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Participating Frequently
October 31, 2007
Question

Photoshop CS3 color management "Save for Web" problem

  • October 31, 2007
  • 680 replies
  • 62136 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
    November 12, 2007
    >> root of my Photoshop troubles

    I outlined some very specifice steps to troubleshoot the problem in Photoshop, including how to rule out the monitor profile.
    Participating Frequently
    November 12, 2007
    Yes, I use Adobe Ace in Photoshop. I'm wondering if Color Sync, system wide, is affecting things somehow. Maybe my OS X has a corrupt color sync file. Something is managing the color of the finder and QuickTime Player and getting it very wrong. This might be the root of my Photoshop troubles. May not be Photoshop at all!
    Ramón G Castañeda
    Inspiring
    November 12, 2007
    Peter,
    >or might this somehow still be a color sync issue?

    I don't remember if we have discussed this already in this long thread, but you should NOT be using ColorSync at all, ever. Make sure you are set to ACE (Adobe Color Engine) not ColorSync (which is Apple color engine).

    I can't comment on your QT video, since I don't deal with video. :|
    Participating Frequently
    November 12, 2007
    Would I be premature in assuming that something in my system is corrupted, or might this somehow still be a color sync issue? Does the Finder use color management?
    November 12, 2007
    Hmmm now that is really noticeable
    Participating Frequently
    November 12, 2007
    I am begining to suspect that something else may be wrong with my computer/Video Card.

    Below is a link to a screen capture showing a Finder Preview (column view), and the actual QT movie opened in QT Player. How can these 2 images of the exact same file appear so different in the same screen capture??

    This is exactly the same type of affect I am getting in Photoshop SFW (Loss of saturation). Coincidence, or indication of some other, system-wide problem?

    Input please!

    Finder View
    November 12, 2007
    Leopard.
    Inspiring
    November 12, 2007
    Larryr544: Where did you find Safari 3.0.4? Did it come with Leopard? It is not available at Apple Downloads, which implies that it is Leopard only.
    Inspiring
    November 10, 2007
    monitor
    Ramón G Castañeda
    Inspiring
    November 9, 2007
    >Which it was intended to do.

    Yeah, in black and white