Imgur upload from Sharex showing subtle but noticeable colour change

[bunimomike]

Hi All.

I've just installed ShareX and have been blown away with the features. Everything was working nicely and setting it up was a joy. Equally, I had a ShareX user/friend guide me through most of it. However, we've noticed one important problem (to me). It's changing the colour to the images I'm uploading then viewing in the likes of Firefox. The thing is, if I manually upload it to Imgur (by dragging and dropping the image from my machine into the Imgur website) it's fine. I have the settings on PNG file which is behaving nicely. Can you see the slight colour differences on the row above as oppose to how it's supposed to look on the row below? There's a lack of vibrancy to the top row.

I'm a graphic designer, by trade, so colour accuracy is genuinely important and I'd love to sort this out. Thanks for your help, everyone. :-)

[Jaex]

How can i reproduce that problem?

[bunimomike]

1. Use the auto-uploader from ShareX and use Imgur as the website to upload to.

Compare that with an image you can Print Screen or use ShareX to screen-capture an image but place it on your hard drive instead (and then upload manually to Imgur without using ShareX) and note the colour differences. Hope this helps. :-)

[Jaex]

I took crop screen and uploaded it to imgur and then uploaded that image file to imgur web site and both images was same.

[bunimomike]

So you used the automatic uploader in ShareX for one of the images? Also, did you upload both as PNG files? (so they're still PNG on Imgur as well)

[Jaex]

Yes

[bunimomike]

Can you provide me with both of the images from your Imgur account for me to look at, please? :-)

Also, thank you for the replies so far. 👍

[Jaex]

ShareX upload: http://i.imgur.com/TMYupvV.png
Imgur web site upload: http://i.imgur.com/q3Jg1Ko.png

[bunimomike]

I can see that your images are the same. Weird.

If I use ShareX to screen-capture an image and save it to my hard drive... then... right click the image and choose Upload with ShareX it still ruins the colour slightly so it's definitely ShareX's software with the upload tool in-built (whether it's running automatically or manually). I'll see if I can run some more tests here and also get a friend to do exactly as I'm doing to see if we can replicate the problem. I'll report back when I know more. Thanks again. :-)

[YotaXP]

I've been having the same problem for ages myself, but I have a hunch it may have something to do with Windows, as I've noticed the problem in other programs.

In my example, I create a simple gradient in the GIMP, save to a PNG, and upload the file through ShareX. It comes through nicely. http://i.imgur.com/RUmnmVc.png
Next, I right click the image in my browser (Firefox), select 'Copy Image', and do a clipboard upload. The results are distorted shades. http://i.imgur.com/NdbzvFj.png
I get the same result with a region capture.

As for other programs... If I copy the image, or use Print Screen, and paste the result into MS Paint, the image appears correct. Once I save the image from Paint, and open it in Photo Viewer, I get the exact same distortion that you see in the second image. Interestingly though, if I drag Photo Viewer over to my second monitor, the image appears correct. I can even position both the original and formerly-distorted image next to each other, and they appear identical. Is there some metadata being stored in PNGs that could influence this? Possibly something relevant to color profiles?

@bunimomike Do you have a second monitor as well?

[Jaex]

Both images looks exactly same to me.

[YotaXP]

Interesting. They look identical on my single-monitor computer at work as well. I'll have to take a screenshot of them side by side when I get home.

[bunimomike]

I think I've found out what the problem is but need to investigate a solution. It's to do with colour management on the machine/PC itself. I've colour calibrated my machine with a Spyder (as I'm a graphic designer). It means the monitor is producing the most accurate colour it can. However, I've probably buggered things up somewhere along the lines which is why it's having trouble. My friend has looked into things with me and all main browsers, Photoshop, etc., is reporting no trouble with ShareX which is why some of the guys above aren't having the same trouble. I need to see what I can do with the colour management and will report back.

[PotcFdk]

I'm not sure if this issue is related to the one I'm having,
but I've been using ShareX' image watermark feature with an image file
that had a very, very high transparency value, so it wouldn't distract.
Now when I updated ShareX a few months ago it suddenly became very visible.

This is how it looked like when it was still working:

After changing the brightness and contrast it becomes visible:

This is how it looks like right now, visible without any tools:

[Jaex]

Can you give that watermark image so i can test.

[PotcFdk]

Here it is: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34110473/github/issues/sharex/42/p1.png
Since ShareX doesn't have an option to repeat the image I just made it as big as my monitor's resolution
(which is 1080p), so it's always big enough.

[Jaex]

How can i see that texts, changing brightness and contrast not show up texts.

[PotcFdk]

It works in GIMP, don't know how to do it in other programs:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34110473/github/issues/sharex/42/anim.gif