Color - Photoshop/Lightroom vs the rest

T

theotherleft

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Edit My Images
Yes
(I've done a search on other threads and while there was similar ground I don't think this has come up before - but do please let me know if I've missed the answer)

The colours in a picture are different on my screen depending on whether I'm using photoshop/lightroom or anything else. Basically PS/LR renders much stronger colours, as illustrated below.

If I save anything as a jpeg from PS/LR that I then view elsewhere, the colour differs from what I've seen when processing, so that is a right pain and I'm reluctant to get on with processing 1000 pics from my holiday until I'm confident about what I'm seeing!

In photoshop I'm working in sRGB and Preserve Embedded Profiles. In LR I haven't found any settings that affect the colour of what I view (as opposed to export). It makes no difference whether the original is jpeg or raw.

Some guidance on how I can see the same image colours in whatever package (and that I can trust them!) would be greatly appreciated!

screencolors.jpg


cheers
Dean
 
This is a common problem, particularly with output from these applications going to web.

Both Photoshop and Lightroom are fully colour managed systems , where a lot of other applications, such as web browsers are not, ( except Safari on the Mac ) hence the problem.

Usually outputting the file as sRGB does tend to mitigate the problem.

What you are seeing is the difference between what the image should look like and what other apps do to it. You might like to look at the images in whatever web browser you have, Explorer , or Firefox and see if you get a better match.

You don't say if the image in in Office Picture Manager is the original or one that's been through Photoshop or Lightroom. If it's the original see what happens when you save it as an sRGB file and view it.

Do you normaly use either Photoshop or Lightroom as you default image editor/RAW processor. If so then these are the ones that matter. But what can you do with images that need to be viewed in other applications. Well if they are like the comparison you have in your example, you could try simply increasing the overall saturation at the output/conversion stage by about 20% to see if that helps.If you are using jpeg as your main file source save the modified file with a different name. You don't really want to over write the original with an over saturated image

Hope this helps
 
Thanks Chappers,

I've taken an image that I took in both RAW and jpeg format and output the RAW to jpeg as sRGB Both jpegs (original and output from raw) look the same in internet Explorer - and much less saturated than in LR.

If I adjust the image in LR to 'look right' then the exported version is all washed out. Pushing the saturation in LR gets me a stronger image in the jpeg but not the color balance that is in LR.

I have used PS as an editor before, but with this problem making me hesitate. Since I've now started shooting RAW and am wanting to use LR all the time, this colour issue has become critical! Generally, images with greens etc look overly saturared in PS/LR, and I can't help think that there's something wrong with the set up of these!

Any further thoughts appreciated.
 
From what you say my impression is that you are happy with the LR/PS images.

I wonder if we are looking at a monitor calibration issue. My monitor is calibrated, and when I look at the same image in PS or LR they match. I've just pulled up one of my test images in sRGB mode. Viewing this image in both Firefox and I.E.7 they match to LR is very good. Note exactly but very,very, close.

I think the best thing you can do is to try and get the monitor you are using profiled. This may solve a lot of problems. Professional applications like Lightroom and Photoshop, expect the user to have a calibrated and profiled monitor in order to use them.

I personally use an Eye1 monitor calibrator, but the Huey is available for a lot less money.

Maybe it's time to think about investing in one of those, or maybe you know someone who could loan you one for a couple of days to see how well it works But it's important to bear in mind that although you may have your monitor calibrated and profiled those people who you send your images to may not. So the question is is it worth it?

Hope these few observations may have helped in some way
 
Adjusting a shot so it looks "right" in other apps is a VERY BAD IDEA. The other apps are ignoring the colour profiles of your system basically because Windows doesn't do colour management very well at all.

If you get a calibration tool like the Huey then you will have a degree of colour management system wide and fairly consistent results in all applications. Huey works by adjusting your display via the gfx card hardware but also creates a profile that programs like photoshop will use to fine tune the results.

Without calibration photoshop will read whatever profile you've got assigned to your monitor and base everything on that. If you've run adobe gamma then the profile might not be so bad, if not it might be the profile that came with the monitor or one windows picked for it and it could be very wrong indeed. But as soon as you at the images outside of PS/LR you lose the colour management and it will look wrong again.

The whole point of calibration is to adjust your monitor to match known standards so you get consistent results across different devices. If you're display isn't calibrated or poorly setup adjusting the image to look good on your display means it will look awful on a calibrated system and prints won't come close to matching.
 
Thanks.

I take pxl8's point re adjusting to look right - I was only doing so to see if it gave insights into what was happening, not as an answer!

I'm going to have a look at getting a calibration tool. Meantime, do you know if LR picks up settings from PS for monitor etc, since images appear the same in both? I can't find any settings in LR...

I shall also have a play with monitor settings in PS....
 
LR and PS read the monitor profile that's defined by the system. You can check this by going to display properties and looking at the colour management tab, this will be in different places depending on what flavour of windows you're running.

Neither app has an option to change the monitor profile.
 
Didn't have my brain in gear! I meant fiddling with the RGB working space in PS- though when I do select something different there, there's no change to colours in PS!
 
There won't be.

Photoshop translates the colours from the working space to the monitor profile, if you change the working space the translation still happens so the results are pretty much the same (within the limitations of the different colour spaces).

Imagine your image is a page of text written in german. Each output device such as your monitor, printer, etc. all speak their own language. Photoshop handles the translation between the different languages. If you monitor speaks english then photoshop will translate from german to english, if you then change the original text from german to french (working space) photoshop will then translate french to english so your monitor can still read it.

This is why it's important to have the right (calibrated) profile for your monitor, if you don't then photoshop will be translating to the wrong language - it might translate french to english when in fact it should be translating french to spanish.
 
Right - now I understand what photoshop is up to!

I've just order a huey pro so should get a calibration done in the next week or so. And then hopefully images will look similar in colo(u)r whatever package I'm looking at the image in...

cheers
Dean
 
One Huey Pro later - and as if by magic all my colours look the same whatever package I'm in!

Thanks for the advice guys.
 
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