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A
Anonymous
July 23, 2016
Answered

images not showing correctlyin in Lightroom or photoshop :(

  • July 23, 2016
  • 3 replies
  • 1095 views

Hi all,

First post in these forums and really hoping for someone will have some insights on this issue I've been trying to solve for months now.

I'm a little behind with my software, running LR4 and PS CS5. It's worked fine for me on this computer for a long time before this...

My issue is that none of my images are rendered correctly in photoshop or lightroom, but they look fine in other programs (eg., paint, windows 10 photos app, but not the windows photo viewer).  The only way I can get the images to look correctly is to proof view them for monitor RGB.  That tells me it must be a colour management issue.  I've played around with all the colour management settings in lightroom and photoshop, but nothing has worked.

The image below is a crop of a screenshot showing the correct appearance in the windows 10 photos app (left) and ugly photoshop version (right).

Does anyone have any ideas???

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer TheDigitalDog

    grahams80460196 wrote:

    Thanks for the quick replies.

    The images I'm seeing in PS and LR are definitely not the proper rendering.

    Check the color quality using a color reference image like this: http://www.digitaldog.net/files/2014PrinterTestFileFlat.tif.zip

    IF it looks bad, it's your display calibration. Again, Photoshop and LR are correctly previewing the data but perhaps with a poor display profile but non Color Managed app's have to be ignored even if they appear better. The previews are incorrect. They are not color managed.

    3 replies

    A
    Anonymous
    July 24, 2016

    Thanks for the quick replies. 

    The images I'm seeing in PS and LR are definitely not the proper rendering.  The images I posted may not have been the best example, but I assure you they look horrible.  It isn't simply a question of saturation or muting or contrast, etc., but rather the images look almost as if they are compressed versions of the original.  In my original post you can see the image on the right (photoshop sample) doesn't show a smooth gradation of grey to black like the left image does.  Something is definitely not right!  Images that I had processed years ago look horrible (until I look at them under Monitor RGB proof or something else).

    TheDigitalDog
    TheDigitalDogCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    July 24, 2016

    grahams80460196 wrote:

    Thanks for the quick replies.

    The images I'm seeing in PS and LR are definitely not the proper rendering.

    Check the color quality using a color reference image like this: http://www.digitaldog.net/files/2014PrinterTestFileFlat.tif.zip

    IF it looks bad, it's your display calibration. Again, Photoshop and LR are correctly previewing the data but perhaps with a poor display profile but non Color Managed app's have to be ignored even if they appear better. The previews are incorrect. They are not color managed.

    Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
    A
    Anonymous
    July 24, 2016

    thedigitaldog wrote:

    ...but perhaps with a poor display profile.

    Looks like you hit the nail on the head here.  my monitor icc profile must've been corrupted.   I downloaded a new profile for my monitor and everything went back to normal!!!

    So much wasted time looking at color settings in PS and LR!

    ...Now I have about 3 months of image processing to catch up on :S

    Thanks for your help!

    TheDigitalDog
    TheDigitalDog
    Inspiring
    July 23, 2016

    grahams80460196 wrote: The only way I can get the images to look correctly is to proof view them for monitor RGB. That tells me it must be a colour management issue.

    Yes, that preview mode (Monitor RGB) is Photoshop simulating a non color managed path. So that's no good. IF it matches Windows 10 anything, that tells you that other app isn't color managed. It's wrong That you prefer the wrong preview doesn't matter. Make the images look good in Photoshop and LR. Ignore any previews that do not match.

    Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
    TheDigitalDog
    TheDigitalDog
    Inspiring
    July 23, 2016

    The previews in Photoshop and Lightroom are correct. The other's if they do not match are not correct. You may prefer those previews but if the app isn't color managed, which I suspect (or they would match), but that doesn't matter. So no, the correct appearance isn't windows 10 photo's or it would match Photoshops. You should always conduct critical viewing at 100% (1:1) in all app's and always do this in LR's Develop module rather than the others.

    Upload one of the images to the web and see if your web browser is color managed:

    Is your system ICC Version 4 ready?

    WEB BROWSER COLOR MANAGEMENT Tutorial - Test Page FireFox Safari Chrome Internet Explorer IE 10- FILES have embedded ICC…

    IF the browser isn't color managed as reported above and it matches Windows 10, you have your answer: Windows 10 isn't color managed either and that is why it doesn't match Photoshop and LR. Ignore it, it's just wrong. Calibrate and profile your display so you get the correct previews which, if ugly, need to be edited. 

    Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
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