Incorrect colors when using gradient

Question

Photoshop suddenly began displaying Lightroom images incorrectly until toggling Proof Colors (Command+Y). Around the same time, I had an action I used regularly to produce a sun flare, and all of the sudden the Gradient Fill colors no longer match the same HEX/RGB values used previously. Existing TIFFs when the colors were applying correctly and exported back to lightroom display correctly when opened in photoshop again, but newly created gradients appear less saturated despite identical RGB values. Photoshop preferences have been reset, i've uninstalled and reinstalled, and the issue persists.

Anshul_Saini · Accepted Answer

Hi @Bryndle33324492m6sd,Thank you for the additional screenshots. They help narrow this down. There is one important piece we still need to compare, the embedded document profile of an older TIFF that displays the gradient correctly versus a newly created TIFF where the gradient appears desaturated.As D Fosse mentioned, RGB/HEX values aren’t absolute colors by themselves. The same RGB values can produce different displayed colors depending on the document’s assigned color profile. For example, RGB 74, 131, 74 / #4a834a in Adobe RGB does not represent the same color as those exact numbers in sRGB.Could you please do the following with both files?1. Open one of your older TIFFs where the gradient still looks correct.2. In Photoshop, go to Edit > Assign Profile and note what is shown under Profile — but please Cancel the dialog without changing anything.3. Do the same with a newly created TIFF where the gradient looks incorrect.4. Let us know the profile shown for each file.You can also click the small status-bar menu at the bottom of the Photoshop document window and select Document Profile, then take a screenshot of both documents. That may be the easiest comparison.I’d also like to test one more thing because you mentioned that Proof Colors (Cmd+Y) changes the Lightroom-opened image. With one of the affected files open, please go to View > Proof Setup and tell us which proof condition is selected. If possible, share a screenshot of that menu as well.Finally, since you’re using an Action to create the sun flare, please confirm whether the same Action applied to the same affected TIFF produces different results now than it did previously. If you still have an older TIFF with the correct flare and a newer TIFF with the incorrect flare, sharing both files would be particularly useful.Please don’t use Assign Profile to change either document yet. Let’s first establish whether the older and newer TIFFs actually have the same embedded profile.If both files are confirmed to have the same embedded profile and the identical Gradient Fill values still produce different rendered colors, then we’ll know this isn’t simply a color-space mismatch and can investigate the gradient/rendering behavior further.Best,Anshul Saini