Color Management Discrepancy

JH
Posted By
Jim Hargan
Oct 4, 2005
Views
400
Replies
8
Status
Closed
Photoshop 7 on WinXP.

I am preparing jpegs for a web site, and am getting inconsistent colors. Photoshop is showing the images as *less* saturated than my browsers, ImageReady, or Optimize For Web. I have installed the factory provided monitor profile, and have adjusted it using Adobe Gamma. I am using the "Web Graphics Default" color settings, and all my images have sRGB profiles embedded.

I am worried that my photos, when adjusted to look good on Photoshop, will look too saturated on a calibrated monitor. Does anyone have any perspective on this?

Jim Hargan

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

MR
Mike Russell
Oct 4, 2005
"Jim Hargan" wrote in message
Photoshop 7 on WinXP.

I am preparing jpegs for a web site, and am getting inconsistent colors. Photoshop is showing the images as *less* saturated than my browsers, ImageReady, or Optimize For Web. I have installed the factory provided monitor profile, and have adjusted it using Adobe Gamma. I am using the "Web Graphics Default" color settings, and all my images have sRGB profiles
embedded.

I am worried that my photos, when adjusted to look good on Photoshop, will look too saturated on a calibrated monitor. Does anyone have any perspective on this?

Run Adobe Gamma and have it load, but not modify, your factory monitor profile.


Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
JH
Jim Hargan
Oct 5, 2005
On Tue, 04 Oct 2005 21:12:57 GMT, Mike Russell wrote:

Run Adobe Gamma and have it load, but not modify, your factory monitor profile.

Hi Curvemeister! Thanks for the response. That helped, but the descrepancy remains.

I traced it to soft-proofing. Turning soft-proofing *off* seems to be the same as setting it to "Windows RGB". Setting soft-proofing to "Monitor RGB" makes the image appear the same in Photoshop proper as in "Save For Web" (and everything else on my system). So:

1. Isn’t Adobe Gamma supposed to make my monitor color space the same as Windows RGB?

2. As long as they don’t match, should I be assuming that other people’s monitors average out to something like "Windows RGB" or "MacIntosh RGB"?

Jim Hargan
R
Roy
Oct 5, 2005
"Jim Hargan" wrote in message
On Tue, 04 Oct 2005 21:12:57 GMT, Mike Russell wrote:

Run Adobe Gamma and have it load, but not modify, your factory monitor profile.

Hi Curvemeister! Thanks for the response. That helped, but the descrepancy remains.

I traced it to soft-proofing. Turning soft-proofing *off* seems to be the same as setting it to "Windows RGB". Setting soft-proofing to "Monitor RGB"
makes the image appear the same in Photoshop proper as in "Save For Web" (and everything else on my system). So:

1. Isn’t Adobe Gamma supposed to make my monitor color space the same as Windows RGB?

2. As long as they don’t match, should I be assuming that other people’s monitors average out to something like "Windows RGB" or "MacIntosh RGB"?

Jim Hargan

Hi there.

Most "other peoples" monitors will only match up to whatever they happened to be like when they first came out of the box.

You can also be sure that almost none of them will be set to 6500K Colour Temp.

Go to a warehouse type computer outlet, and have a look at the variety of display colours on show. It will be quite a depressing exercise.

There is no way you will be able to set your images so that they will show accurate colour on other peoples screens, unless the other people know how to set up their systems correctly.

Asking a few non photoshop aware friends about Colour Control or Monitor Profiles, will produce rather a lot of very blank looks.

All you can do is set up your images correctly and hope for the best.

Roy G
MR
Mike Russell
Oct 5, 2005
"Jim Hargan" wrote in message
On Tue, 04 Oct 2005 21:12:57 GMT, Mike Russell wrote:

Run Adobe Gamma and have it load, but not modify, your factory monitor profile.

Hi Curvemeister! Thanks for the response. That helped, but the descrepancy remains.

Photoshop will generally look a little different than your other programs because of color management. This is part of the philosophy of the product, and is considered a good thing by many, and an inexplicable complication by others. What was surprising about your situation was that colors were more saturated when in Photoshop. If this is still the case, something is still wrong.

I traced it to soft-proofing. Turning soft-proofing *off* seems to be the same as setting it to "Windows RGB". Setting soft-proofing to "Monitor RGB"
makes the image appear the same in Photoshop proper as in "Save For Web" (and everything else on my system). So:

Although soft proofing can be a useful feature, using it to control your basic working environment is not the usual way to do things, if only because you will need to set this option over and over. Instead, use Color Settings, and select sRGB as your working space. There are many who advocate Adobe RGB, but I believe this will be of no benefit in your situation.

1. Isn’t Adobe Gamma supposed to make my monitor color space the same as Windows RGB?

No. There are products, such as Liquid Color, that do exactly that. Adobe Gamma is different and it actually does two things. The adjustments that change the appearance of the image, such as the gamma sliders and color temp settings, do calibrate the monitor to a more generic standard. The other adjustments, such a the Phosphors and one of the White point settings, are specifying what your monitor looks like without changing it. This is called characterization. The end result is a more standardized look, but you can still set your gamma and white point to anything you want, not just sRGB.

The Windows RGB soft preview simulates a the way your image will look on a generic PC monitor. It’s the same as sRGB with "Preserve Color Numbers" checked.

2. As long as they don’t match, should I be assuming that other people’s monitors average out to something like "Windows RGB" or "MacIntosh RGB"?

Yes, though it’s pretty much a "Windows RGB" world, rather than an average of the two.


Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
TA
Timo Autiokari
Oct 5, 2005
Jim Hargan wrote:

Photoshop is showing the images as *less* saturated than my browsers,

There are several reasons for this, could it be that you are using a LCD flat screen?

What kind of gamma you get here for your system:
http://www.aim-dtp.net/aim/evaluation/gamma_space/index.htm

Timo Autiokari
JH
Jim Hargan
Oct 6, 2005
Thanks! This clears it up for me. Much appreciated.

Jim H.
JH
Jim Hargan
Oct 6, 2005
On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 19:32:52 +0300, Timo Autiokari wrote:

Jim Hargan wrote:

Photoshop is showing the images as *less* saturated than my browsers,

There are several reasons for this, could it be that you are using a LCD flat screen?
No — an HP Pavilion mx704 CRT. Adobe Gamma indicates that I should set the brightness control at 25%. That seems very low, and could be saturating the images.

What kind of gamma you get here for your system:
http://www.aim-dtp.net/aim/evaluation/gamma_space/index.htm
Neat site! I’ve bookmarked it and will hit it later today.

Jim H.
R
Roy
Oct 6, 2005
"Jim Hargan" wrote in message
On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 19:32:52 +0300, Timo Autiokari wrote:
Jim Hargan wrote:

Photoshop is showing the images as *less* saturated than my browsers,

There are several reasons for this, could it be that you are using a LCD flat screen?
No — an HP Pavilion mx704 CRT. Adobe Gamma indicates that I should set the
brightness control at 25%. That seems very low, and could be saturating the
images.

What kind of gamma you get here for your system:
http://www.aim-dtp.net/aim/evaluation/gamma_space/index.htm
Neat site! I’ve bookmarked it and will hit it later today.

Jim H.

That figure for screen brightness, does seem excessively low. What Adobe Gamma is trying to do with brightness setting is actually to find your Monitors Black Point. That is the point beyond which there is no increase in the darkness of a true black.

There are other ways of setting your Monitor to this "Brightness Level". Briefly
Set your desktop to Black, then use your Monitor Controls to shrink the picture size, so that you can see an area of screen which is not being hit by the Electron Gun – (Maximum Black). Adjust your Brightness control until until your Black desktop just matches that density of black. Your Monitor is now set to its real Blackpoint. Resize your Screen to normal, and go back to your neutral grey desktop.

Re run Adobe Gamma without making any alterations to the Brightness Control, and see how your results are afterwards.

Roy G

How to Improve Photoshop Performance

Learn how to optimize Photoshop for maximum speed, troubleshoot common issues, and keep your projects organized so that you can work faster than ever before!

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections