This weekend I picked up a new camera, and the few uploads I've done so far had my red colors totally toned down. I didn't really notice this happening with my photos before shooting on the GH2, but is there anything I should be double checking before trying to point the finger at Flickr?

Here's two examples, one of which was a bright red flower, and the other being Orko who most of us know wears a red robe (not an orange-ish one)



I'm really unsure if I should be double checking my in-camera settings, or the file formats - all I know is that I go from having perfectly vibrant pictures (even straight from the camera, free of post-processing) to having a dull-ish Flickr upload. I'd love some input/help, thanks!

How are you observing that Flickr has changed them? Opening the files up locally and then comparing them against Flickr in a browser?

So, I use Lightroom to export to flickr.
From the camera, I import the RAW file into LR, there I play with it and then sometimes to flickr.
Well, in LR, the flickr exporter allows me to define which color space to apply to the JPG sent to Flickr, which should be sRGB.
Unfortunately, for my pictures at least, that makes little difference, as I usually get preset happy in LR and tend to push around my pictures to get something I like more than reality..

With that said, LR also has a so called camera profile that comes into play when importing even the RAW file. Although, I don't think my camera's explicitly represented, so it's just get treated generally.
But in case you're using the same flow, be sure to select the right RAW treatment profile for your camera as well.

Flickr doesn't process JPG's, at I least I don't think it does. TIFF files are a different notion. Not sure if any of this helps, but there you go.

I've noticed a huge difference with color in my pics when viewing flickr in firefox. Looks great in safari but firefox is super washed out looking. I think I fixed this by dicking around with color profiles in photoshop.

Color profiles make a huge difference (as mentioned a few posts above). Different viewers (and browsers) use a different color range. I think if you make sure your pics are in sRGB, you will be happier. Besides using photoshop toosl, you can change your camera to use that format directly.

I hate the updated Flickr.

Good point, I forget all about browser types effecting the look of your photo - so perhaps what I'm seeing when I complain is different from what you guys see when reading the post. The browser I use at home on the Mac is the current Chrome, and at work I'm using FF4 Beta. That said, the pics look turd-ish at home w/Chrome, and at work on FF4 they seem to be a lot more in line with how they "should" look.


Yeah, they are in sRGB format directly out of the camera & I confirmed this when viewing the EXIF on Flickr. I'm guessing that it's really my browser to blame, but I won't know til I get home and try it out between Safari, Firefox, and Chrome back to back.


Same process here, except I'm no longer using my LR Beta program, and use Aperture 3.1.1 instead. I don't ever select color spacing to be applied, though my files are indeed sRGB.

I guess I wouldn't mind using LR if I understood it overall a bit better. I could edit just fine I suppose, but I didn't feel it was as easy to navigate or organize my photo files within it any more than Photoshop (I've got CS2 or something, either way it's older than CS4). I stick to Aperture since it's easy and I don't really do much tweaking anyway

Flickr must have recently changed the way they compress & resize photos during upload. I'm noticing that all my B&W stuff is about 10% brighter, with less contrast than the original image.

Does this go for all sizes you view the photo, or just the compressed default "Medium 640" size?

I know that in regards to my color complaint, the size didn't seem to matter. Really bummed that it changes anything at all

It's seems like it is just the smaller versions.

The color thing probably is a browser thing - it does look different in different browsers. Safari looks best IMHO.

Quick test with a pic shows that of Chr/FF/Opr Opera seems the closest to what the pic looks like in pic viewer on a MBP. These are browsers showing the same file from the file system, without uploading to flickr. The JPG is straight outa my Ricoh GRD III, without any changes. The camera is set to sRGB. Also, it seems the flickr uploaded version in ff looks about the same, albeit slightly dimmer.

Also, have you done a comparison with your old camera, assuming you still have it? You know..

This was the next step I had in mind to compare and ensure I'm not crazy. I have a shitload of pics to take this weekend, but am only actually equipped with the new camera at the moment will test a bit at home I guess with various lighting conditions.