Colors are SO off!

AG
Posted By
Angie_Gibson
Oct 13, 2005
Views
351
Replies
5
Status
Closed
I am a photographer and have been using Photoshop since version 4. I am now running CS2. I have a newer HP with a gig of RAM and plenty of drive space. I use Spyder Pro to calibrate my monitor. I am having a horrible time with color.
I have my color space set to Adobe RGB. First problem is when I open them up, they are much darker. I then go to View > Proof Setup > Monitor RGB. Helps somewhat, but I am still confused why Photoshop makes it so dark. My real problem is after I do my corrections. My workflow usually consists of editing and then either creating a Web Photo Gallery or I upload the pictures to my photo lab. After I do my editing and save them as a .psd file, I then convert everything to .jpg. When I open them up in Windows Picture Viewer or upload them to my photo lab or make a web photo gallery, they are really contrasty and the colors are way off, usually too red or yellow.

I am having to re-edit pictures 5 or 6 times because I have to fix them in photoshop, where they look way off, then go back to Windows Picture View, then back and forth until it looks right. When I print the same file from either Windows Picture View or PS, I get two totally different colored prints. When I have checked the color with my photo lab, it matches the Windows Picture View. They don’t have a color profile for their printers, they just said use the RGB space. I have made sure that when I save to .jpg, it didn’t change the color profile.

I am hoping it has something to do with the way my color space/profiles are set up. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Angie
Related Tags
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C
chrisjbirchall
Oct 13, 2005
Let’s eliminate Spyder Pro as the possible cause.

Start again and profile your monitor using Adobe Gamma – You’ll have to reinstate it as you’ll have disabled it when using the spyder software.

If, after running Adobe Gamma, everything is back to normal, then you should suspect something is wrong with the Spyder or its settings/software.

For what it’s worth. I run a portrait studio and the only spider that’s been near my computer is Harry. I run Adobe Gamma once a month and include a Fujifilm calibration file with the work I send to the lab once a week. I use the print from this to do any tweeking, and my colours are always spot-on.

Best of luck with it.
C
chrisjbirchall
Oct 13, 2005
….just a thought. You did disable Adobe Gamma when you installed the Spyder, didn’t you?

Two rights don’t make a right!
G
Guus013
Oct 13, 2005
Hello Angie,

The problem you’re experiencing has to do with the colorspace profiles you’re using. If the images are created using Adobe RGB, you first have to convert them to sRGB before using them in a Web Photo Gallery or opening them in Windows Picture Viewer.

Open your image
Choose: Image > Mode > Convert to Profile…
Choose: sRGB, intent: perceptual

If your main activities are creating images for this purpose, you might consider using sRGB as your work colorspace.

If you calibrated your monitor correctly, using the Spyder, you are not required to choose View > Proof Setup > Monitor RGB. The profile created should already be active.

Greets,
Michel

On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 00:42:34 -0700, Angie_Gibson wrote:

I am a photographer and have been using Photoshop since version 4. I am now running CS2. I have a newer HP with a gig of RAM and plenty of drive space. I use Spyder Pro to calibrate my monitor. I am having a horrible time with color.
I have my color space set to Adobe RGB. First problem is when I open them up, they are much darker. I then go to View > Proof Setup > Monitor RGB. Helps somewhat, but I am still confused why Photoshop makes it so dark. My real problem is after I do my corrections. My workflow usually consists of editing and then either creating a Web Photo Gallery or I upload the pictures to my photo lab. After I do my editing and save them as a .psd file, I then convert everything to .jpg. When I open them up in Windows Picture Viewer or upload them to my photo lab or make a web photo gallery, they are really contrasty and the colors are way off, usually too red or yellow.

I am having to re-edit pictures 5 or 6 times because I have to fix them in photoshop, where they look way off, then go back to Windows Picture View, then back and forth until it looks right. When I print the same file from either Windows Picture View or PS, I get two totally different colored prints. When I have checked the color with my photo lab, it matches the Windows Picture View. They don’t have a color profile for their printers, they just said use the RGB space. I have made sure that when I save to .jpg, it didn’t change the color profile.
I am hoping it has something to do with the way my color space/profiles are set up. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Angie
AG
Angie_Gibson
Oct 13, 2005
Thanks for the input, I did go back to Adobe Gamma and did help quite a bit, but it still seems to be red when I upload. I’m going to stick with Adobe Gamma and see if I can do a bit more tweeking. Thanks!
L
LenHewitt
Oct 14, 2005
Angie,

For web work, set your RGB working space to sRGB rather than AdobeRGB(1998).

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