Red shift

DC
Posted By
d_cole
Mar 3, 2009
Views
395
Replies
4
Status
Closed
I’m sure my question has been asked before but I can’t find a reference to it using the forum search function. I’d be grateful to know how I can avoid images returning to CS4 showing a red tint.

It happens, for example, when I make a screen grab of an image in CS4, save it as a tif, and then open the saved screengrab in CS4. The image looks markedly less-red tint – particularly noticeable in blues compared to the original image still open in CS4. Images made in Corel Painter also show this red shift when they are opened in CS4.

My color settings are sRGB, Dot Gain 20% and RGB: Convert to Working RGB.

I am using a NEC 2690 LCD display which is uncalibrated because it is a wide color gamut display and I am using it in its factory set sRGB mode (which cannot be hardware calibrated).

Thanks for any advice on this.
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red shift

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CY
curt_young
Mar 3, 2009
What I understand is that the photo on PhotoShop will be the close to the true colors as it uses a managed color profile. Other programs don’t, so there can be differences in how it looks.
C
Curvemeister
Mar 3, 2009
You are making a common error made with screen grabs that is not explained very often. Here’s a way to deal with it:

1) make the screen grab and save it to a file.
2) open the file in Photoshop.
3) assign (don’t convert) your monitor display profile to the screen grab. The red cast should go away at this point.
4) convert the screen grab to sRGB, or if the image is not destined for the web, use your preferred working color space.

If the red cast remains, then rebuild your monitor profile, either by using a calibration device (practical but relatively expensive at $200).

Another way to calibrate your monitor is by displaying a known good sRGB image (look on drycreekphoto.com for examples) and adjusting your monitor manually until the appearance matches your expectations. Then assign sRGB as your system monitor profile.

If you use either of these procedures (device based or manual) to target your monitor to sRGB, your screen grabs will be de facto sRGB. There will be no difference between your screen grabs and the appearance of the image in Photoshop, and no need to assign your monitor profile.
DC
d_cole
Mar 3, 2009
Thanks for the replies.

Curvemeister – thank you very much for the procedure. Your first suggestion works perfectly. It is a little daunting though because I am working on a book which will have around 900 screengrabs and the extra steps make for quite a lot more work. But it it works it will be worth it.

I have Eye-One Display 2 software and hardware for calibrating my display but I don’t think it will do me any good because I cannot alter the key parameters in hardware on my display. In factory set sRGB mode (the one I use because most of my images are for the web) you can only change brightness and contrast.

I have read material on color management often but I still find it hard to grasp so am very grateful for your easy to follow guide. I just want to be sure that other people – usually in un-color managed contexts – see the same thing as me. That’s why my workflow is all sRGB – but clearly that wasn’t enough so I’m very glad to have your help on this.
C
Curvemeister
Mar 3, 2009
Glad that helped. The i1 Display 2 software has a setting for sRGB, so you might want to try that out.

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