Colour Profiles Switch between XP/Vista/Win7!

[Paper_Mache_Man]

Ok, I'm not sure what's going on here but perhaps someone can help.

I used Windows 7 at home now, before I had Vista. At work I use XP.

I've noticed the last photo I uploaded to flickr (and it's not great) appears much darker on my PC at home. This seems to be related to the OS as a friend running Vista also has it appear darker whereas a mate running XP sees it as intended.

The image:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3116/3765679120_344348313b.jpg

For reference the image is of the moon, framed by some trees. If the photo appears dark, you can only see the moon and clouds.

In Lightroom (2.4) I see the image as intended but in both Windows explorer and Firefox under Win7 it comes out dark.

However at work where there is nothing special going on (except that the OS is XP) it works.

[ricktas]

Are the monitors you are viewing it on Calibrated in any way, if not, the OS driver for the graphics card,the software (does it colour manage), the monitor itself and lighting in the various rooms can all affect the visuals of how an image appears on a particular screen.

[Paper_Mache_Man]

No to all, no calibration but this is way off. What I've noticed though is that in LR when images are imported they display correctly and then after about 3 seconds the lights are dimmed so to speak...will keep looking into it.

[Paper_Mache_Man]

Rick where do I find out about colour profiles and that sort of thing?

I think it must be something to do with that...

[Kym]

Rick where do I find out about colour profiles and that sort of thing?

I think it must be something to do with that...

If you are Web publishing use sRGB.
Different programs have different settings; check the help and google.
Photoshop is Edit/Colour Settings; also Edit/Convert Profile.
In addition View/Proof Setup