Loss of saturation in RawTherapee output

Software RawTherapee
1

Hello everyone,

I am facing an issue with RawTherapee. Whenever I export a picture, the output picture is quite different from the preview, it is less saturated and sometimes comes out a bit greenish.
I have uploaded a screenshot of the viewer (Microsoft viewer) and the RawTherapee preview side by side.

Capture
Capture1920×1029 439 KB

I’ve had a look at some other posts and got that the output profile in the color management tab should match the color profile of my viewer. Since I upload my pictures on instagram and/or share them with my family and friends, I’ve set the output profile as “No ICM: sRGB Output”. But the problem is not solved, the pictures still loose saturation… :smiling_face_with_tear:
I tried other output profile and never got a good result.

I am using Microsoft Photos as a viewer (output JPEG looks unsaturated), and I downloaded XnViewer as I saw in some topics, and on XnViewer the pictures looks saturated. But it does not solve my problem: I still can’t upload the pics on instagram, and if I share them with someone that is not using the proper viewer, they’ll get shitty images…

I started editing my pics with the Sony Imaging Edge software, I switched to RT to have something more efficient and improve my editing skills. I’ve become more comfortable using RT and don’t want to switch and relearn everything again, I’m just an amateur photograph trying to get a bit better at photography :sweat_smile:
So if someone has an explanation/solution I would greatly appreciat it ! Thanks for help :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

Here are the RAW and JPEG in case it might help :blush:
DSC09461.ARW (24.4 MB)
DSC09461.ARW.pp3 (15.5 KB)

DSC09461-9
DSC09461-96016×4016 21.1 MB

DSC09461.ARW.pp3 (15.5 KB)

2

Can not help much, just offer some info.

Both you jpg and the one I export with your pp3 don’t show this desaturation in my Windows Photo.

grafik
grafik2560×1440 1.64 MB

There is some difference in color, especially noticable in the sky. But this is gone when I use RTv4_sRGB output profile, which I think is the default one. They then perfectly match. Have you tried this?

Edit: Just seen the different color is only in your jpg, not in mine. So, well… :man_shrugging:

1 Like
3

Salut, @Artthev, and welcome!

I agree with @apostel338’s findings – i.e. no saturation problems up here either.

Note that Rawpedia warns against using the No ICM setting. Getting Started - RawPedia

Have fun!

Claes à Lund, La Suède

1 Like
4

bonjour and welcome @Artthev

no issue here, so there are some possibilities:

  • as i can see, your RT is set to “no monitor profile”, is your monitor calibrated?
  • does the system use the calibrated profile?
  • as already mentioned by @apostel338 and @Claes , you should use a sRGB output profile
  • some viewers don’t support color profiles, pls try different viewers, also web-browsers.
  • did you also view the pic in gimp, Photoshop, PaintshopPro or other software?

I guess, your images aren’t shitty, its the viewer! And since you cannot force everybody, to use a very special viewer and calibrate their monitors to see your pics, just use for output a sRGB-profile (RTv4_sRGB) as the best standard for all computers. If anybody claims, ask him to calibrate his system :wink:

1 Like
5

Perhaps I can provide some advices.

  • never ever use Microsoft photos, better use a real viewer (xnview, irfanview, geeqie,…)
  • as said above, use a sRGB profile for output
  • upload on instagram, people will look at your photos through a web browser. Any browser is better than Microsoft photos.

As @Marter said, you cannot force people to calibrate their monitors, and they don’t mind if the photos are not displayed correctly.

6 Likes
6

I uninstalled it just to prevent the accidental use of it. LOL

2 Likes
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That’s funny! I uninstalled it last week because it was taking over my system for photo viewing which I didn’t like.

1 Like
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Thanks everyone ! I didn’t expected so many answers :smiley:

OK I’ll stop using Microsoft Photos then :saluting_face:

@marter, I didn’t calibrated my screen, I changed my RT to the “system default” and it makes a huge difference :sweat_smile:, now the pics in RT and Microsoft photos look pretty similar.
So I tried again with the output profile as RTv4_sRGB, like you guys suggested and have almost no difference in the saturation if my RT is set to “system default”. But if i’m in “no monitor profile”, then the saturation is different.
I opened the RTv4_sRGB picture with google photo: the image is close to what I have in the RT preview set on “system default”. I tried opening it on XnViewer and it is much more saturated, like the RT preview on RT preview set on “no monitor profile”.
However when I tried uploading in instagram, it’s horrible how desaturated the image looks :sweat_smile:

So in the end I think the problem is the output profile and the RT setting like @marter suggested. Now that I have the preview and the JPG that looks the same, it’ll be much better to edit :blush:

Thanks again for the help :smiley:

1 Like