ICC profiles missing

[somnyus]

Hey guys,
I work for a photo studio with multiple locations/shops.
One of our shops is having a weird profile issue:
When they open images directly from the memory card in Photoshop, they correctly have a profile associated with it (AdobeRGB). But during their workflow they manually copy these images to two separate folders: archive and edit. After this, some of the images lose their profile...
Now it's up to me to figure out why!
Please help me, I'm desperate... :-D

[Simon Garrett]

To help narrow things down a bit:

• How are they copying the images from the card to the other folders? What program are they using to copy?
• PC or Mac?
• How do they know that the profiles have been removed - what message or other indication are they getting?

[Manfred M]

My guess is that they are using a workflow that does not use Adobe Bridge. This has nothing to do with the icc profile which is related to the output device.

First things first; jpeg or RAW. If jpeg, the colour space is incorporated in the jpeg file itself, and if this can't be read, there is likely some kind of technical issue with either the files or Photoshop itself.

Second choice is if there is a RAW image, this will NOT have any colour profile associated with it as it is meaningless for RAW data, but often the color space the camera is set to will be recorded. If you import the RAW data with Adobe Bridge, it will write a sidecar .xmp file that contains the "as shot" information associated with the camera settings for Photoshop to use. Bridge creates this on import, whereas other software does not. If you open a RAW file without the sidecar, it will create on that is effectively neutral and you (the lab) will have to make all of the adjustments in Camera RAW. If you use Bridge, the sidecar file will be applied by ACR as a starting point.

[somnyus]

I should've elaborated a bit :-)

• How are they copying the images from the card to the other folders? What program are they using to copy?
  Windows Explorer, drag and drop.
  
• PC or Mac?
  PC, Windows Vista.
  
• How do they know that the profiles have been removed - what message or other indication are they getting?
  When they open the images in Photoshop after they are copied. (RGB/8# in title bar shows that profile is missing)
  

For several reasons we use jpg (rather complicated database and server syncing, I hope to switch to RAW sometime...)

They use Photoshop CS6 IIRC.

[Simon Garrett]

I don't understand what can be happening. Windows Explorer does not remove profiles.

Have they found a specific example of the same file, where if they open in Photoshop from the card they get "RGB/8*" in the title bar, but if they then copy using Explorer and open from the hard drive they get "RGB/8#"?

Another test, to make things crystal clear: get them to change the Photoshop color settings (Edit menu, Color settings...) and towards the bottom left in the "Color Management Policies" box, get them to check all three options (about missing or mismatched profiles). That way, when they open a file with a missing profile, they get an explicit warning.

[JR1]

Errr

Hello

Where are you


"Hey guys,
I work for a photo studio with multiple locations/shops." and THEY don't know ?

[xpatUSA]

I should've elaborated a bit :-)

• How are they copying the images from the card to the other folders? What program are they using to copy?
  Windows Explorer, drag and drop.
  
• PC or Mac?
  PC, Windows Vista.
  
• How do they know that the profiles have been removed - what message or other indication are they getting?
  When they open the images in Photoshop after they are copied. (RGB/8# in title bar shows that profile is missing)
  

For several reasons we use jpg (rather complicated database and server syncing, I hope to switch to RAW sometime...)

They use Photoshop CS6 IIRC.

I suggest that you go and join Luminous Landscape. There, they have a Color Management forum. Among the posters there are Jeff Schewe and Andrew Rodney (digitaldog), both of whom know everything. Also pretty knowledgeable on Adobe stuff is Eric Chan (madmanchan) who actually works or worked at Adobe.

If you post your question there, I believe it will get answered quite quickly. Hope you have a thick skin, some of them (not Eric) can be a bit brusque at times

[somnyus]

thnanks for the advice all! I'll keep you informed :-)