Anti-Stokes and Stokes resonance Raman excitation profiles have been observed for the C=C and C-C stretching fundamental bands of carotenoids (beta-carotene and canthaxanthin) and analyzed on the basis of the Franck-Condon mechanism. It is shown that such an analysis provides a method for identifying the vibrational levels on which vibrationally excited molecules observed in picosecond pump-probe processes are populated.