such conversion.
How can I have more consistency?
Always export as sRGB for the web.
Originally by user27944. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user27944
10y ago
0
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The most likely cause is color management. Your edited file may be in a wide-gamut space like ProPhoto RGB, while Facebook, browsers, photo viewers, phones, and tablets may assume or convert images to sRGB. That can shift color and contrast, sometimes making the uploaded version look more punchy.
Another factor is that Facebook may recompress uploaded photos and, in some browsers, display them as WebP instead of JPEG. Different apps also vary in how well they honor embedded color profiles.
For the most consistent web results:
- Export images for online use in sRGB.
- Make sure your browser/app supports color management.
- Calibrate your monitor with hardware if possible.
- Expect some variation after social-media recompression.
In short: if you want images to look more consistent across Facebook, browsers, and devices, export specifically for web in sRGB rather than ProPhoto RGB.
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