Image colour change when going from ACR to PS

[pschlute]

Apple has had a history of colour issues whenever they release a new OS. but Windows has generally done that part of the updating well. Perhaps this time was an exception?

Generally I agree as far as programs and apps are concerned, but Windows has never been fully compliant with proper colour management. With a AdobeRGB screen the colour profiles are never honoured if one uses windows photos app. Searching through folders also shows these to be lacking in colour management.

It works well when operating with colour managed applications like PS or LR, but otherwise it has always been hit or miss.

[Manfred M]

Generally I agree as far as programs and apps are concerned, but Windows has never been fully compliant with proper colour management. With a AdobeRGB screen the colour profiles are never honoured if one uses windows photos app. Searching through folders also shows these to be lacking in colour management.

It works well when operating with colour managed applications like PS or LR, but otherwise it has always been hit or miss.

Yes, MS has (and others) have non-colour managed applications that run on Windows. The operating system does have a fully functional colour management system, but as you have pointed out, those functions need to be written into the application.

That being said, iOS is not colour managed either, so iPads and iPhones don't handle colour properly either. x-Rite did have a colour management app for iOS, but even if one profiled and calibrated the screen, only the x-Rite app could be used to display the colours reasonably well.

[Stagecoach]

Sounds to me it is a monitor profile issue. Perhaps performing a calibration using X-Rite or Datacolor Spyder hardware/software would fix it, although I would not be too sure. My monitor manufacturer Eizo, do not recommend using Windows 11 yet due to a software bug in the OS causing problems with the profile being read and applied correctly.

I would be inclined to roll-back to W10 personally.

I've undertaken a couple of calibrations with my Spyder but this has not solved the color 'difference' problem between ACR and PS.

Rolling back is an option within 10 days of the Win 11 install but at present I'll hang on as it's useable and I've spent enough time already on it. Also I don't want any more problems before I have hundreds of images to PP this coming weekend.

[Stagecoach]

An update on the dreaded yellow hue in PS since loading Windows 11.

I've updated the driver for my Nvidia GPU with the latest version that now states is Win 11 compatible, no change to the colour problem.

My workspace in both ACR and PS is set to srgb and the monitor set to the default srgb profile. This based upon advice on an Adobe forum for tracking problems. With respect to the monitor profile I get the same 'colour' if using the profile that came with the monitor. If using my own calibration profiles there are slight differences and this proves that the monitor is using the selected profiles correctly.

I made a grey and white test card in PS, and saved it as srgb. On opening this test card in ACR it is grey and white and then when opened in PS it has a very obvious yellow hue. RGB values confirm it is actually still grey and white.

From some discussion on the Adobe forum I investigated the PS 'Proof' facility and have found that if I select 'Proof Colours' with 'Monitor RGB' selected my yellow hue image corrects itself to grey and white. The selected 'Monitor RGB' function disables the colour management of PS. This now means I'm able to work in PS with the correct coloured image although this has to be selected each time an image is opened in PS.



Hopefully Windows or PS will come up with the debug soon.

[pschlute]

Gosh, that sounds like a right pain. Were there lots of others on the Adobe forum with the same issue ?

Does Adobe Lightroom have the same issue ?

[DanK]

How annoying!

I just checked mine, which works fine and is under Windows 10. Proof colors is normally unchecked, and the proof setup is for the last paper I soft proofed in Photoshop. In other words, it's just what it should be: only for soft proofing. The fact that in effect, you have to turn soft proofing on to get correct colors is clearly not right, but I don't have the knowledge to guess at what before that stage is going wrong. I assume you've checked all of the options under preferences and color settings.

Is it safe to assume that when you view the test image in other color-managed applications--Lightroom, color-managed browsers--it's rendered correctly?

[Stagecoach]

Gosh, that sounds like a right pain. Were there lots of others on the Adobe forum with the same issue ?

There were a few and the immediate responses from the Adobe 'experts' were that it's caused by a corrupted monitor profile. But as replies and investigations continued nothing conclusive was determined.

Does Adobe Lightroom have the same issue ?

Yes, opened in library its got the yellow hue but in develop it's grey and white.

[Stagecoach]

How annoying!

I just checked mine, which works fine and is under Windows 10. Proof colors is normally unchecked, and the proof setup is for the last paper I soft proofed in Photoshop. In other words, it's just what it should be: only for soft proofing. The fact that in effect, you have to turn soft proofing on to get correct colors is clearly not right, but I don't have the knowledge to guess at what before that stage is going wrong. I assume you've checked all of the options under preferences and color settings.

Dan, I've checked all colour management settings hundreds of times now and also have the advantage of having my laptop with Windows 10 along with the latest update of ACR/PS/LR that's working fine to refer to against those settings.

Is it safe to assume that when you view the test image in other color-managed applications--Lightroom, color-managed browsers--it's rendered correctly?

LR has the same problems where the image is fine in develop but not library. ViewNxi its yellow but in Windows 'Photos' which is now colour managed it's fine.

[pschlute]

I am convinced it is a Win11 issue. It may be apparent on some software and not on others.

My monitor manufacturer Eizo have updated their profiling software for windows11, but still display this warning on their website:

"[NOTE for Win 11]
Color management may not work on Windows 11 depending on the retouching software.
Please check the Windows 11 support status of the software."

[Stagecoach]

I am convinced it is a Win11 issue. It may be apparent on some software and not on others.

I would like to think that's it's a Win 11 issue but it's surprising how many people in the photography/PS/LR area are coming forward and saying they have no problems since updating.

Whilst I can imagine 'minor' colour differences may not be noticed by many I consider my differences far from minor and very easily recognised.

[pschlute]

I would like to think that's it's a Win 11 issue but it's surprising how many people in the photography/PS/LR area are coming forward and saying they have no problems since updating.

Try and establish a common theme. Find out the system specs of those who are having issues versus those who are not.

[DanK]

I'd forgotten that you mentioned that the problem shows up in ViewNX-i. That, in combination with the fact that you had no problems with Windows 10, would seem to verify that this is a Windows issue and not fundamentally an Adobe issue.

It's not at all surprising that an OS problem would affect some users but not all. An OS is an enormously complex bundle of code that has to interact with a huge variety of equipment and software.

[xpatUSA]

Whilst I can imagine 'minor' colour differences may not be noticed by many I consider my differences far from minor and very easily recognised.

Late to the thread but, in either case, are you able to color-pick to establish if the yellow cast is actually in the RGB values and not some embedded or not profile? I also have vague memories of Elements 6 showing different values for individual pixels - something to do "assigned" versus "converted".

Ref an earlier comment of yours, I've had apps too where thumbnails were not color-managed ...

[Stagecoach]

When producing the test card image in PS I colour picked the grey and white areas and the RGB values were all equal as would be expected.

After saving that image (srgb) then opening in ACR the colour picker showed the exact same values. Then on opening in PS the colour picker again shows the exact same values although the image has the visible yellow hue.

I had done this to see if the file/pic was being corrupted in some way during the transfer across between apps.

[xpatUSA]

When producing the test card image in PS I colour picked the grey and white areas and the RGB values were all equal as would be expected.

After saving that image (srgb) then opening in ACR the colour picker showed the exact same values. Then on opening in PS the colour picker again shows the exact same values although the image has the visible yellow hue.

Aha! Definitely a color-management issue, I reckon but owning neither PS nor Win 10, I probably can't help with identifying the root cause of the said issue.

[Manfred M]

Grahame - does Photoshop's ACR filter behave in the same was as the native Adobe Camera Raw?

Working on my Windows 11 laptop (100% Adobe RGB compliant screen), I see no difference between an image in Lightroom Classic, ACR or Photoshop. My machine came with Windows 11 pre-installed ( i.e. it never had any Windows 10 system files / settings) so I wonder if the problem is caused by some legacy software or driver left over when you upgraded?

[Stagecoach]

I have just checked this Manfred.

1. With the grey/white test image open in ACR it is visually correct and also measures correctly (equal value RGBs).

2. With that image opened in PS it is visually wrong, yellow hue, but measures correctly.

3. Converted to a 'smart object' and then opened in 'Camera Raw Filter' it is then again visually correct and measures correctly.

I've undertaken a number of driver scans and updated some, but no change. I'm going to have a look at the implications of a clean install of Windows.

[Abitconfused]

I am hoping this issue has been resolved. Anything new?

[Stagecoach]

I am hoping this issue has been resolved. Anything new?

My system still has the same problem.

There are comments that a 'patch' is coming for Win 11 late January that will fix the well documented Eizo monitor problems.

What does concern me is that whilst there are considerable reports of 'colour management problems' with Win 11 I have not found a single one that clarifies the exact same problem as I'm seeing. I would have thought that there are many using PS and going from an image open in ACR then on to PS is extremely common and significant colour differences would be immediately noticed.

[Abitconfused]

I checked my Win 11 updated PS & Camera Raw again for the issue and did not notice anything (Standard sRGB NEC monitor). I did update my Nvidia 1060 series video card to a Win 11 driver and that solved a significant performance issue. Perhaps if you downloaded DXO PhotoLab 5 as a trial version, you could have a different color management system to compare color management & Raw demosaicing. I really like DXO and have NIK and a number of other DXO addons as well...not too expensive.

To me PS Edit > Color Settings can be confusing as I have to remember to actually save a change for it to take effect.

One thing that opened my small brain quite a lot was the realization that many RGB Mode color spaces (sRGB, Adobe RGB) are centered at the D65 illuminant (6500K I think) which is white for all practical purposes. The colors get increasingly saturated as they are distant from the D65 point. So much, if not almost all, photos look reasonably great in sRGB. Certainty, I would imagine, for skin tones it is hard to visualize a tone beyond the sRGB color space. So, software wise, setting everything to sRGB should minimize any color shifts if Windows properly reads the color information (.icm) during boot-up... in Windows 10 & 11: Windows/System32/spool/drivers/color). I certainty hope the next Win 11 update addresses all color issues. Oddly enough, it takes about the same amount of time to load PS now as it did back in 1994 and I still have many of the same printing vexations as back then as well. So, the more things change, the more they stay the same.