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P: Photoshop 27.8 & later Rendering Artifacts, Exposed Previews and Color Banding

Forum|Forum|1 month ago
June 30, 2026
167 replies
889 views

Hello,

I have encountered what appears to be a GPU-related rendering bug when converting RGB images to CMYK in Photoshop.

System

Photoshop 27.8
macOS Tahoe 26.5.2
Mac Studio M2 Ultra
Apple Silicon GPU

Problem

Whenever GPU acceleration is enabled, converting an RGB image to CMYK produces severe black rendering artifacts across the image. The artifacts appear immediately after the color conversion and make the document unusable.

The issue occurs with multiple images and is fully reproducible on my system.

Steps to Reproduce

Open an RGB image.
Make sure Use Graphics Processor is enabled under Preferences > Performance.
Convert the document to CMYK (either Image > Mode > CMYK Color or Edit > Convert to Profile).
Large black artifacts appear throughout the image.

Expected Result

The RGB image should convert normally to CMYK without any visual corruption.

Actual Result

The converted image contains large black rendering artifacts that were not present in the original RGB document.

Workaround

Disabling Use Graphics Processor completely resolves the issue.

After restarting Photoshop with GPU acceleration disabled, the exact same RGB image converts to CMYK correctly with no artifacts.

Additional Information

The problem started recently. Earlier Photoshop versions on the same hardware did not show this behavior.
The issue does not appear to be related to a specific image.
Since disabling GPU acceleration immediately fixes the problem, this seems to be related to Photoshop's Metal GPU rendering pipeline rather than the color conversion itself.
I can provide the original RGB file, the corrupted CMYK result, screenshots, the GPU Compatibility Report, and the Photoshop System Information if needed.

Has anyone else experienced this issue on Apple Silicon Macs, particularly on an M2 Ultra?

Thank you.

Adobe PS Bug Report.txt

Pinned Reply By Erin26

An update on the two bugs mentioned in this thread:

Washed-out colors: The fix is included in the latest Photoshop release, PS 27.9.1.
Banding during RGB → CMYK conversion: The fix is available in the latest Photoshop Beta build 27.11.

Show previous replies

Jeff Arola

Community Expert

The most successful workaround so far, until Adobe fixes the issue, is to go Photoshop 2026 or Photoshop Beta>Settings>Technology Previews, uncheck Precise color management for HDR display and restart Photoshop.

With the above setting disabled you can turn Use Graphics Processor back on.

larryb52z

Known Participant

I have checked the "Precise color management for HDR display" setting, and it was already turned off.

I also discovered that the issue is not limited to HDR or TIFF files. The problem occurs with JPEG, TIFF, PSD, and DNG files. All of these image types display noticeably lighter in Photoshop when Use Graphics Processor is enabled.

The same files display correctly in Adobe Bridge, Camera Raw, and in Photoshop when Use Graphics Processor is disabled.

This appears to be a Photoshop GPU display issue rather than a file-format-specific issue.

D Fosse

Community Expert

@larryb52z

Correct, it has nothing to do with file format. It is broken display color management, somewhere in the interface between Photoshop GPU code and the MacOS GPU driver component (it’s only been reported on Mac, not Windows).

The fix - well, not really a fix, but a workaround for now - seems to be to activate the “precise color management for HDR display” checkbox, regardless of how it was previously set. If checked, uncheck it; if unchecked, check it. Whatever the cause, that seems to kickstart GPU color management back into correct operation.

The conversion from document profile into the monitor profile is normally executed in the GPU. When the GPU is disabled, it shifts back to the traditional CPU pipeline.

larryb52z

Known Participant

i am having a similar problem, i was able to restore my colors by turning the graphic card off however this hammers use of the crop and transform tools here is my configuration

"Photoshop 27.9 on macOS Sequoia 15.7.7 displays HDR/TIFF images noticeably lighter when Use Graphics Processor is enabled. The same image displays correctly in Camera Raw, Bridge, and Photoshop with GPU disabled."

nickm26355192

Participant

I am also experiencing the same issue, both on the latest stable version and the beta.

You can work around it by turning going to View > Proof Colors. Hopefully this is fixed soon because it’s really annoying.

Edit: Rolling back to PS 27.8 fixed the issue.

macheath48

Participant

Thank you.

T

ToastyKen

Participant

I just upgraded to 27.9.0, and every image is washed out unless I disable “Use Graphics Processor”. Looks like this was reported in Beta here:

but somehow made it to production anyway.

macheath48

Participant

I upload my PHOTOS from my Nikon Z9 to my MacBook Pro. ALL MY SYSTEMS are updated to the latest versions of operating systems, apps, etc.

Since ADOBE updated all three of these (Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Beta and Camera Raw) my photos are taken by ADOBE PHOTOSHOP and look OK but when CAMERA RAW coverts them to JPEG files, they are murky and cloudy. Even if I skip the first step, the photos are no longer delivered to Photoshop as vibrant although they are much better looking in the viewfinder and using the PREVIEW function.

cruhland

Participant

Came here to find out this exact issue. It must be a bug. Thanks Dave for the help! The washed out images were driving me mad!

Travis_Foster3868

Participant

Thanks, Dave! I apprecate your help. Very generous of you.

Travis_Foster3868

Participant

Dave -Thanks! I did not realize that you were simply a customer and helping people. Wow. That’s very generous of you. Are you aware of a place that users can go to talk to a trouble shooting specialist that is actually employed by Adobe? Is that a thing?

davescm

Community Expert

You can go to the contacts page and contact Adobe via the chat box. However, try the suggestion first - it has resolved the problem for others since it came up.

Dave

davescm

Community Expert

It is a known issue on the Mac. To workaround it, until it is fixed, go to Preferences > Technology Previews and uncheck ‘Precise Color Management for HDR display’, then click ‘OK’.
You will need to close and restart Photoshop after clicking OK.

Dave

Travis_Foster3868

Participant

I am looking under the photoshop dropdown menu and do not see a Preferences option…

Also, typically on an issue like this, how long does it take Adobe to correct the bug? You mentioned that is it is a known issue. I was using PS yesterday and it was working great. This happened this morning.

davescm

Community Expert

Sorry, it is ‘Settings’ on the Mac.
I can’t comment on how long it might take to fix, I am a Photoshop customer like you, not an employee.

Dave

Travis_Foster3868

Participant

This is how the image should look:

However this is how the image is displayed when I open the image up, everything is washed out and it looks as if everything is at half opacity. Weird:

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