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Max_Ramuschi
Max_Ramuschi
Known Participant
December 27, 2013

P: ICC Table Profiles clipped shadows under OSX

  • December 27, 2013
  • 166 replies
  • 3911 views

Hi, I've just found a really bad issue occurring in Lr 5 (but also in all other Lightroom versions) under Mac OSX 10.9 with a calibrated monitor: dark shadows (from a value of 20 to 0) are all clipped (pure black with no detail and no textures) while the histogram remains ok, indicating NO clipped shadows at all. This issue afflics also ACR.

Photoshop for now is the only software under MAC that reproduces dark shadows correctly: Library Module shows a bit darker and shifted shadows than Ps but acceptable, Develop Module is really bad showing brutally clipped shadows (but you work in the Develop Module right?!).

The same problem occurred also in OSX 10.8 but it was related only to LUT profiles, creating a Matrix based profile problems were solved.

Now the issue occurs with both Matrix and LUT profiles, v2 and v4. There's no apparent way to make Lr working right.

Under Windows no problems at all: Bridge, Photoshop, ACR, Lr (Library Module and Develop Module) show the same correct NOT clipped shadows.

I tested 8 different Mac running 10.9 with different GPU, different monitors, different profiling Softwares (Color Eyes Display Pro, Eizo Color Navigator, BasICC Color, i1 Profiler). Same results.
I tried to change the gamma value (2.2, sRGB, L*) problems remain. I tried to change ICC version (v2, v4) problems reamain. I tried to change profile type (LUT, MATRIX) problems remain.

How can a photographer work professionally on RAW images if shadows are bad reproduced?

Why Photoshop can reproduce shadows correctly while Lr isn't able to do that?

Why this happens only on a Mac enviroment?

Is Lr based on ColorSync (that can't handle profiles correctly) while Ps isn't (because it can handle and it has no problem)?

Please Adobe, FIX IT for all professional photographers, we can’t use Lr for serious works under Mac.

Max Ramuschi
Adobe Certified Expert

p.s.: Added a 100% Crop screenshots that shows the problem, some photos are even worse...

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    166 replies

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    Max_Ramuschi
    Max_RamuschiAuthor
    Known Participant
    December 2, 2014
    I sent two Eizo profiles: one was matrix and the other was table, are you looking at the right table profile?
    Max_Ramuschi
    Max_RamuschiAuthor
    Known Participant
    December 2, 2014
    Yes, in my desktop I have activated the same profile I sent via e-mail: Eizo Color Navigator activate it by default, I have no other profiles in that computer.

    Same thing in my laptop, I only have the X-Rite one.

    It sound incredible that my Eizo profile in your computer doesn't show darker shadows in LR. In my computer ACR, Photoshop and Bridge are perfect, but Lr isn't... is there something I missed in configuring Lightroom?
    Max_Ramuschi
    Max_RamuschiAuthor
    Known Participant
    December 2, 2014
    to be more precise: with x-rite v2.1 profile and soft proof off there's a difference in shadows luminance of about L* 0,70 - 0,90 measured in the same area with OSX color meter and the dark tones are bluish. With soft proof on, the bluish cast disappears, but luminance difference remains.
    With soft proofing on the difference between Ps and Lr are negligible, but with soft proofing off the two images differ too much.
    MadManChan2000
    Adobe Employee
    MadManChan2000
    Adobe Employee
    December 2, 2014
    Yes, the Eizo profile I have from you is ICC version 2.1.  This profile matches Photoshop and ACR.

    Are you sure (via your System Preferences) that your currently-active color profile is a version 2.1 profile?  I understand that you may have multiple profiles installed on your system, for testing and experimental purposes, but what matters here is which of those profiles is currently being used. 
    Max_Ramuschi
    Max_RamuschiAuthor
    Known Participant
    December 2, 2014
    Nothing changes with the Eizo profile if I turn on and off soft proofing, shadows are way too dark. Can you confirm that the Eizo profile I sent is v2.2?
    Max_Ramuschi
    Max_RamuschiAuthor
    Known Participant
    December 2, 2014
    If I turn on soft proofing in Develop with that profile everything is fine (shadows and colors) but with soft proofing turned off shadows are blue and a little darker.
    MadManChan2000
    Adobe Employee
    MadManChan2000
    Adobe Employee
    December 2, 2014
    That's not what I found.  I used this exact profile (ICC version 2.1), compared with Lr and Ps, used the DigitalColor Meter software, and got the same values.  I also turned on/off soft proofing in Develop (the other workaround, to force Lr to use its own internal color management instead of the OS-level color management), and got the same color values.  
    Max_Ramuschi
    Max_RamuschiAuthor
    Known Participant
    December 2, 2014
    the profiles I sent are Eizo v2.2 and X-rite v2.1 and are too dark.
    MadManChan2000
    Adobe Employee
    MadManChan2000
    Adobe Employee
    December 2, 2014
    Ok, I dug into this a little more.  All of the cases that I have seen so far with Lr 5.7 that have "too dark shadows" with table-based profiles have 1 thing in common:  they are using ICC version 4.x.  I also have examples of table-based profiles that don't have this problem, and they also have 1 thing in common:  they are using ICC version 2.x.

    Therefore:   For those of you generating table-based color profiles and still experiencing issues with "too dark shadows" in Lr:  Can you please try using your color profile-building software (NEC, Eizo, X-Rite, etc.) to build "ICC version 2" profiles (instead of version 4)?
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    December 2, 2014
    to Jeffrey or Eric. Here are ICC from my system, Color Navigator 6, OSX 10.10. The ICC profile are only 4 kb?? https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4...
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