Dark Photoshop 32-bit images when "Use graphics processor" enabled
- February 1, 2024
- 5 replies
- 508 views
I was trying to do some quick 32-bit compositing in photoshop (I usually work in 16 bit) and was noticing that any image (either opening an exr, starting a new 32bit image, or converting to 32bit) resulted in a darker image than should be expected. Only photoshop seems to exhibit this problem since if I opened the exr in other programs (after effects, irfanview, etc) it looked fine and also match the rendered image from 3ds max. I updated the GPU driver (clean install of 551.23) on the RTX3070 and restarted the machine, all with no change. I was eventually able to narrow it down to the "Use graphics processor" setting in the Photoshop-->Performance setting (the "advanced Settings" options don't seem make a difference). Turning this off let's opened and new 32bit files behave properly. Weirdly it's effect is only seen when the file is opened or created. If I turn the setting off and open the exr the file is fine and I can continue working with it but if I then reopen that file or create a new one the it's messed up. Below is an example. I turned off the setting, opened the exr and duplicated it on the right (the 'copy' one). I then closed the original exr, turned "on" the setting and reopened the exr which resulted in the darker image on the left (mainly some crushed shadows). I then added a gradient ramp at the top just to see what's happening and you can see how the gradient is no longer smooth, especially at the darker end where there is a noticeable 'hump' as it turns to black. See the attached screenshot for an example.
Even without restarting photoshop it's obvious that the "use graphics processor" is a enabled on the left image as guides, paths, and eyedropper targets are all nicely smoothed, and simultaneously it's disabled on the right since all of these are jagged. I'm sure this accounts for why the right image is still displays correctly. Even pasting the entire left image into the right one let's the image correct itself and they match perfectly (the pixel values are all the same).
So.... does this happen to anyone else? I don't recall this behavior before but I can't seem to find out if anyone is having a similar experience via a google search. BTW, this is on Windows 10, Photoshop 25.4. I can't figure out if it's something with my machine, the gpu, the driver or photoshop. Is there some setting somewhere that I'm missing or accidentally ticked?
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