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AnonymousUser-8 AnonymousUser-8

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Just a quick query. To photograph my art to upload to the site I use either Samsung Galaxy tablet or a Samsung Galaxy S23 smartphone, so nothing ancient.  The colours are always slightly muted. Being an honest sort of soul I wouldn't dream of editing the colours, but I wondered if anyone else has this problem. They are not drastically changed, but still marginally paler than the original. Any ideas anyone.  I realise this is a first world problem,  but it does bug me a bit .

Jenny Harris

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Julie, I use an iPad to photograph and upload my images and I always have the same issue of muted colours.  I usually increase the vibrancy until the colours of the image when uploaded look right - it does, though, sometimes involve uploading then deleting and trying again a couple of times.
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Marjorie Firth

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There’s nothing wrong in editing to adjust so that the image is nearer to the original. Obviously enhancing is different. The camera plays tricks I think, flattens and adjusts unnecessarily so I think you can use your own judgement to compensate. As long as you are being honest re the image there isn’t a problem imo.
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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I tried for a long time not to edit my postings, but they so often fell short of the real thing that more recently, I've not only cropped the image but also increased the contrast, and -careful now! - colour saturation - not to the point of misrepresenting the painting, but to bring it nearer to what I can see in front of me.  A recent one was very difficult - it was a twilight scene: I'm fairly pleased with the real thing (HIGHLY unusual for me!) so I wanted to get it as near as possible.  Obviously, you want to be careful not to tell a lie - not least because there's no satisfaction to be had in doing that - but a sub-standard copy of your painting would be just as much of a lie.  The painting being overall dark in tone, with brighter patches, made it hard work (but not as hard as it was to paint it, so I shouldn't complain). So long as you're not flattering yourself, I think editing is fine - after all, cameras aren't perfect, and may need a bit of help from software.  So don't feel at all guilty - you're bringing the on-screen image closer to reality.

Denise Cat

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I don't edit my images even if they appear dull to the original painting. I might crop it occasionally.

Jenny Harris

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Although I said I have to increase the vibrancy before uploading an image to the gallery, for me the issue isn’t that the photo taken on my iPad doesn’t reflect the true colour of the painting (it always does) - it’s only when I upload it to the gallery that the colours become muted, so it’s nothing to do with the quality of the image on the iPad, it’s the way it transfers to the gallery.  I had assumed this is what Julie was referring to in her comment, but maybe not?

AnonymousUser-8 AnonymousUser-8

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Jenny, yes that's exactly what I mean. On my phone and tablet the colours are as I painted them, it's on the upload they get muted. I do crop my pictures a little as I work in sketchbooks so crop around to enable just the picture to be seen and not my workspace.  I'm not sure how I could adjust colours so that when it's uploaded it's like my original,  so I will leave as is I think. But as Robert says a substanded picture is not satisfactory either. But I don't think I can make the on screen colours closer because as Jenny says it's the transfer to the gallery that's causing the colour change. Thanks for all the input. At least it's not just me.
meprofile

Gary Martin

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I have had this problem and it turned out the colour space that the photo was taken in did not play well with this website. I now open the photo in an image editor and go to convert format/colour space and choose sRGB IEC61966 and then save as a copy (so you still have the original version). I use affinity photo for this but most apps should be able to do it.

AnonymousUser-8 AnonymousUser-8

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Gary, thanks for that suggestion. I use Android and Affinity is no compatible with that editor. I have to be honest I would find that hard to do, but might be just the answer for someone else having this colour problem. I have just looked up your artwork and yes, I can see why you would want the colours to be accurate  with such realistic art. But thank you for your imput

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With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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In passing, I've removed the double posting - ignore the violation part, it wasn't, of course. Interesting experiences - I use a desktop pc and a regular camera, i.e. not Iphone or Ipad, so my experience may be a little different to that of some.  I have taken some rotten photographs, beyond all hope of adjustment, and some that a little editing helped; no amount of editing of a blurred photo will help, of course.  Yes, there's a difference between my photo and its appearance on screen - and apps won't help me, because they don't work on pc's; but when I do get the photography right, the differences aren't crucial.  I suspect Denise takes excellent photographs in the first place, because I've not noticed that her refusal to edit them has had any adverse effect on the image as it appears in the Gallery.   Why edit at all - well; cameras can do odd things; people admired the blue paper I used for a couple of ink drawings - snag is, I hadn't used blue paper at all, that's just the way either my camera (or scanner) or this site reproduced it.  That was a case where I should have edited the picture but didn't.  It is a contentious and tricky subject; I try not to edit, and only do so if the alternative is to mislead; but often, I have found it unavoidable. 
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