CS4 image does not match screen appearance?

[lenelg]

Recently, I have noticed that images I post to forums come out more saturated than I intended them to be. I am aware of the pitfalls of AdobeRGB vs sRGB, different screens etc. As a test, I opened the same (sRGB) image file in CS4 and in PictureViewer side by side, on the same screen, and indeed the colors are less saturated in the CS4 window - the way I intended them to come out. Is there some setting in CS4 I have overlooked?

The enclosed screenshot shows the CS4 window at the top and PictureViewer below. PictureViewer matches what I see when I look at posted images through Explorer 9.

[IMG][/IMG]

The photo is a 1942 (!) slide taken by my father.

[herbert]

Hi Lennart,

This appears to be a colour management issue. Since I trust Photoshop to have the right colours I think fault may be with your computer and not you.

I am guessing that you have a wide gamut monitor (or a profiled monitor a bit different from sRGB) and Windows 7. By default Windows does not apply the monitor profile to any sRGB image. Any untagged images are also assumed to be sRGB and so the monitor profile is not applied.

If any image is tagged with anything other than sRGB then the image is converted appropriately using the monitor profile.

This all works fine for most people who have a monitor that closely matches sRGB (i.e. the web default). However for those with different monitors and/or monitor profiles most images will look out-of-whack on Internet Explorer and through the PictureViewer.

Not much you can do about this since it is an operating system design decision. You can change to Firefox as a browser though and get back some normal looking web pages since it has better colour management. Have a look at this page in Internet Explorer and see if you see colour shifts:

http://www.gballard.net/psd/go_live_...Gprofiles.html

If you are not happy then install Firefox and update the about:config setting gfx.color_management.mode to 1, as shown here:

http://www.gballard.net/firefox/

Hope this helps.

Alex

[lenelg]

Thanks, Alex,

You are right, I have a wider gamut monitor which has been profiled, and Windows 7. My main concern is how images will appear to other viewers (likely with monitors closer to sRGB), so me changing browser would not help..

I looked at the gballard.net website. I do not see any difference in the left hand rollover, however the difference I see approximates the comparison between untagged Adobe RGB and untagged sRGB. My example image had been converted to sRBG IEC61966-2.1, saved and then reopened in CS4 for the screenshot. The same file was also opened in PictureViewer, in a second window on the same screen.

When I look at the comparison image posted in this thread - using IE9 - the top (CS4) half comes out as I intended it. Strange..

/Lennart

[herbert]

Hi Lennart,

The fact that you see tagged Adobe and tagged sRGB as the same is because Internet Explorer 9 is partially colour managed. IE9 converts any non sRGB image to sRGB. It leaves sRGB images and (untagged images) alone.

The fact you see a colour shift between Photoshop and the Picture Viewer is because Photoshop is applying colour management and converting your sRGB image to your wide gamut monitor profile. Picture Viewer is assuming sRGB is OK and so sending it unconverted to the monitor and so you get a colour shift.

There are three situations for colour management we are discussing:

1. You seeing your images as you intend
2. You seeing others' images as they intend
3. Others seeing your images as you intend

You have addressed item 1 by using Photoshop and knowing the correct image colourspace. Edit in Photoshop and you can be sure of your colours. Unfortunately as a Windows user you have to live with some applications not being fully colour managed, such as Internet Explorer and Picture Viewer.

Item 2 is addressed by using a colour managed web browser (Firefox). With a wide gamut monitor you may appreciate this since all the reds will no longer seem over saturated.

Item 3 is your original problem. If you tag your images with a profile that is all you can do to ensure other people see your images how you intend. You cannot control their colour management. If you assume that they have no colour management (which is highly likely) then your best option is to save as sRGB. They will most likely use software that is not colour managed and monitors that approximate sRGB, so the image will most likely look correct.

Cheers,

Alex

[ajohnw]

Have you profiled your monitor for a wide gamut? I ask as I came across a photographers web site that was more into colour management than most and pointed out that a full icc sRGB profile is needed to produce accurately rendered images as others will see them. This will effectively convert a wide gamut monitor into an ordinary one. There is also talk about ambient lighting levels. It seems that a straight sRGB profile is intended to be viewed in "subdued" studio type lighting implying that they will be displayed in a different fashion on the web etc where viewing will generally be carried out in stronger lighting. I suspect this is done via fiddling with gamma. I've recently noticed that colour saturation tends to change according to how high my head is when viewing the monitor. I'm fairly sure this is down to ambient lighting as it's even noticeable on blacks.

Noticing the recent comment about colour management I'm not sure that it's entirely correct and hasn't been for a long time. Most recent normal PC setups are colour profiled on the basis that they are connected to a sRGB monitor. What is in doubt is if the monitor is really displaying sRGB correctly. When I calibrated my monitor I was rather surprised how much "user" settings had thrown it out. It had a sRGB setting that correctly disabled contrast adjustment but I didn't like the views it produced so came up with my own settings. Many people probably do the same thing.

-

[Manfred M]

I personally would not get too excited as to what other viewers see. Most of the monitors out in cyberspace are uncalibrated and at best use a default profile. The TN screens that most people use that are going to do a questionable job reproducing colours anyway.