EXIF and Metadata Mayhem

[xpatUSA]

This post is intended as an example of what we're up against in the world of EXIF, metadata and ICC profiles.

I opened a raw X3F file in the proprietary converter Sigma Photo Pro (SPP) 5.5.3 (yes, there is later version).

Saved it as sRGB then looked at with Phil Harvey's ExifToolGUI. Plenty of stuff in there but (strike 1) no ICC color profile! Of course, most browsers or viewers will assume sRGB or maybe just show the colors "un-assigned" which means that your Adobe RGB monitor could render my masterpiece a bit dull esp. the greens.

So back to SPP and this time saved it as a ProPhoto (Kodak ROMM) file. This time ExifTool showed an embedded ICC profile 'KODA' 'ROMM'. Finally some evidence of color management (CMS) by Sigma!

Then off to FastStone Viewer (FSV) to open that second file with FSV's color management turned on. Then I edited it and saved it out of FSV. Looked at it with ExifTool and (strike two) ... no ICC color profile!

Out of interest, I turned off the CMS and opened that saved file ... it looked OK. I opened the one with the ProPhoto profile and, with no CMS, it looked washed out. Here's them both, with FastStone's CMS still off:



The above image does have an sRGB embedded color profile.

FastStone View is not a parametric editor, so what you see on-screen is what you get when saving - hence the reason why the color-managed file got saved as looking OK.

This post is an example of some of the pitfalls awaiting the unwary and I would recommend members to get an EXIF viewer so that they really know what their various apps. are up to!

[pnodrog]

Once any of my images venture into the outside world it is either a print or sRGB...

[Manfred M]

My workflow is the same as Paul's; sRGB files posted to the web and prints.

A standardized workflow and industry recognized best practices keep my life simple.

[xpatUSA]

I too output sRGB only, although I don't print. I have various workflows, depending on the intended output; which means that my workflow is not "standardized" per se. In fact, portraits, weddings, landscapes, etc. are not part of my hobby at all.

Many of my shots are illustrative, developed to educate rather than to astound with their brilliance. For example, while discussing matters of color, I'll go to the GIMP and extract the hue layer or the saturation layer in order to make a point; and, when exporting, I'll allow the GIMP to embed it's own sRGB color profile when so doing.

On the other hand, serious work to pretty up an image is done in RawTherapee in it's native 16-bit ProPhoto working space and it's native 32-bit floating-point algorithms. RT also outputs my stuff with it's own sRGB color profile.

Neither of those sRGB profiles are the industry-standard sRGB; but both improve on that standard, IIRC.

And finally, if a quick and dirty output is all I need - FastStone Viewer gets the job done real quick and, as noted in the OP, puts out a JPEG with no color profile at all.

I think that, as long we know what our stuff does, nothing bad happens most of the time. But we all know what happens if someone posts a photo with ProPhoto RGB values but no ICC profile ...

[Manfred M]

But we all know what happens if someone posts a photo with ProPhoto RGB values but no ICC profile ...

Yes; and Adobe RGB looks pretty frightful too.

Industry standard = very conservative and often lowest common denominator and often determined by the "elephant in the room".

On the other hand, standardization does have some advantages; the integration of the North American power grid based on the 120 V / 60 Hz standard has provided great inter-connectivity and internal redundancy in the system. Case in point is Japan, where for historical reasons, part of the country runs at 50 Hz (Eastern Japan) while the other part at 60 Hz (Western Japan). When the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant went off line after the earthquake and ensuing tidal wave in 2011. So far as I understand, there is some limited inter-connectivity in the system via frequency conversion and HVDC transmission. Ultimately, people we know in the west (Tokyo / Yokohama area) had a miserable time for over a year, whereas my daughter's in-laws in Nagoya were relatively unaffected.

The reason for this "lack of standardization" was that Tokyo bought German AEG equipment in the late 1800s whereas Osaka bought GE equipment at about the same time. Neither region was willing to retool their entire electrical grid...

Standardization does have advantages, even though it keeps leading edge solutions away for very long periods....

[xpatUSA]

On the other hand, standardization does have some advantages; the integration of the North American power grid based on the 120 V / 60 Hz standard has provided great inter-connectivity and internal redundancy in the system. Case in point is Japan, where for historical reasons, part of the country runs at 50 Hz (Eastern Japan) while the other part at 60 Hz (Western Japan). When the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant went off line after the earthquake and ensuing tidal wave in 2011. So far as I understand, there is some limited inter-connectivity in the system via frequency conversion and HVDC transmission. Ultimately, people we know in the west (Tokyo / Yokohama area) had a miserable time for over a year, whereas my daughter's in-laws in Nagoya were relatively unaffected.

The reason for this "lack of standardization" was that Tokyo bought German AEG equipment in the late 1800s whereas Osaka bought GE equipment at about the same time. Neither region was willing to retool their entire electrical grid...

I never knew that Manfred; almost beyond belief. They should have bit the bullet years ago, like Sweden when they switched which side of the road to the right!

As to domestic electricity, I still remember the UK's 240V/50Hz and those big ugly 13A plugs ...