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QuixoteS2
Participating Frequently
May 5, 2022
Answered

Adobe Bridge preview bug in ACR edited images

  • May 5, 2022
  • 4 replies
  • 3418 views

Hi, I think I've stumbled across a bug in the way that Bridge v10.01.126 previews images edited in ACR. 

First of all, I can confirm Bridge is reading all embeded color profiles correctly.  If a series of identical unedited test images are tagged with sRGB, A98, ProPhoto, or WhackedRGB, etc. they will all look identical. See first attachment.  

Secondly, I have Bridge set up to display HQ previews.  ACR uses A98 as a working space.

I have a wide gamut profiled monitor.    

 

Issue:  After editing raw files (or even tiffs and jpegs captured in A98 color space) in ACR v14.3, Bridge previews the edited image in sRGB and not whatever profile is embedded in the image.  I only discovered this after editing some images that had colors that were towards the edge of A98, and definitely outside sRBG.  The Bridge preview is muted in the extended colors while ACR (and opening is PS) shows the full color gamut.  Sure enough, if I convert the edited image to sRGB in ACR or PS, it looks like the Bridge preview. 

I'm wondering if it has something to do with how Bridge is reading and previewing the ACR edits from the sidecar files.   I've tried clearing cache after editing, to no avail.      

I've attached a screenshot of an ACR edit with A98 embedded, so if you have a color managed viewer it will show the differences particularly in the out of sRGB gamut reds.   

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer D Fosse

    Bridge has always, from the beginning, built its previews as sRGB jpegs. So it's not just from ACR.

     

    Back in the day this was probably not considered a big deal, wide gamut displays were relatively few and far between. Today it might be high time to reconsider this policy.

     

    Lightroom previews, for instance, are Adobe RGB.

     

    That said, I've never used Bridge for any kind of critical assessment of color, so it hasn't bothered me much.

    4 replies

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    D FosseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 6, 2022

    I've just retested and I can confirm that Bridge previews are indeed sRGB. They have not changed this.

     

    This screenshot has Adobe RGB embedded, and you will only see the difference here with a wide gamut monitor. To anyone with a standard gamut monitor all four will look identical:

     

    EDIT: you need to right-click and and open in a new tab. The inline image apparently strips the profile, so it shows as sRGB in all browsers. And then of course we have the current forum bug that prevents this. Sigh, there's always someting...

      TheDigitalDog
      TheDigitalDog
      Inspiring
      May 6, 2022
      @D Fosse wrote:

      I've just retested and I can confirm that Bridge previews are indeed sRGB. They have not changed this.

      You are indeed correct. My bad for NOT using the same zooming ratio and here's a new test. It is a JPEG but from a wide gamut display, tagged with my display profile. It isn't in sRGB as I upload it.

       I zoomed them as close as possible. I can see that yes, the Bridge preview and the sRGB conversion from ProPhoto RGB match. The ProPhoto RGB is more saturated. But the sRGB converted image from ProPhoto RGB previewed in Photoshop and the sRGB preview in Bridge match; I see no bug/issue here. Yes, it would be nice if Bridge treated its previews like Lightroom Classic (out of Develop). But I see no bug or problem, it's Bridge, a browser not an editor. The Bridge preview is color-managed and matches Photoshop (sRGB to sRGB). 

       

      Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
      TheDigitalDog
      TheDigitalDog
      Inspiring
      May 6, 2022
      @QuixoteS2 wrote:    

      I've attached a screenshot of an ACR edit with A98 embedded, so if you have a color managed viewer it will show the differences particularly in the out of sRGB gamut reds.   

       

      NEC wide gamut display, your screen capture from Safari. They appear to match to me:

      Seems something is wonky on your end. Try disabling GPU in all products, or creating a new display profile (matrix, not LUT, V2 not V4). Again, nothing I see here from you, or testing on my end indicates any problems. 

      Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
      Q
      QuixoteS2Author
      Participating Frequently
      May 6, 2022
      quote
      @QuixoteS2 wrote:    

      I've attached a screenshot of an ACR edit with A98 embedded, so if you have a color managed viewer it will show the differences particularly in the out of sRGB gamut reds.   

       

      NEC wide gamut display, your screen capture from Safari. They appear to match to me:

      Seems something is wonky on your end. Try disabling GPU in all products, or creating a new display profile (matrix, not LUT, V2 not V4). Again, nothing I see here from you, or testing on my end indicates any problems. 


      By @TheDigitalDog

      What is your working space when viewing my screenshot? Are you downloading my original image and not using "Save As" (or equivalent in Mac)?

      My i1 profile is Matrix, v2.

      Saving your screen of my image, I see it has been converted to sRGB and so they will look identical. The images tagged with ProPhoto, A98, they are all being brought down to the lowest common denomenator which is sRGB.  

       

       

      D Fosse
      Community Expert
      D FosseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      May 5, 2022

      Bridge has always, from the beginning, built its previews as sRGB jpegs. So it's not just from ACR.

       

      Back in the day this was probably not considered a big deal, wide gamut displays were relatively few and far between. Today it might be high time to reconsider this policy.

       

      Lightroom previews, for instance, are Adobe RGB.

       

      That said, I've never used Bridge for any kind of critical assessment of color, so it hasn't bothered me much.

        Q
        QuixoteS2Author
        Participating Frequently
        May 5, 2022

        Wow, after all this time I had no idea. So it is actually reading embedded profiles and then converting to sRGB? It's not a bug, it's designed this way???  I'd always stuck with Bridge+ACR due to the latter's superior catalog performance compared to the earlier iterations of LR.  Any idea why the preview difference exists between LR and Bridge.  LR was built from the ground up, but, yeah, surely Adobe could bring that preview code over to Bridge.  You're right, this isn't a huge issue except for a few outliers, but now I know just how far I can and cannot trust the Bridge thumbnails; I've been using exclusively wide gamut displays for over ten years.    

        TheDigitalDog
        TheDigitalDog
        Inspiring
        May 6, 2022
        @QuixoteS2 wrote:

        Wow, after all this time I had no idea. So it is actually reading embedded profiles and then converting to sRGB? It's not a bug, it's designed this way??? 

        Not a Bridge user, never was. 

        That said, I see nothing 'wrong' with how Bridge produces previews and they do not appear to be in sRGB (not that this would be a problem, more in a bit). Here's a preview in Bridge of an image in ProPhoto RGB and the image in Photoshop (and yes, they differ in zoom ratio):

        If that preview to the right (smaller) was sRGB, the balls would look less saturated than the image shown larger in Photoshop. They match. 

        This is a wide gamut display. The screen captures are tagged with the display profile and then converted to sRGB to post. But they match. 

        And even if Bridge did only provide sRGB previews, as long as they are color managed, that's fine. As discussed, the previews outside of Develop in Lightroom Classic are Adobe RGB (1998). But they are correctly converted so they are color managed even if the source isn't Adobe RGB (1998). 

        BTW, ACR doesn't use Adobe RGB (1998) as a Working Space. 

        Lastly, I can force ACR to open this Gamut Test File TIFF (this is not ACR as a filter). The image opened in ACR is in ProPhoto RGB of course and again, you can see, that it matches the others. 

        I do not see a problem here.

        Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
        Q
        QuixoteS2Author
        Participating Frequently
        May 5, 2022

        N.B. you won't see a difference between the reg flags clicking on the document preview this site uses.  Furthermore, only a wide gamut monitor and a color managed viewer will show the differences.  

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