If the color of your images looks off in Lightroom but not in other programs, the likely problem is a corrupted monitor profile. The easiest way to check this is to make sure the histogram of a grayscale image looks gray.
This useful tidbit comes from Victoria Bampton, in her highly useful problem solving book: “Adobe Lightroom 2: The Missing FAQ.” As Bampton explains:
“Lightroom uses the profile differently to other programs (perceptual rendering rather than relative colorimetric), so corruption in that part of the profile shows up even though it is not noticeable in other programs. It often happens with the canned profiles that come with many monitors.”
Bampton goes on to explain that a grayscale image’s histogram “should be neutral. . .but corrupted profiles can create some weird color casts.”
Like all pros, Bampton recommends regular monitor calibration. And, of course, there are other factors (such as ambient light) that will influence how we perceive the “grayness” of a grayscale image in Lightroom. Nonetheless, this method (just convert and image to grayscale and check the histogram) provides a simple but powerful Lightroom diagnostic.
Thanks Victoria!