This is of course not the first time I've seen this asked... But I want to bring it up now that we have these new X2, X3 sizes..

I'm on a Mac, so of course we know that the only browser that is color profile aware is Safari. And that is only if the image has a color profile attached, otherwise it tries to match to your monitor profile. It's explained rather well here:

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=567841&postcount=12

Now I also understand that Smugmug removes the profile from all of the images other than the 'original' image. I guess the reason was, in the past, to make the download smaller because it was assumed that all browsers default to sRGB if there is a profile attached or not. Of course, that is different on a Mac. No browser assumes sRGB on the Mac. All browsers on a Mac will match images with or without color profiles to your monitor profile, except for Safari when an image does have a profile. So, having the color profile in the image and using Safari is the only way to view images properly with a Mac.

So I found something out. If I use the -XXXXxXXXX parameter on my images to generate my own sized images, color profiles are included. So, these two images are now the same size...

http://tobyg.smugmug.com/photos/211328673-X3.jpg
http://tobyg.smugmug.com/photos/211328673-1600x1600.jpg

However, the second one (-1600x1600) is actually more accurate because it actually contains the profile. Download both to your system and you will see that one has the profile attached and one does not. (If you're using a PC, these will probably look the same to you in your browser. Download them and open them in a color aware app. If you're using a Mac with Safari, they will look different).

It takes longer to download the -1600x1600 one because I'm assuming it has to convert this 'on the fly' every time it is accessed.

So, if the original reason for not including the profiles in anything other than the original was because it added to the size of the jpeg, isn't that sort of not relevant now, especially with the larger sized images?

I would like to know if we could get the color profiles at least included in the larger sizes available now at least, if not included in all sizes. How much space does a color profile add to an image anyway? We're not talking about 2k thumbnails here, where if we added 1k we'd be increasing the size of the file by 50%.

So, I would love to link to the -X2, -X3 images... but if color profiles aren't attached, I can't. I'm guessing if I actually could link to the -X2 and -X3 images it would be saving CPU time for Smugmug also, since it wouldn't have to convert on the fly. But unless we can get color profiles added to those sizes, I can't use them and will have to continue to use the -XXXXxXXXX way of generating my own sizes.

And please don't tell me to set my Gamma to 2.2 or to calibrate my monitor. This is not relevant to what I'm asking. Not only that, but I'm already set to 2.2 as I have calibrated my monitors with a Monaco Optix.

Thanks.

The custom size 1600x1600 was generated from your original image, so it has the profile attached.

Originally Posted by Andy The custom size 1600x1600 was generated from your original image, so it has the profile attached.

I assume the -X3 image, which is also 1600 (in one of the dimensions) was also generated from my original image. So why can't we get profiles attached to those larger default -X# images?

Again, the reason (in the past, from what i've read) the profiles aren't attached to any images other than the original is because it adds to the size of the image. Well, isn't the -X3 image already going to be pretty large? Why can we not attach profiles to these larger images at least? I'd personally like to see them attached to all images, but if that can't happen, I don't see why they can't be attached to the -X# images. Those are already large, adding a profile will just make things more accurate and won't increase the size much at all.

Originally Posted by tobyg I'd personally like to see them attached to all images, but if that can't happen, I don't see why they can't be attached to the -X# images. Those are already large, adding a profile will just make things more accurate and won't increase the size much at all.

Toby, I couldn't agree more. In fact, if they add color profiles to our images, I'll be signing up at Smugmug. As it is currently, I'm at Zenfolio.

Thanks guys for the feedback - we really appreciate it very much I'm having some discussions internally about this with the team.