Why does the SAME photo appear different on Firefox v.s. Safari?

[MacNewbie]

ok this is very strange..is it normal for photos to show up differently depending on your browser??

for example this photo:

http://www.glitteratigossip.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/07/31/072607_spn_lilkim20.jpg

appears to have an extremely red hue contrast in Safari whereas it looks "normal" in Mozilla Firefox.

does it have something to do with my setting? im very confused as to why this is.

 

[Audio.Trench]

I just tried the photo in both Safari and Firefox, and there does appear to be a reddish hue to it in Safari, but in Firefox, the colors look more balanced.

 

[mac57]

Definitely not just your set up; I see the same thing. Quite a pronounced red hue in Safari, more natural looking in Firefox.

I am guessing it is a color space interpretation issue. I saved the image off and opened it in humble Preview. A quick Tools, Get Info reveals that the image is in the Adobe RGB color space. In Preview, which understands color spaces, it has the red hue. So, oddly, it would appear that the unnatural red hue is the correct rendering of the photo. This means that Safari is doing the right thing, and Firefox is not.

To confirm that, I pulled the image up in Photoshop, the golden standard. Yup, it is Adobe RGB, and the red hue version IS actually the correct version. Way to go Safari, bad-on-you-mate Firefox!

 

[Odin_aa]

I am guessing it is a color space interpretation issue.

Thats correct

 

[giulio]

I've noticed that FF does render images better. Which is the opposite of what I'd expect from Apple.
Even gif images... FF seems to do extra post-processing to make them look better.

 

[Aptmunich]

This blog post has an explanation:

http://blogs.smugmug.com/don/2007/02/14/this-is-your-mac-on-drugs/

Basically Safari respects the colour profile embedded in images, whilst Firefox does not. Example:
http://www.smugmug.com/help/safari/safari-shot.html

 

[giulio]

It's probably best to export images with no profile all! At least you know everyone will see it the same.... I think.

 

[OSURico112]

I typically prefer safari for image viewing since most of the time it shows the image more closely to the original image since it respects the embedded color profile. The problem can be when people adjust the original image to match firefox's color settings which basically involves boosting the saturation and some other stuff and can cause the image to look too over the top on a browser that supports color profiles. I believe I have heard that in the next version of firefox (3) it will have the ability to read color profiles as well.

 

[MacNewbie]

Definitely not just your set up; I see the same thing. Quite a pronounced red hue in Safari, more natural looking in Firefox.

I am guessing it is a color space interpretation issue. I saved the image off and opened it in humble Preview. A quick Tools, Get Info reveals that the image is in the Adobe RGB color space. In Preview, which understands color spaces, it has the red hue. So, oddly, it would appear that the unnatural red hue is the correct rendering of the photo. This means that Safari is doing the right thing, and Firefox is not.

To confirm that, I pulled the image up in Photoshop, the golden standard. Yup, it is Adobe RGB, and the red hue version IS actually the correct version. Way to go Safari, bad-on-you-mate Firefox!

thats pretty interesting

but how come when i save the image from safari and when i save the image from firefox it appears the same red hue? shouldnt the version i saved from firefox be correspondent to how it looks in firefox??

 

[OSURico112]

not necessarily, most images retain their color profiles when uploaded to the internet. Firefox just lacks the ability to read those profiles, so once you download them, they appear the same in a program that can read color profiles.

 

[Red Snapper]

If im understanding this correctly, this means that firefox users will not be able to view images as intended at all? If not, what's the best way to go about saving an image so it remains true (or as much as possible) across multiple browsers?

 

[giulio]

Not really. What I think it means is if you embed a color profile, some people will see it the way you intend and some will not. If you use the lowest common denominator (no profile) everyone will see it the same.
Just like everything else on the web... lowest common denominator = widest audience.

 

[Red Snapper]

Ah I see, makes sense.

 

[Fiasco]

I've noticed that FF does render images better. Which is the opposite of what I'd expect from Apple.
Even gif images... FF seems to do extra post-processing to make them look better.

Even so, I would prefer an accurate color representation as opposed to an approximation.

Imagine the havoc this could wreak on a graphic artist or photographer who can't seem to figure out why their colors keep coming up different in Firefox... that would be fun...