strange problem

simulastral · Mar 23, 2004

ok, i am using ps7 and i am having a very peculiar problem. when i 'save for web' the image i am working with suddenly looks much brighter than it did in the workspace.. actually, if i open an image and save it for web, and then open the new re-saved image in another browser [like acdsee], the image will look excactly the same as the original. But, while working with it in PS it looks much darker. I am having trouble adjusting the levels in images as a result of this peculiarity.. because the image i create will never look exactly like the image i save. It's very frustrating. How can i fix this problem?

voodoocat · Mar 23, 2004

What is your default color profile set to?

Osmer_Toby · Mar 23, 2004

check your color settings- you might be set on something other than default, which is web-ready sRGB IEC61966-2.1

if you're converting from Adobe RGB or CYMK you will see a difference

edit-
oops- cross post w/ voods... anyway. looks like we had the same idea

karissa · Mar 23, 2004

I have the opposite problem. When I open something up in ps it gets washed out really bad. Then I adjust the way I like it an save back to the original file and... it's dark again.

Osmer_Toby · Mar 23, 2004

check your color settings, just like above. when you say you save and they're back to original prob- you savin for web?

what format do you work in- jpeg, tif psd?

simulastral · Mar 23, 2004

ALRIGHT! =)

well, i messed around a bit with the setting with no luck.. so i eventually just turned off color management completely. the problem i was having is resolved. i know this sounds like a very amatuer question, but what are the advantages of using a color management profile? any explanations or links would be appreciated.

drlynn · Mar 23, 2004

Color management in theory standardizes the color you see on your monitor with a known color space. In practice, unless you have some way of ensuring that your ICC profile for your monitor is accurate, it doesn't do a whole lot of good.

Adobe includes a color profiling program with Photoshop, but it is visual - you have to judge the best match with your eyes. This may or may not give you accurate results.

To get truly accurate results, you need something like Pantone's Spyder, which is a little gadget that attaches to the front of your monitor, and a program that profiles your monitor and writes an ICC file which Photoshop, etc use to ensure that the color your monitor puts out is true.

There are probably folks on here who can give a more complete answer, but that's the basics. Hope it helped!

simulastral · Mar 24, 2004

hey thanks a lot drlynn.. one of the few things about photoshop that mystified me

karissa · Mar 25, 2004

Osmer_Toby said:
check your color settings, just like above. when you say you save and they're back to original prob- you savin for web?

what format do you work in- jpeg, tif psd?

I work solely in jpeg. Check my color settings in what? PS? Where? I have been picking around trying to find stuff but.... not having much luck.

markc · Mar 25, 2004

A couple of articles on color space:
Article #1
Article #2
If your camera or scanner supports Adobe RGB, this is the best colorspace to work in as it has more colors. sRGB has fewer colors.

Working with JPEGs is not usually a good idea. Every time you save the image, you loose data due to a lossy compression scheme. Work with TIFFs or PSDs and than create a JPG only once you are ready to make an image intended to post to the web. Also, since JPEGs are sRGB, when you go to print the image won't be as vibrant as it would be if you were printing from a TIFF in Adobe RGB.

If your camera only takes JPEGs, the first thing to do is convert it to Adobe RGB (if you plan on doing any color manipulations) and save it as a TIFF. This will give you more color head-room and you won't get those nasty compresson artifacts building up every time you load and save.

karissa · Mar 25, 2004

markc said:
A couple of articles on color space:
Article #1
Article #2
If your camera or scanner supports Adobe RGB, this is the best colorspace to work in as it has more colors. sRGB has fewer colors.

Working with JPEGs is not usually a good idea. Every time you save the image, you loose data due to a lossy compression scheme. Work with TIFFs or PSDs and than create a JPG only once you are ready to make an image intended to post to the web. Also, since JPEGs are sRGB, when you go to print the image won't be as vibrant as it would be if you were printing from a TIFF in Adobe RGB.

If your camera only takes JPEGs, the first thing to do is convert it to Adobe RGB (if you plan on doing any color manipulations) and save it as a TIFF. This will give you more color head-room and you won't get those nasty compresson artifacts building up every time you load and save.

Oh.. my head is hurting after that first article. I think I get the main idea but some of the details washed right over the top. Thanks so much though. Lots of stuff I needed to know.

I'm not sure what RGB my camera uses... I think sRGB but the article said that even the cameras that used Adobe RGB logged it as sRGB. :?

When I work on colors I always save the PSD file and then save a copy to jpg. I noticed on another computer that it didn't have the same problem with a picture I downloaded from my camera. When I opened it in ps7 it was exactly the way I previewed it in windows. I'm wondering if it is a problem with a config in my os at home.

vonnagy · Apr 7, 2004

astral, i having the exact same issue now. I was running pshop 5.5 on my office machine, there was no difference at all for 'save' for web on my screen.

I've installed pshop 7 and the colour difference is frankly disgusting between the save for web and psd file. I am going to change graphic cards, It currently has a 24bit graphic card, i am going to put in a 32 bit card and see if that makes a huge difference.

With pshop 5.5, it had a lovely wizard to calibrate the monitor, in ps7 they don't have this

Well, it'll force me to learn this on my own.