I'm wondering if someone with some background in color calibration can help me out. I recently purchased an Epson 4490 scanner to get my negatives into the computer. I'm scanning them in at 48bit color, 3200dpi, and storing them as TIFF files (they're huge). I've been using Lightroom and Photoshop to clean up dust marks and adjust white balance and sharpness, but otherwise I haven't touched the pictures. I just scanned in a roll of Ektar 100 and it looks beautiful.
Now here's the problem.
When I export these photos, I've tried DNG, TIFF, and JPEG as the format for publishing, using the SRGB color profile, and minimal compression. When I look at the pictures side by side with what I have in Lightroom, they're identical. However, as soon as I post them to the internet, they lose a lot of saturation, which is frustrating because Ektar looks so good. I can't see where I'm going wrong. The scanned TIFF files are using the SRGB color profile right out of the Epson software, so their respective gamuts should be compatible.
I've also calibrated my monitor with a Spyder2. I have the option of switching back to the default monitor settings, but then everything looks even worse. Can anyone tell me what's wrong, and how to fix it? I'd really like to share these photos in their original versions, because they look so good.
EDIT: Attached, a picture of The Empress, a Canadian Railway Hotel in Victoria, BC. Tell me if the greens in the foilage surrounding the sign are vibrant and nicely saturated, or slightly grey-ish, which is what I'm seeing. Taken on Ektar 100 with my SuperTak 28/3.5.
Last edited by drewdlephone; 02-03-2009 at 10:30 AM.