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DFPLLC
Participant
July 15, 2020
Question

JPEG darker than PSD

  • July 15, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 3817 views

I know this delima has been posed a million times, and I've gone through all of them and still no dice.

Problem: After editing my image in PS, I save to JPEG and the image goes darker upon opening it on my phone, Fast Stone Image Viewer, Firefox, as well as my husband's computer (3 monitors worth of testing). Upward of 1-2 stops.

Settings (please see images)/Thoughts:

* Photoshop CC 2019 v. 20.0.6

* In color settings, I have tried every option under Color Management Policies, from Off to Preserve to Convert.
* I use Lightroom, however, ALWAYS convert to 16-bit TIFF before working in PS.
* I just re-calibrated my monitor in June using my X-Rite i1Display Pro.
* If I screenshot the image, it displays as shown in Photoshop using any method I choose (Fast Stone, Paint, etc).
* If I reopen the image in PS after saving it as JPG, it displays properly (with the PS settings I'd applied to the PSD), but will still show dark otherwise.

* This image has had exposure and gamma correction applied in two layers - does this have any bearing on how sRGB is translated from PS to other JPG viewers?

* I have flattened the layers and saved it and it still shows dark outside of PS. (It was suggested that the viewer in PS was artifacting in one thread I read, no go.)
* Save for web: Optimized is checked, Embed Color Profile is checked, Convert to sGB is checked... still dark in viewer.

This issue is quite new to me, as I've been using PS and LR for a couple years now and never had an issue.

If anyone can help, I'd be forever grateful!! 

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

J
John5E3C
Participant
September 30, 2020

Hi,

This is my first post on a forum, so please forgive any mistakes I make in posting.

I've been having this exact same issue and this is the only post/question I can find that describes my problem.

I've pretty much gone through everything you have in the hope of finding out a solution, but I've had no joy at all. Did you ever figure out what was going wrong? 

Thanks to your post I've now seen that the "exported/saved as" jpeg, when opened with Photoshop shows the image exactly as it should be. I've tried opening the saved jpeg over different devices and using multiple programs/apps, and they all show the image as significantly darker. 

D
DFPLLCAuthor
Participant
September 30, 2020

Hey there, John!

Unfortunately, I never figured out what the issue was. Fortunately, for me, it was only on that one particular photo - which let me know that it was a setting/layer related to that specific JPEG. What the setting was, I never figured it out. I wish I could be of more help, because I know how absolutely frustrating it is. Without knowing how it's displaying on other monitors, it's a shot in the dark as to whether you could work around it by taking a screen shot once all your work is complete. 

Good luck to you!

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    D FosseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 1, 2020

    <>

    NB, colourmanagement
    Community Expert
    NB, colourmanagementCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 15, 2020

    Hi

    if you are flattening the PSD and saving the JPEG with sRGB embedded that’s all good.

    do not ever set color management to off - preserve is what's needed

    If you open the saved Jpeg in Photoshop it's OK, right?

    I could not understand this (red part):

    "* If I reopen the image in PS after saving it as JPG, it displays properly (with the PS settings I'd applied to the PSD), but will still show dark otherwise."

     

    Anyhow:

    Brightness / luminance is not a regulated part of calibration, the luminance target setting is a user choice, perhaps you have the computer set real bright? 

    perhaps you have the phone set not so bright? 

    If the luminance of the mac and phone screens differs then that's not something colour management can fix automatically, 

     

    On Weindown the photos app has no colour mamagement so ignore the appearance in that, also taking screenshots is not a test of colour management capabilities. 

     

    I hope this helps

    if so, please "like" my reply and if you're OK now, please mark it as "correct", so that others who have similar issues can see the solution

    thanks

    neil barstow, colourmanagement.net :: adobe forum volunteer

    [please do not use the reply button on a message within the thread, only use the blue reply button at the top of the page, this maintains the original thread title and chronological order of posts]

     

     

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