Lightroom and SmugMug

[yauman]

Anyone using SmugMug with Lightroom (4.4)? I just started using SmugMug and the Lightroom plug-in for SmugMug. But all my images published to the SmugMug site is very warm. I compare the images side by side on the same monitor (the one published on SmugMug and the original in Lightroom loupe view) and the SmugMug rendition is a lot warmer. Anyone with experience? Is there an adjustment or setting I'm missing? I don't see any color profile selection.

Thanks.

Yau-Man

[davidedric]

Hi,

I have made some use of Smugmug and LR4, but I didn't use a plug-in (didn't know that you could!), so I have three images I can compare: the "developed" RAW image in LR, the exported Jpeg from LR, and the image as displayed in Smugmug. (All viewed on a calibrated monitor).

One caution - I haven't yet been able to get the three images to display simultaneously with the same background colour, which can certainly change perception.

The exported Jpeg (which has been resized, and "sharpened for screen" looks a little warmer and more saturated than when viewed as a "developed" RAW in LR

The Smugmug view is a little warmer and more saturated again, but the biggest difference is the Smugview looks a LOT "crunchier", as if it has a big dose of Clarity applied.

This is from a quick look at a few images, not an extensive study.

BTW Yau-man, it would be good if you could update your profile (start from Settings at the top right of the screen) and tell us whereabouts you are in the world, and what name you would like to be known by under Real Name.

Dave

[DanK]

Yau-Man,

I have used Smugmug with LR for years. I don't know which plugin you use to export to Smugmug. I use Jeffrey Friedl's. I just compared three very different images side to side on the same monitor, and there is no clear tendency for the Smugmug versions to be warmer. One of the three pairs was very slightly warmer on Smugmug, while the next was slightly cooler. The differences were minor. The Smugmug images are crisper. I don't know whether that is from the output sharpening that I have set in the export dialog or from something that Smugmug does. I had not noticed it before, so I have not experimented.

My guess is that your problem is your browser, which may not be color managed. I use Firefox, which is.

Dan

[davidedric]

Interesting, Dan.

I normally use Chrome and there seems to be some controversy over how well it is colour managed, but I've repeated my experiment using Firefox (incidentally, I can see very little difference between the Chrome and Firefox versions of images).

However, because I am using the long-winded way into Smugmug, and have the export sharpening for screen set in LR, I can also view the intermediate image produced by Lightroom. There is no doubt that the image uploaded to Smugmug has some processing added, I think some kind of LCE. On reflection, I don't think there is a change in white balance, but I do think it's a bit more saturated.

Just for the heck of it, I also downloaded the Smugmug image back to my PC and viewed it - the extra crunch is still there so it's not a browser display artefact.

All grist to the mill

Dave

[yauman]

Thanks for all your input. Ok, good to know I'm not imagining this.

I'm working with SmugMug tech support (SmugMug "Heros" better than Apple "Geniuses?" - inquiring mind wants to know!) I'm running a Apple MacBook Pro 15" Retina attached to a Dell Ultrasharp U2713H via Minidisplayport. Monitor is calibrated with X-rite's i1DisplayPro just last week. I have my Lightroom Loupe image side-by-side with the same image uploaded to SmugMug as displayed by Chrome and did a screen shot to send to them. There's definitely a warmer look on SmugMug! Really like the plug-in and really want to continue using SmugMug. Hope they can help solve this.

[davidedric]

Hi yauman,

Interesting. Please do let us know what conclusions you reach.

Dave