Photo appearance different between Monitor and Phone

smr

smr

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Joel
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Hi,

Is it just the way it is that photos appear differently on a monitor and phone? On my monitor photos appear more contrasty, on the phone the colours look ok, but the blacks seem to be lifted so it looks a tad overall brighter. I'm saving images in sRGB.

These two photos for instance, on my monitor they look fine, but viewed on instagram on my phone the black tones seem brighter. If anyone could have a look to see if it's the same on your monitor and phone it would be appreciated.

My insta is joelphotographer

The Stag by Joel Spencer, on Flickr

Deer by Joel Spencer, on Flickr
 
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Look great on my monitor but on my phone they lack a little warmth. I suspect it's down to the vagaries of phone screens, but i'm sure there are more knowledgeable posters who could tell you more
 
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How do they seem if you look at the desktop version of Instagram on your monitor? How does the original image look if you copy it to your phone and just look at it in an image viewer other than Instagram? This should tell you whether you are seeing something Instagram is doing to your images on upload, or whether you are just seeing differences between how your monitor and phone display images.
 
What phone are you viewing them on? Photos look very different on my phone vs my iPad, and then different again on my desktop monitor. All depends on the quality and calibration of the screen you're viewing them on.
 
Uncalibrated monitor looks like I would have processed them myself. Nice exposure and natural colour balance. Looking at this page on my phone (P30 pro), once I stuck the brightness, to match the monitor the images were pretty similar but the phone was a bit warmer. On Insta at the same phone brightness the images are much darker and a good deal more contrasty. The images on here are far superior on my devices.
 
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On inst
Retune said:
How do they seem if you look at the desktop version of Instagram on your monitor? How does the original image look if you copy it to your phone and just look at it in an image viewer other than Instagram? This should tell you whether you are seeing something Instagram is doing to your images on upload, or whether you are just seeing differences between how your monitor and phone display images.
Click to expand...

On the desktop insta they look fine. I've emailed the Stag photo to my phone and it just looks a bit brighter. On my desktop I've edited them so that the background is a bit darker especially at the bottom of the image behind the Stag which is how I want it to look - on the phone the black levels are a bit brighter as the the black point has been pushed a bit to the right.

I suppose it's just the difference between the phone display and the monitor display.
 
wookie6262 said:
Uncalibrated monitor looks like I would have processed them myself. Nice exposure and natural colour balance. Looking at this page on my phone (P30 pro), once I stuck the brightness, to match the monitor the images were pretty similar but the phone was a bit warmer. On Insta at the same phone brightness the images are much darker and a good deal more contrasty. The images on here are far superior on my devices.
Click to expand...

Your monitor is uncalibrated?
 
You will never be able to ensure that your digital images are viewed exactly as you would like them to be... there will even be slight differences when viewed on two calibrated monitors of the same model. When you start to consider the vast qtty of uncalibrated screens/phones/tablets/etc in use, you have no chance. Then add in varying viewing conditions (ambient brightness), and varying screen brightnesses (auto brightness), and it becomes utterly futile.
 
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