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Question

HELP! Presets not matching on new computer?!

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
September 23, 2021
5 replies
1797 views

Hi all, wondering if someone can explain what is going on here... I have recently installed photoshop onto a new computer and the presets i use are coming out completely wrong on it. I have tried calibrating the screen etc but i think theres something going on with the colour profiles or something within Adobe..

- I have uninstalled and reinstalled everything.

- The new computer has a fresh install of windows

- I have checked all the settings in the preset profile to ensure they match on both computers.

- all adobe settings and camera raw settings match on both

- Re-installed and downloaded presets multiple times

- Installed photoshop onto a 3rd computer and it works fine as intended

I thought it might be monitor calibration but after exporting on both computers they export differently, if it was a monitor issue then exporting on both computers with exact same settings should look identical, should they not?

Below is a couple test images, fresh RAW files with only 1 preset installed no other modifying... as you can see on the photos on the right its quite blue around the eyes/upper lip/ bridge of nose/ fingers.. anyway.. any ideas what could be causing this? m plling m hair out at this stage.. 😞

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

This topic has been closed for replies.

C

Chrisco105Author

Participant

oh sorry, yeah so if i load the same image in and everything is bone stock, RAW file, reset to default and i manually tweak all the sliders and values to be the same it still looks the same as if i was to use the preset. Is that what you were asking me to do?

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Chrisco105Author

Participant

OK i have figured it out.. Short answer.. Photoshop update! WHY?!

So after numerous testing and head scratching this is what i have found..

Old Laptop - Presets look good and how they're suppose to

2nd Laptop (fresh install/reformat) - Bad

Server Computer - Good (exactly the same as old laptop)

Brand new laptop - Bad

It got me thinking.. what do these all have in common with one another.. The old laptop and server havent updated photoshop in months.. the other 2 had fresh installs with latest builds.. so i hesitantly updated my server computer to latest photoshop knowing if i'm right i can't go back.. and bam! there we have it, colours have all gone to crap. Now this is a little annoying to say the least as you can't exactly roll back versions of photoshop. What could they have possibly done that would make photoshop interpret these things differently. could it be a bug of some sort that can be reported? how do you go about such a thing? Or do we just have to live with it?

Attached is a 4 way comparison.. If you zoom in you can clearly see the extra red in the face and blue around the eyes from the latest version of photoshop..

D Fosse

Community Expert

You haven't answered the important question: does it happen without that particular preset?

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Chrisco105Author

Participant

Thankyou for the lengthy reply.

So are you saying that if i import a RAW file, same image, on 2 computers. do the EXACT same adjustments (same preset used), then save them they will export differently just because one has a calibrated monitor? I'm obviously getting these 2 exports and comparing them on the same computer/screen.. I understand they will look different on both computers because of the monitors but surely if you have a RAW image and you do the exact same adjustments they should just save the same. bring both those photos together on either computer and compare them and they should be identical. they may look different depending which computer you look at them on but you shouldnt be able to tell which computer did the export because they're the exact same image with the exact same settings changed..

I've been pulling my hair out over it.. i just went and bought a brand new computer because i have had enough, paid for x-rite calibration. still the same.

I first tried with standard windows default color management, then x-rite ICC, then SRGB profile you mentioned.. they make the screen look different but its not helping with this issue.

One thing i have noticed is in camera raw histagram, they dont match quite 100%. why would that be? both set to defaults (adobe rgb, 8bit color space - raw defaults on adobe default etc) plus all the colour settings in photoshop set to the default (North america general purpose 2).. but if i overlay them you can see some differences. I'm assuming whatever is causing the difference there is why they export different.. That is using exact same 'preset' on a raw file with no other tweaking done. I have also confirmed the values in the "Edit" section like Basic,curve, details, colour mixer, colour grading etc are all identical and match..

D Fosse

Community Expert

No, I don't think this has anything to do with the monitor profile. I suspect your preset isn't interpreted correctly.

You need to establish a baseline. First of all, reset all color settings to defaults. To be absolutely clear: Photoshop/Lightroom/ACR do not need to match. A lot of people think they do, but that's a misunderstanding. These are all color managed applications and any profile will be treated correctly.

Just make sure that there is a profile when the file is opened in Photoshop. That's the important thing.

Next, try some files without the preset. Make any adjustment you want, but no preset. Do you see any difference now?

Also make sure you're using one of the standard camera profiles (Adobe Color etc). There is a bug that prevents third-party/custom camera profiles from being correctly transferred between applications. I don't know if it applies here, but take it out of the equation in any case.

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

"I thought it might be monitor calibration but after exporting on both computers they export differently, if it was a monitor issue then exporting on both computers with exact same settings should look identical, should they not?"

Different monitors and applications may show images differently so I don't think that’s a logical thought.

If Camera Raw is not behaving as expected (visually), one might justifiably suspect the display profile.

Here's something to try

It'll only take a few minutes and is good troubleshooting.

At least once a week on this forum we read about this, or very similar issues of appearance differing between colour managed applications.

Of course you must not expect accurate colour with programs such as Windows "Photos", because colour management is not implemented there so such programs are incapable of providing accurate image display.

Unfortunately, with Microsoft hardware: Windows updates, Graphics Card updates and Display manufacturers have a frustratingly growing reputation for installing useless (corrupted) monitor display profiles.

I CAN happen with Macs but with far less likelihood, it seems.

The issue can affect different applications in different ways, some not at all, some very badly.

The poor monitor display profile issue is hidden by some applications, specifically those that do not use colour management, such as Microsoft Windows "Photos".

Photoshop is correct, it’s the industry standard for viewing images, in my experience it's revealing an issue with the Monitor Display profile rather that causing it. Whatever you do, don't ignore it. As the issue isn’t caused by Photoshop, don’t change your Photoshop ‘color settings’ to try fix it.

To find out if the monitor display profile is the issue, I recommend you to try setting the monitor profile for your own monitor display under “Device” in your Windows ‘color management’ control panel to sRGB temporarily.

(ALTERNATIVELY, if you have a wide gamut monitor display (check the spec online) it’s better to try Adobe RGB here instead as its better suits the display characteristics).

Quit and relaunch Photoshop after the control panel change, to ensure the new settings are applied.

You can click ADD to add sRGB if it’s not already listed there.

Once it’s selected, be sure to check “Use my settings for this device” up top.

And click on “set as Default Profile - bottom right

Screenshot of Color Management Control Panel

Depending on the characteristics of your monitor display and your requirements, using sRGB or Adobe RGB here may be good enough - but custom calibration is a superior approach.

If this change fixes the issue, it is recommended that you should now calibrate and profile the monitor properly using a calibration sensor like i1display pro, which will create and install it's own custom monitor profile. The software should install its profile correctly so there should be no need to manually set the control panel once you are doing this right.

Still got problems?

If you want to try a method that’s proved successful to rule out many an issue we see with Photoshop, you can reset preferences:

To reset the preferences in Photoshop:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

Note: Make sure that you back up all your custom presets, brushes & actions before restoring Photoshop's preferences. Migrate presets, actions, and settings

I hope this helps

neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer

google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

[please only use the blue reply button at the top of the page, this maintains the original thread title and chronological order of posts]

D Fosse

Community Expert

To be clear, are these presets Photoshop adjustments, performed on an open file in Photoshop? They're not Camera Raw presets?

If so, the explanation is most likely that your files are in different color spaces. A numerical adjustment is color space specific. It will produce different results in sRGB or Adobe RGB or ProPhoto.

The working space you have set in Color Settings is just a fallback default. The embedded document profile will always override it. And in the case of raw files coming from ACR, the color space is determined by your workflow settings in ACR. If it's set to open your files into ProPhoto, it will be a ProPhoto file in Photoshop even if your working space is sRGB.

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Chrisco105Author

Participant

Hey Thanks for the reply. No, not in Photoshop but in Camera RAW. For instance if i open a RAW photo, it opens Camera Raw, i select a preset and it instantly looks off.. before i even click open to load it into photoshop i will just hit Ctrl+S and export that image from ACR with the preset on and thats what it looks like, even when i load it into photoshop it makes no difference. I have checked the colour space and all other settings in Camera Raw on both systems and they're both the same. I just checked this afternoon and the presets are doing the same thing when i try and use Lightroom.. its like Adobe on this computer is interperating the presets or colour science totally different to my other computers.. even though all the settings seem to match?? It's so bloody weird.. I'm almost ready to reformat again because it's making no sense.

Another thing i tried.. was after loading the image, applying preset and saving it. I then took that RAW photo and the XMP profile created and loaded it onto the other computer in ACR and it loaded up with the same preset based on the XMP and it looks correct. but i export from both computers and they turn out totally different. hmmm

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