Strong color shift between image preview and Tiff file

I have been using Capture One for many years now and have always noticed that the "Fit" image preview tends to over saturate colors and that this is especially problematic in images with strong sunset colors or those taken at high ISO's. I was recently editing an image of some reeds in Ice at sunset and noticed a strong color shift between the image preview and the tiff file I was getting after exporting the file into photoshop. What was strange was that if I was saving the file via the Output > Process Recipe to a Tiff while downsizing the image I was getting a much closer color rendition to what I was seeing in the preview whereas if I did the same operation but left the image size to Fixed I got the exact same image that I got by using the Edit With export option which was much flatter. If downsizing to 3000px the tiff already resembles the Fixed size output. This isn't an issue of the embedded color profile because I get the exact same behavior when exporting Jpegs as well. Below are four Jpeg images which highlight this issue. They are all the exact same edit with the only difference being the size at which they were exported.

Exported at 1000px
https://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a624/DDmac05/Icy%20Reeds%20at%20Sunset%20Big%20JPEG%201000px_zpsrlq9ecbk.jpg~original

Exported at 2000px
http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a624/DDmac05/Icy%20Reeds%20at%20Sunset%20Big%20JPEG%202000px_zpsyz7l8myk.jpg~original

Exported at 3000px
http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a624/DDmac05/Icy%20Reeds%20at%20Sunset%20Big%20JPEG%203000px_zpsqdixvxpv.jpg~original

Exported at full size
http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a624/DDmac05/Icy%20Reeds%20at%20Sunset%20Big%20JPEG_zpsjnwt1oe3.jpg~original

I haven't used this forum too many times before so not sure what the rules are about embedding images. I can also post a link to each individual image on my photobucket account. I wonder if anyone else has experienced similar issues as I have?

Ian Wilson

Moderator

March 03, 2019 12:22

As far as images in posts are concerned, you can't put one in a post directly, and you have to do what you have in fact done and host it somewhere.

I'm not sure about the colour shift, but I would start by looking at the ICC profiles used. Same throughout?

Ian

Permanently deleted user

March 04, 2019 03:44

I may fail without a file to make some tests, but in my opinion, it's not a color shift problem but only the effect of interpolation related to the zoom factor. I tell it by comparing the reeds (also the brightest parts) and the ice in the shadow in all of the pictures. In these areas there are not such very very very tiny tiny tiny subtle fine details as in the clipped bright ice. In fact the colors of the last three pictures, seen at 100% in Chrome look consistent to me, but when I make them fit the screen, the third and biggest one (that needs a greater downsize factor) becomes very dark and smeared or smudged compared to the others while the other two are still comparable. So in my opinion it's an effect of interpolation due to the resize. You could try to export a full resolution JPG/TIFF and open it back in Capture One to see if the same happens when it fits the screen. In the past, in other programs, I experienced images looking very different with just a subtle difference in zoom factor, especially with strange (not whole number) ratios. For Hi-ISO images you can consider the noise grain as fine details too. Consider that you have a high resolution (30Mpx) fine detailed picture that needs to be resized a lot to fit the screen. You should judge fine details and their color only at 100% to understand if there is any diference. The preview, as the name implies, is just a preview.

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