It looks like it is two shades?

Thanks, Alison. It does look like two shades. The carpet came off the same roll of Shaw carpet.

Is it the seam?

Do you think the nap (or whatever it's called in carpet speak) was laid in different directions at the seam? Or am I totally off base as to what the problem is?

Are you referring to the slightly visible seam? Perhaps the seam was not sealed properly.

One way to determine if the pile is running the same direction is to lay a paper on one side of the seam. Roll a pencil on top of it and the paper will move in the direction of the pile. Repeat this procedure on the other side of the seam. If the paper does not move in the direction of the other section, a problem may exist. There are circumstances where this may not work (like berber), but in most cases it is a good indicator.

The seam looks visible. In my experience it shouldn't be that visible.

Bad seem?

Thanks for your comments, everyone. Looking forward to having Shaw carpet rep weigh-in with his opinion too.

Berber is known to be hard to seam, and any salesmen and/or the measurer worth their salt should have warned you. That being said, this looks worse than usual.

Here's the cold hard facts:

The seam shown is in a poor location. It should be at a doorway which is more natural. This would likely require you to buy more carpet up front but to me, it's not even an option. The seam location is in a high traffic, highly visible spot. If it was not located there, it would not be as relevant.

The seam in the photo appears to be done fine. There are many variables that cause seams to be visible.... Carpet construction, natural and artificial lighting/shadows, carpet colors, bow, pattern skew, excessive heat transfer, poor cutting, poor seaming, etc. just to name a few. None of which is "sealant". That particular style of carpet does not hide seams well. So if seam location and sensitivity to seams are important to you, they should have guided your decision to purchase more carpet to change seam location or a different style of carpet that is more seam friendly. This carpet is not a traditional Berber carpet which refers to "looped" carpet.
FYI, there is not a single carpet manufacturer that guarantees or warranties for an "invisible" seam, so how could you expect the installer to guarantee it?

The carpet right now, newly installed has been cut, heated, stretched. It's been manipulated and disturbed. Over the course of several months it will wear in or break in to be less noticeable.

The rep whom will come to your house will blame the installer. Out of 10,000 cases, less than 1 is responsibility of manufacturer. The rep will check for pile direction. Then check for how seam is cut and put together. Making sure there are no gaps. Then check for sealant, likely with a black light. If it is cut well and is sealed, the rep will say it's inadequate sealer. Whatever "inadequate" means. If it's pattern skew, bow, or elongation, side match, water marking, etc, the rep will write it's within "normal manufacturing tolerances". The rep will then say it's heating the seam too much, seam peaking. The bottom line it will be installer to blame. It is likely really not anyone's fault but the given set of variables as I listed above.

You may not like my answer but it is the cold hard facts of the carpet world.
In my company we take great time and effort to review carpet construction and seam location to minimize these types of issues. Those are the greatest variables to affect customers being happy with seams. If the customer doesn't want to purchase more carpet to make the hallway in one piece, we are just up front with what to expect.

Goodhouse Flooring- thank you for your input. Do you think it's also a possibility the carpet is lying in different directions, creating the shadowy appearance? I actually had to order an additional 20' of carpet (26 sq yds) to cover the master bedroom so there may be enough left over from original roll to redo the hallway and change seam to doorway opening. Initially, my general contractor ordered 85sq yds to cover 2 bedrooms, hallway and master, and came up short leaving enough carpet to cover only about 1/2 the master. This loop carpet is expensive also, so I'm disappointed in the way this measurement and installation has been executed.

Another point I want to make, is that I don't expect an "invisible seam", but would hope for a less noticeable one. Goodhouse, I hadn't considered specific seam location and a doorway would be more sensible. (There's a doorway a few feet away). Thanks again-

Lee, we saw this post and wanted to make sure you were receiving
the assistance you need from Shaw Floors. Please private message us so that we
can be of help.

@Lee... it sounds like the GC has something to answer for on this one. The carpet installers would have been working to the GC's requests. If the GC had already mucked up the master bedroom (not enough ordered for the install) then s/he would be loath to go back to you, hat in hand, stating that the hallway would have a seam in it vs. "Can I have some more please?" I would guess the GC told the installers to "use what they have" and "lay it anyways". The installers would have done what they were told...even if they knew better than to do it that way (depends on whether or not the crew had laid 2 carpets or 200).

This will come down to a conversation between you, the GC and the flooring store. Having already mucked up once, my money is on the GC and his measuring ability (or lack thereof).