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Participating Frequently
October 31, 2007
Question

Photoshop CS3 color management "Save for Web" problem

  • October 31, 2007
  • 680 replies
  • 62091 views
This problem is getting the best of me.......

After spending 3 full days researching this problem, I am no closer to finding an answer than when I started. I still cannot produce a usable image through the "Save for Web" feature of Photoshop CS3. I have read web page after web page of "Tips, Tricks and Recommendations" from dozens of experts, some from this forum, and still I have no solution... I am exhausted and frustrated to say the least. Here's the simple facts that I know at this point.

I have a web design project that was started in PS CS1. All artwork was created in photoshop and exported to JPG format by using "Save for Web". Every image displays correctly in these browsers (Safari, Camino, FireFox and even Internet Explorer on a PC).

I have recently upgraded to PS CS3 and now cannot get any newly JPG'd image to display correctly. My original settings in CS1 were of no concern to me at the time, because it always just worked, and so I do not know what they were. I have opened a few of my previous images in CS3 and found that sRGB-2.1 displays them more or less accurately. I am using sRGB 2.1 working space. Upon openning these previous image files, I get the "Missing Profile" message and of course I select "Leave as is. Do Not color manage". CS3 assumes sRGB-2.1 working space, opens the file, and all is well.

The problem is when I go to "Save for Web", the saturation goes up, and the colors change. The opposite of what most people are reporting. Here's another important point... new artwork created in CS3 does exactly the same thing, so it's not because of the older CS1 files.

I have tried every combination of "uncompensated color", "Convert to sRGB", "ICC Profile", etc. while saving. I have Converted to sRGB before saving, and my monitor is calibrated correctly.
I have tried setting the "Save for Web" page on 2-up and the "original" on the left is already color shifted before I even hit the "Save" button. Of course, the "Optimized" image on the right looks perfect because I am cheating by selecting the "Use Document Color Profile" item. Why do they even have this feature if doesn't work, or misleads you?

Does anyone have any ideas what could be happening here? Why is this all so screwed up?
CS1 worked fine out of the box.

Final note: I do have an image file I could send along that demonstrates how it is possible to display an image exactly the same in all 4 of the browsers I mentioned with no color differences. It is untagged RGB and somehow it just works.

I am very frustrated with all of this and any suggestions will be appreciated

Thanks,
Pete
    This topic has been closed for replies.

    680 replies

    Participating Frequently
    December 5, 2007
    I don't think there are ill feelings and arguments. It's a message board full of nut cases that are pretty smart. Take it with a grain of salt and learn not only technical issues, but socialization ones as well.

    Just be happy you dont work in print. Those kinds are the worst to deal with.

    ;o)
    December 5, 2007
    I believe that I now have a pretty good understanding of how SFW works. For me it is essential in web production workflow. The fact that it has taken so long to get to this point of understanding does suggest that better info should be available in the Photoshop help files. Of course Help files have always been notoriously unhelpful...that's why forums like this are such a great resource. It's too bad this particular topic has generated so many arguments and ill feelings.
    Participating Frequently
    December 5, 2007
    No - I am trying to get you to think in a larger perspective. I have no argument other then being irritated and victimized by Adobe releasing features that completely confuse users like in SFW.
    December 5, 2007
    Yes I get it, but it is irrelevant to my point. I strongly suspect that you are arguing for the sake of argument.
    Participating Frequently
    December 5, 2007
    Technically, you are managing color regardless. There are different degrees of managing color. Having the monitor profile is the worst form of color management. A non color managed browser is still managing color, just very poorly.

    get it?
    December 5, 2007
    I think you are playing word games and/or missing my point. What term would you propose I use instead to describe an application that recognizes different colour spaces and handles the appropriate conversion between image data and output devices? I believe that most people call it "colour managed".

    Firefox is not a colour managed application. Safari is a colour managed application.

    What would you replace the term with?
    Participating Frequently
    December 5, 2007
    Raven -

    you need to understand that there is no such thing as no color management. Every image needs to reference a color space. You may not be aware of managing color, but SOMETHING needs to describe the pixels in a document.
    December 5, 2007
    Can you support that?

    While I do not have an official Adobe document saying as much, here's why I believe SFW is not colour managed: the "crappy" display I see in SFW is identical to the "crappy" display I see of the same image in a non-colour managed Firefox window.
    Participating Frequently
    December 5, 2007
    >The SFW preview window (the topic of discussion) is not colour managed, and is therefore by definition, not part of a colour managed workflow.

    Im sorry - this is not correct.
    December 5, 2007
    >the final sRGB image will be the same from a wide-gamut monitor and from an sRGB monitor.

    Only true when viewed in a colour-managed environment. The SFW preview window (the topic of discussion) is not colour managed, and is therefore by definition, not part of a colour managed workflow. SFW doesn't know that the monitor is wide-gamut, so there's no conversion taking place to ensure it displays properly. SFW doesn't factor in an ICC tag...you can embed one using SFW, but the preview window disregards it.

    The image seen within the SFW window is crap, as you say, because it's not colour managed. So, when Peter M asks, "Why am I seeing a crap image in SFW", the answer in his case is because SFW is not colour managed and doesn't know how to display the image properly on his wider gamut monitor. It is however giving an accurate display of how crappy the image will look on his monitor in a non-colour managed environment.