Jpegs displayed darker in image viewer

[Wide]

Hi all!

I have been struggling with a problem for almost a year now. I usually edit my photography images in photoshop in the quick editing section, when you import a RAW file. All goes well but if I save a image as a JPEG, TIFF or wathever file type, it become a lot lighter than how it looks in Photoshop (I will post images below, before and after and my JPEG saving settings). I have made a sort of fix by decreasing the brightness with 0,40 before saving, then the output jpeg seems less over-bright, but that is hardly a fix. Also the vibrance seems to decrease a bit aswell after saving. On the internet I read a lot of people saying saving sRGB solves this is issue, but I already have been saving in sRGB all the time, this seems not the issue. The difference also displays on multiple devices, so I have become very unsure what causes this effect. It may be important to note that if I open the JPEG in Photoshop again in does show the original edit, as before saving (as shown in Photoshop while editing).

Anyone knows a way to fix this?

Thanks!

 

[Wide]

Screenshot of the difference. Note that after saving (middle image shows settings, in sRGB), the image is a lot brighter than before saving in Jpeg.
(in this example the brightened jpeg actually doesnt look that bad, but it displays well what effect it had)

 

[thebestcpu]

Hi @Wide
You need to make sure that all applications that you use to view your images are color managed without any auto enhance features.
I may not be able to totally read the language on all of your screenshots yet it appears the last image is shown in the Windows Photo App.
It is my understanding that this app is not color managed and at least for viewing does some auto enhancing by default (I don't think it saves those enhancements in the image file itself).
Also, from some quick google search this auto enhance feature could be turned off in prior versions of the Photo app yet not so sure that can be turned off. That would only partially help as it s not color managed.

If I am off track on how you are viewing your image, please provide more details on where you are seeing the differences e.g. on Photo app or a browser etc.
An easy check is after you save your file from PS (to a different file name) read it back in to PS and see if the image has any differences. That would help separate out the problem you are having.

Hope this is a good start to track down your issue. Only use color managed apps for critical editing and viewing and don't expect much otherwise. Just my opinion.
John Wheeler

 

[JeffK]

I'm with @thebestcpu on this especially since running into this problem myself. Sounds like a conflict between the embedded profile and the viewer.
If you have an sRGB profile embedded, then most likely it's the viewer.
IrfanView is a good option and supports embedded color profiles . And it's at no cost. Been using if for years. Try downloading and then opening your images in this viewer and see if you have the same color issue.

Here's what your full image looks like opened in Irfanview:



Here's the original image you posted:



If the link doesn't post above:

What is IrfanView

www.irfanview.com

- Jeff

 

[Wide]

Thanks a lot @JeffK and @thebestcpu ! I think that solved my issue. Been dealing with it for a long time, so this is great news. I will try using IfranView from now on, or opening in Photoshop after editing.