{"id":1964,"date":"2012-03-27T00:29:08","date_gmt":"2012-03-26T15:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-03-27\/1964"},"modified":"2012-03-27T01:11:01","modified_gmt":"2012-03-26T16:11:01","slug":"so-much-for-that-glorious-ipad-screen-ios-and-its-apps-are-not-color-managed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-03-27\/1964","title":{"rendered":"So Much For That Glorious iPad Screen: iOS and its Apps are Not Even Color Managed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<div class='resize_warning' id='arw1964'>\n<b>NOTE<\/b>: Images with an <img class='raw' width='19' height='18' src='\/i\/s\/red_zoomup.gif'\/> icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class='ic'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/cs\/JF7_108453-FunkyRGB-noProfile.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i108453_FunkyRGB_noProfile\"\/>\n<br\/>\n<span class='caption'>iOS Color Management<\/span>\n<br\/>Leaves Me Feeling Blue\n<br\/><span class='subtle-less'>( note: all browsers, whether color managed or not, will show me as blue in this copy )<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>Well, this is surprising: iOS does not seem to be color managed. At all.<\/p>\n\n<!--TECH-->\n<div class=\"robots-nocontent\" style=\"border: 2px solid #FF8080;\n            float: right;\n            padding: 0 1em 1em 1em;\n            margin: 10px 0 1em 1em;\n            display: inline;\">\n<p style='white-space: nowrap'><b>My Tech-Related Photography Posts<\/b><\/p>\n<ul style='margin:0; font-size:80%'>\n  <li><a href='\/blog\/lightroom-goodies\/ipad-howto2'>My Lightroom-to-iPad Workflow<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href='\/blog\/lightroom-goodies\/'>Lightroom Goodies<\/a> (lots of plugins)<\/li>\n  <li><a href='\/blog\/photo-tech\/color-spaces-page1\/'>Digital Image Color Spaces<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href='\/blog\/other-writings\/online-exif-image-data-viewer\/'>Online Exif (Image Data) Viewer<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href='\/blog\/photo-tech\/focus-chart\/'>Jeffrey's Autofocus Test Chart<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href='\/blog\/photo-tech\/calendar\/'>Photoshop Calendar-Template-Building Script<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href='\/blog\/lightroom-goodies\/ipad-howto'>How to Prepare Photos for an iPad<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href='\/blog\/photo-tech\/nef-compression\/'>A Qualitative Analysis of NEF Compression<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href='\/blog\/2007-08-24\/554'>Tripod Stability Tests<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style='font-size:85%; margin:10px 0 0 0'><a href=\"\/blog\/photo-tech\/\">more<\/a>...<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<!--\/TECH-->\n\n\n<p>This is a long and technical article. Here's the table of contents:<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href='#intro'>Introduction<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href='#cm'>Color Management<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href='#example'>Embedded Color-Profile Support<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href='#dscp'>Device-Specific Color Profiles<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href='#spyder'>The Curiously-Deficient &#8220;SpyderGallery&#8221; App<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href='#future'>What's Next<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href='#maybe'>One Last Caveat<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<p class='h' id='intro'>Introduction<\/p>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\">\n#post1964 p.h { margin-top: 60px; font-size: 130% }\n<\/style>\n\n<p>With all the talk these days about glorious color performance of the\nthird-generation iPad screen, such as <a\nhref='http:\/\/www.macrumors.com\/2012\/03\/19\/displaymate-praises-new-ipad-screen-sharpness-and-color\/'>this\narticle<\/a> and <a\nhref='http:\/\/www.tuaw.com\/2012\/03\/23\/dot-color-explains-why-colors-look-so-nice-on-the-new-ipad\/'>this<\/a>,\n<span class='nobr'>I realized<\/span> that my Lightroom-to-iPad workflow (presented in &#8220;<a class='pt'\nhref='\/blog\/2012-02-17\/1947'>Getting Photos from Lightroom\nto iPad: <span class='nobr'>a Much<\/span> Smoother Workflow<\/a>&#8221;) neglected to consider color\nprofiles. This is <span class='nobr'>a huge<\/span> oversight for someone like me who wrote an <a\nhref='\/blog\/photo-tech\/color-spaces-page1'>in-depth primer\non digital-image color spaces<\/a> six years ago.<\/p>\n\n<p>So, <span class='nobr'>I looked<\/span> into how <span class='nobr'>I might<\/span> enhance my workflow along color-management lines, and\ndiscovered to my shock that iOS is not color managed. At all. <span class='nobr'>I haven't<\/span>\nfound <span class='nobr'>a single<\/span> application, from Apple or anyone else, that is color\nmanaged. Even <a\nhref='http:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/spydergallery\/id432310625?mt=8'>Datacolor's\nSpyderGallery app<\/a>, which allows you to profile your iPad screen with <span class='nobr'>a\nreal<\/span> hardware colorimeter, <i>is not color managed<\/i>.... it seems to be nothing more\nthan <span class='nobr'>a technically<\/span>-incompetent placebo.<\/p>\n\n<p class='h' id='cm'>Color Management<\/p>\n\n<p>If you're not familiar with what &#8220;color managed&#8221; means, my old <a\nhref='\/blog\/photo-tech\/color-spaces-page1'>primer on color spaces<\/a> goes into\ngreat detail, but in short, digital images such as the JPGs you find everywhere are made up of\nnumerical data that becomes <span class='nobr'>a picture<\/span> only when interpreted for display by the viewing application,\nsuch as your web browser in showing the images on this post. <span class='nobr'>The display<\/span> application can make\nassumptions about how to convert that numerical data to color, or it can be told explicitly by\nvarious notations within the file.<\/p>\n\n<p>Of course, any assumptions may be wrong on an image-by-image basis, so it's always best if the\ndisplay application uses the explicit notations if they're there, but some applications don't bother. <span class='nobr'>An application<\/span> is &#8220;color managed&#8221; if it uses the notations, and not color managed if it uses only\nassumptions.<\/p>\n\n<p>(There's another facet of color management that deals with how those\ncolors are then presented on any specific display device; I'll get to that\nlater.)<\/p>\n\n<p>So, why am I blue?<\/p>\n\n<p>It's okay and expected that I'm blue in the photo above, which\noriginally was by Paul Barr of me from <a\nhref='\/blog\/2012-03-24\/1963'>my previous post<\/a>; I'll\nexplain why in the next paragraph, which will then prepare us to understand\nwhen <span class='nobr'>I present<\/span> the real problem in the paragraphs that follow.<\/p>\n\n<p class='h' id='example'>Embedded Color-Profile Support<\/p>\n\n<p>The lead photo of this post uses raw color data that makes me look blue when interpreted with\n&#8220;common&#8221; assumptions about the data&rarr;color conversion process. <span class='nobr'>In the copy<\/span> above, <span class='nobr'>I make sure<\/span>\nthat there are no notations about how to do the proper conversion (<span class='nobr'>I stripped<\/span> the &#8220;color profile&#8221;\nthat would normally be embedded within the image file), so your browser has no choice but to guess,\nand for this test <span class='nobr'>I made<\/span> sure that the common guesses would produce an obviously-wonky result. (No\ncomments, please, about how any photo of me <span class='nobr'>is &#8220;obviously wonky&#8221; \ud83d\ude42 )<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p>Now, let's look at exactly the same image, except that it <b>does<\/b> have an embedded color\nprofile describing the exact data&rarr;color conversion process. This means that the next image will\nappear to you with generally proper colors (I'm pink, not blue) <b>if<\/b> your browser does not\nignore the color profile. <span class='nobr'>If it ignores<\/span> it, instead opting to make assumptions, I'll look exactly\nthe same blue as in the top image.<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic tight'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/cs\/JF7_108453-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i108453_FunkyRGB\"\/>\n<br\/>\n<span class='caption'>Am <span class='nobr'>I Feeling<\/span> Blue or Tickled Pink?<\/span>\n<br\/><span style='color:white'>this is the main test image<\/span>\n<br\/>if this version looks blue, your browser is not color managed\n<\/div>\n\n<p>Did your browser pass the test?<\/p>\n\n<p>When I first wrote my color-space primer six years ago, most browsers\nwould fail, showing <span class='nobr'>a blue<\/span> me. Things are better today, especially on <span class='nobr'>a Mac<\/span>\nwhere all major browsers have been color managed for years.<\/p>\n\n<p>On Windows, it's still a mixed bag. Firefox and Safari have been color\nmanaged for <span class='nobr'>a long<\/span> time, but Internet Explorer became color managed only\nlast year with IE9, and Chrome and Opera are still not color managed and\nleave me blue. (In <span class='nobr'>a twist<\/span> of irony illustrating the Mac's general lead in\nthis area, Microsoft's own Internet Explorer for the Mac, last updated\n<i>nine years ago<\/i>, is color managed and shows me in all my pink, er,\nglory. <span class='nobr'>It took Microsoft<\/span> another eight years to get around to doing the\nsame thing for their own operating system's users.)<\/p>\n\n<p>I won't go so far as to say that if you see <span class='nobr'>a pink<\/span> me, you're seeing <i>accurate<\/i> colors,\nbecause <span class='nobr'>I have<\/span> no idea whether your computer display is adjusted properly (or even at all!), but any\nkind of pink is <span class='nobr'>a lot<\/span> closer to accurate than blue.<\/p>\n\n<p>Okay, so now try viewing this blog post on your iOS browser; the results\nwill, <span class='nobr'>I'm fairly<\/span> certain, leave you feeling blue.<\/p>\n\n<p>Obviously I can personally test only <span class='nobr'>a small<\/span> subset of devices and applications,\nbut <span class='nobr'>I have<\/span> not found any &mdash; not even one &mdash; iOS application that\ndisplays the second image properly. <span class='nobr'>You can save<\/span> it to your camera roll and\nview it with any number of applications, including apps from such leaders as Apple\nand Adobe, and they all show me as blue because they <span class='nobr'>all <b>ass&middot;u&middot;me<\/b>\nincorrectly,<\/span> even though the color profile is right there in the image.\nBack in 2006, on the\n<a href='\/blog\/photo-tech\/color-spaces-page3' class='pt'>History of Color Mis-Management<\/a> page\nof my color-space writeup, <span class='nobr'>I called<\/span> such applications &#8220;Color Stupid&#8221;, but in this day and age, such applications\nshould probably be called something much worse, like &#8220;Color Moronic&#8221;, or &#8220;Color Leaves-Me-Dumbfounded&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n<p style='margin-bottom:0'>To make testing easy, here are three versions of the image presented in <span class='nobr'>a convenient<\/span> group,\ntwo as test &#8220;controls&#8221;, and one for the real test:<\/p>\n\n<table style='margin-top:0' align='center'>\n<tr>\n\n  <td align='center'>\n  <small style='color:gray'>Control Image<\/small>\n  <br\/>\n  <b>Always Correct<\/b><br\/><a href=\"\/i\/cs\/JF7_108453-sRGB.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/cs\/JF7_108453-sRGB.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"133\"\nid=\"control-pink\"\nstyle=\"margin-top:5px\"\/><\/a>\n  <\/td>\n\n  <td width='20'\/>\n\n  <td align='center'>\n  <small style='color:red'>Test Image<\/small>\n  <br\/>\n  <b>Pink or Blue?<\/b><br\/><a href=\"\/i\/cs\/JF7_108453-FunkyRGB.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/cs\/JF7_108453-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"133\"\nid=\"test-image\"\nstyle=\"margin-top:5px; border-color:red\"\/><\/a>\n  <\/td>\n\n  <td width='20'\/>\n\n  <td align='center'>\n  <small style='color:gray'>Control Image<\/small>\n  <br\/>\n  <b>Always Blue<\/b><br\/><a href=\"\/i\/cs\/JF7_108453-FunkyRGB-noProfile.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/cs\/JF7_108453-FunkyRGB-noProfile.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"133\"\nid=\"control-blue\"\nstyle=\"margin-top:5px\"\/><\/a>\n  <\/td>\n\n\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n<p>I'd be curious to hear how these images display in various situations... what about Chrome on\nAndroid? Photoshop for iPad? <span class='nobr'>If you try<\/span> them, let me know the results in the comments below.<\/p>\n\n<p>I created these test images with the intent that <span class='nobr'>a lack<\/span> of color management is exaggerated to the point of being obviously apparent. <span class='nobr'>In the real<\/span> world it can be subtle, but the practical effect is often a &#8220;washed out&#8221; image. <span class='nobr'>You can see<\/span> some real-world examples\non the &#8220;<a href='\/blog\/photo-tech\/color-spaces-page2' class='pt'>Test Images<\/a>&#8221; page of my color-space writeup.<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic tight'><a href='\/blog\/2011-10-28\/1871'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_101347-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"408\"\nid=\"i101347_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a>\n<br\/>( this photo has nothing to do with this post )\n<\/div>\n\n<p>Not wanting an article where the only photo is of me, I'll take the liberty to sprinkle the rest\nof the article with random photos that have appeared on my blog during the past year, each with the\n&#8220;Funky RGB&#8221; color so that they're at least &#8220;interesting&#8221; when viewed in <span class='nobr'>a non<\/span>-color-manged browser.\nClicking on them brings you to the article where they first appeared, presented there in <span class='nobr'>a color<\/span>\nspace that should at least not look totally wonky when not color managed. (If your browser is color managed,\nit may be fun to look at this article with <span class='nobr'>a non<\/span>-managed browser.... some of these pics look pretty crazy that way.)<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-06-10\/1794'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_083825-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i083825_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n<p style='margin-top:40px'>Okay, so back to iOS. <span class='nobr'>It's surprising<\/span> enough that iOS is not color\nmanaged, but the most egregious offender I've found is <a\nhref='http:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/spydergallery\/id432310625?mt=8'>Datacolor's SpyderGallery\napp<\/a>. <span class='nobr'>If you can<\/span> get by the vomit-inducing intro text (&#8220;<i>If you could be <span class='nobr'>a color,<\/span> which\none would you be?<\/i>&#8221;), you'll find claims that users will &#8220;<i>enjoy color corrected\nviewing of their photos<\/i>&#8221; and that you &#8220;<i>will no longer need to compromise color\naccuracy for the convenience of your iOS device.<\/i>&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>This is all fine and dandy if it were true, but the app is not color managed!<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2012-02-03\/1936'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_106838-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"459\" height=\"690\"\nid=\"i106838_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n<p class='h' id='dscp'>Device-Specific Color Profiles<\/p>\n\n<p>Let's step back a bit to first look at the other facet of &#8220;color managed&#8221; that <span class='nobr'>I mentioned<\/span> earlier.\nAbove we talked about how colors are derived from an image file, and about how <span class='nobr'>a color<\/span> profile\n&mdash; a <i>device-independent color profile<\/i> &mdash; can be used to accurately guide the\nconversion process to come up with the proper conceptual idea of &#8220;color&#8221; for each pixel. <span class='nobr'>The flip side<\/span> is the facet of how those conceptual colors are actually presented on each specific display\ndevice.<\/p>\n\n<p>We've all seen the banks of TV screens at the electronics store showing\nthe same program, but with wildly different looks.... each TV seems to have\nits own tint or richness or brightness, etc. <span class='nobr'>The same goes<\/span> for our display\ndevices (computer monitors, tablet screens, etc.), and <span class='nobr'>a properly<\/span>\ncolor-managed application will adjust on the fly for the characteristics of\nthe device(s) it's displaying on.<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2012-03-15\/1959'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_108072-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i108072_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n<p>In order to properly adjust for each specific display device, the application must know the\nanswer to the question: \"When <span class='nobr'>I think<\/span> I'm sending such-and-such <span class='nobr'>a color<\/span> to the display device, what\ncolor <i>actually<\/i> shows up on screen?\". <span class='nobr'>The answer<\/span> is unique to each device, and changes\neven from day to day with any particular device. <span class='nobr'>The answer<\/span> changes every time you adjust the device\nvideo settings (brightness, contrast, tint, etc.), and the answer even changes over time as the\ndisplay warms up after first being turned on in the morning.<\/p>\n\n<p>The only reasonable way to answer the question is to &#8220;profile&#8221; the device with specialized\nhardware. This hardware includes <span class='nobr'>a light<\/span> sensor temporarily placed over the display device, then <span class='nobr'>a\nprofiling<\/span> app is run that floods the sensor with <span class='nobr'>a wide<\/span> range of colors, allowing the app to compare\nthe color it thinks it's sending with the color actually measured by the sensor. <span class='nobr'>By calculating<\/span> the\ndifference, a &#8220;device-dependent color profile&#8221; can be created that instructs applications how to\nmodify color data on the fly for that one specific monitor.<\/p>\n\n<p>Now, as I said, this changes over time, so the device profile that <span class='nobr'>I create<\/span> today for my monitor\n(after it has warmed up, of course) will not be useful for you and your monitor, even if you have\nthe same make and model, and it will likely fade out of accuracy as even for my own monitor as it\nages. <span class='nobr'>And it becomes<\/span> immediately invalid if <span class='nobr'>I make<\/span> any adjustments to the monitor brightness\nsetting, etc. <span class='nobr'>But if I<\/span> leave my monitor settings alone, it'll be fine for me for <span class='nobr'>a while.<\/span>.. <span class='nobr'>I tend to<\/span>\nreprofile several times <span class='nobr'>a year,<\/span> though serious folks do it weekly or even daily.<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-11-28\/1891'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_102414-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"431\"\nid=\"i102414_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n<p>All that about &#8220;mine not valid for you&#8221; does apply to an iPad as well... the display\ncharacteristics of two iPads are in theory different... but from what <span class='nobr'>I hear,<\/span> the production is very\nreliable and all iPads of the same generation have very, very similar display characteristics, so <span class='nobr'>a\nsingle<\/span> &#8220;generic first-generation iPad&#8221; profile can likely be used by everyone with <span class='nobr'>an iPad 1<\/span> with great success.\nThis is where <span class='nobr'>I failed<\/span> in my original Lightroom-to-iPad workflow, something <span class='nobr'>I intend<\/span> to correct in <span class='nobr'>a\nfollowup,<\/span> soon.<\/p>\n\n<p>Still, despite the apparent lack of <span class='nobr'>a need<\/span> for per-device calibration, some folks wanting the\nabsolute last measure of quality in their photo display may want to create <span class='nobr'>a hardware<\/span> profile for\ntheir specific iPad. This desire meshes very nicely with the desire of colorimeter manufacturers to\nsell more product, and so <i>voila<\/i>, we have Datacolor's SpyderGallery app.<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-09-09\/1848'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_087561-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"459\" height=\"690\"\nid=\"i087561_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n<p class='h' id='spyder'>The Curiously-Deficient &#8220;SpyderGallery&#8221; App<\/p>\n\n<p>It's important to understand what this app claims to offer. It's saying\n&#8220;use specialized hardware we sell you to measure the <i>exact<\/i>\ncolor output of your specific iPad, so that when displaying your photos\nwith our app, we won't have to make assumptions about how your iPad\ndisplays color, we will <i>know<\/i>.&#8221; This is coming from <span class='nobr'>a company<\/span>\nthat makes hardware colorimeters, so it's only natural to trust that\nthey're experts in this area and understand the issues involved, and that\nwhen they offer <span class='nobr'>a solution,<\/span> it can actually do what it claims.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>When I first saw this, it made me wonder what the assumptions were to\nbegin with. <span class='nobr'>I hadn't<\/span> thought deeply about it, but <span class='nobr'>I would<\/span> have thought that\niOS would contain generic device-dependent color profiles for the various\niPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches that iOS runs on. <span class='nobr'>The profiles<\/span> are not\nvery large, and there aren't that many iDevices, so it seems to be <span class='nobr'>a\nno<\/span>-brainer to include them all. <span class='nobr'>If this is<\/span> the case, hardware profiling\nlike in SpyderGallery would be of minimal use because, at best, it could\ntry to adjust for any subtle difference between the rock-solid average iPad\nand each user's specific iPad. <span class='nobr'>Not really<\/span> much point to that, but it wouldn't hurt.<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-12-14\/1905'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_103854-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"431\"\nid=\"i103854_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n<p>But it turns out that SpyderGallery is not color managed in the first sense we talked about in\nthe top half of this post: even if the images contain their own color profile &mdash; specific\ninstructions on how to convert from the numerical data to conceptual color &mdash; SpyderGallery\nignores it. <span class='nobr'>The app may<\/span> have stopped making assumptions about the display hardware, but it's still\nmaking assumptions about the original image data in the first place. This is moronic beyond belief. <span class='nobr'>It's as if<\/span> they're <span class='nobr'>a tailor<\/span> with cutting-edge facilities to make garments to the tightest of\nspecifications, but insist on creating your shirt based on the average human size instead of your\nspecific measurements.<\/p>\n\n<p>In short, Datacolor's SpyderGallery is, it seems to me, just <span class='nobr'>a meaningless<\/span> placebo.<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2012-01-18\/1928'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_105667-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i105667_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n<p>I wrote to Datacolor to ask for comment, and got <span class='nobr'>a fairly<\/span> quick reply that\nimplied that the app assumes all images are in the &#8220;sRGB&#8221; color space,\nwhich is the de facto standard for unprofiled images on the web. This was\npresented as a &#8220;recommendation&#8221;, which seems very strange, since if true,\ndoing anything else would guarantee incorrect colors.<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-12-06\/1897'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_103651-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"459\" height=\"690\"\nid=\"i103651_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n<p><b>Possible Mitigation with iTunes?<\/b><\/p>\n\n<p>As I wrote in my initial, now-obsolete <a\nhref='\/blog\/lightroom-goodies\/ipad-howto'>first\nLightroom-to-iPad writeup<\/a>, iTunes does some very strange things to your\nphotos in preparing them for the iPad, but it <i>is<\/i> color managed, at\nleast on OSX, because it converts everything to the &#8220;sRGB&#8221;\ncolor space before shipping it off to the iPad. This is not exactly ideal,\nbut in practice is probably not that big <span class='nobr'>a deal<\/span> one way or the other.<\/p>\n\n<p>So, if the implication in Datacolor's response to me is true, that they\nassume every image is in the sRGB color space, it'll work just fine for\nphotos that end up on your iPad via iTunes, and perhaps for other images as\nwell. Like <span class='nobr'>I said,<\/span> that's all fine and dandy when the assumption works out,\nbut considering that there's no need to make any assumptions in these\ncases, doing so is inexcusable for <span class='nobr'>a company<\/span> like Datacolor.<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-10-10\/1862'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_100534-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"459\" height=\"690\"\nid=\"i100534_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n<p class='h' id='future'>What's Next<\/p>\n\n<p>Going forward, one can hope that iOS and its apps will become color managed. This is probably\nsomething Apple can address in one fell swoop with an iOS update, but since I'm not an iOS\ndeveloper, <span class='nobr'>I don't<\/span> know the details. <span class='nobr'>I suspect<\/span> that lacking an iOS update on Apple's part,\nindividual developers can work to make their apps color managed. Again, <span class='nobr'>I don't<\/span> know the details,\nbut it wouldn't surprise me if <a href='http:\/\/www.littlecms.com\/'>lcms<\/a> suddenly became <span class='nobr'>a bit<\/span>\nmore popular.<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-05-08\/1765'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_080871-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i080871_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n<p>There's also something we can do now in preparing our photos for the iPad.<\/p>\n\n<p>Normally it's flat-out wrong to put <span class='nobr'>a device<\/span>-dependent color profile\ninto <span class='nobr'>a JPG<\/span> image file, and in <span class='nobr'>a classic<\/span> case of &#8220;just enough\nknowledge to be dangerous&#8221;, any suggestion of doing so is <span class='nobr'>a clear<\/span> sign that\nsomeone has no clue what they're talking about. But I'm going to suggest it\nhere. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n<p>I have created a device-dependent color profile for my specific iPad 1 (created, ironically, with\n<span class='nobr'>a Spyder3<\/span> colorimeter from Datacolor), and <span class='nobr'>I will<\/span> use it when <span class='nobr'>I export<\/span> from Lightroom for my iPad.\nCurrently it will be ignored by all apps I've tested (including the <a\nhref='\/blog\/2012-02-14\/1944'>photo-viewing app <span class='nobr'>I use<\/span><\/a>), but since the image data\nis already exactly tailored to my device, the result should be as absolutely perfect as is possible\nto obtain. <span class='nobr'>If iOS or<\/span> my photo-viewing app suddenly becomes color managed, they'll use the color\nprofile to realize that no conversion needs to be done, and I'll get the same perfect result.<\/p>\n\n<p>Furthermore, if the iPad's build consistency is as solid as reported, the color profile <span class='nobr'>I made<\/span>\nfor <i>my<\/i> <span class='nobr'>iPad 1<\/span> will work very nicely for <i>your<\/i> <span\nclass='nobr'>iPad 1<\/span>. But frankly, <span class='nobr'>I don't<\/span> trust that <span class='nobr'>I have<\/span> the skill and equipment to make\nthe best &#8220;<span class='nobr'>iPad 1<\/span>&#8221; color profile possible, so before <span class='nobr'>I update<\/span> my\nLightroom-to-iPad workflow article, <span class='nobr'>I'm looking<\/span> for <span class='nobr'>a better<\/span> source of profiles, perhaps one that can also provide\nprofiles for the third-gen iPad and other iDevices as well. Any ideas?<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-04-18\/1749'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_076676-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i076676_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<p class='h' id='maybe'>One Last Caveat<\/p>\n\n<p>I'll end this post with the admission that it seems <i>so unlikely<\/i>\nin this day and age that iOS is not color managed, and that the greater\nlikelihood is that I'm simply making some stupid error, and that my\ncomplaints about iOS and SpyderGallery are undiluted ignorance on my part.<\/p>\n\n<p>I'll be mortified and embarrassed if that's true, yet, somehow <span class='nobr'>I hope<\/span> it is. We'll see.<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2012-01-21\/1929'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_106180-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"690\"\nid=\"i106180_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n<p class='h' id='morepics'>The End<\/p>\n\n<p>The rest of this article is just more funky\/pretty pictures, though which\n(funky or pretty) depends on whether your brwoser is color managed, and, of course, personal taste. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-04-15\/1746'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_076544-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i076544_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-08-15\/1836'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_077948-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i077948_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2012-03-16\/1960'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_080212-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"431\" height=\"690\"\nid=\"i080212_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-05-17\/1772'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_081392-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i081392_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-06-03\/1788'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_083189-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i083189_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-07-03\/1812'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_084386-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i084386_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-12-29\/1910'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_103613-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"459\" height=\"690\"\nid=\"i103613_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-07-05\/1815'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_084719-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i084719_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-07-19\/1824'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_086190-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i086190_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2012-03-01\/1950'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_102319-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"431\" height=\"690\"\nid=\"i102319_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-07-19\/1825'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_086908-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i086908_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-09-18\/1851'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_099575-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nid=\"i099575_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2012-03-01\/1950'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_102029-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"431\"\nid=\"i102029_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2012-01-27\/1933'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_106039-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"459\" height=\"690\"\nid=\"i106039_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='ic'><a href='\/blog\/2011-12-12\/1902'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_103785-FunkyRGB.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"431\"\nid=\"i103785_FunkyRGB\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, this is surprising: iOS does not seem to be color managed. At all.<\/p> <p>This is a long and technical article. Here's the table of contents:<\/p> Introduction Color Management Embedded Color-Profile Support Device-Specific Color Profiles The Curiously-Deficient \"SpyderGallery\" App What's Next One Last Caveat <p class='h' id='intro'>Introduction<\/p> <p>With all the talk these days about glorious color performance of the third-generation iPad screen, such as this article and this, I realized that my Lightroom-to-iPad workflow (presented in \"Getting Photos from Lightroom to iPad: a Much Smoother Workflow\") neglected to consider color profiles. This is a huge oversight for someone like me [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1,13,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}