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October 31, 2007
Question

Photoshop CS3 color management "Save for Web" problem

  • October 31, 2007
  • 680 replies
  • 62138 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

    November 2, 2007
    Ramón, I'm either not understanding you or you're not quite right. If I create a monitor profile that is waaaay of, super dark and bright orange say, then everything displayed, including Photoshop, Word, and Finder windows, are super dark and orange.
    Ramón G Castañeda
    Inspiring
    November 2, 2007
    Raven,

    Just remember that non-color managed applications, like Word and most other applications, do not use your monitor profile like Photoshop does.
    Ramón G Castañeda
    Inspiring
    November 2, 2007
    Ryan,

    One can only hope you get a response any type of response. :/
    Participant
    November 2, 2007
    Ramón G Castañeda -

    I took your advice and contacted Adobe support.
    I'll be patiently awaiting their email.
    Hopefully they won't give me a "Quark-like" type of response. :)
    November 2, 2007
    Thanks for the clear testing instructions in post 78 g ballard. I tried them all, including creating a new User. I still saw on obvious shift in all three cases, including taking an sRGB tagged image into SFW, which shouldn't show any change at all, right? Gah.

    My question remains...should system-wide monitor profiles even be causing colour differences between PS image display and its SFW display? I still feel like the system-wide monitor profiles should affect everything equally, and function separately from Photoshop's colour management.

    My successful setup in the past has been using a recent iMac, and therefore Apple Cinema Display, with the installed Apple Cinema Display monitor profile selected, but shifted to 2.2 Gamma. That was fine. Perhaps since I hadn't used any other setup in the past, I haven't known until now that Adobe will operate quite differently depending on the monitor profile, rather than the monitor profile simply acting as a "filter" on top of all display element. eg. If the monitor profile creates a greenish cast, then everything will have a greenish cast whether it's a Word document, a web page, or a Photoshop file viewed normally or in SFW. Am I wrong?
    Participating Frequently
    November 2, 2007
    I just tried the suggestion of create new user and try this again.
    All my photoshop settings under the new user appear to be the same, except it defaults to North American Prepress General Purpose 2 (with unchecked "Ask when opening" boxes being the only difference). I left it set "as is" Here are the 4 different colors I get when trying Uncompensated Color, Standard Mac, Standard Windows, and Use documents Profile. With the default "Convert to sRGB" checked. All within the SFW window.

    Hopefully everyone can see the difference in color, it is quite noticable on my full screen.

    "Standard Windows Color" is the only one that gives the correct appearance. What does this mean?

    Uncompensated Color

    Macintosh Color

    Windows Color

    Use Document Color Profile
    November 2, 2007
    I have a question... If you covert your PSD file to sRGB (Convert to Profile: sRGB IEC1966-2.1), before going to SFW. Then go to SFW and check the ICC Profile. Isn't it doing a double sRGB profile? Because if I do that and save, the image is a little saturated but if I don't check on the ICC Profile button and save, the jpeg file looks like the PSD with no shift.
    Participating Frequently
    November 2, 2007
    They are actually the same test (both strip the sRGB profile and apply the monitor profile) and should display identical results.

    "a little bit of a shift" here is normal and represents the difference between the sRGB profile and the Monitor profile.

    At this point SFW appears to be working for you, or not?
    November 2, 2007

    "Free revolver with every upgrade."

    I already have that Beatles CD. Can I pick something else from the fruit basket Blind

    November 2, 2007
    When I did the first part of the test in the "SFW", I see no shifting at all... but when I do the "Proof Setup: Monitor RGB" test, I see a little bit of a shift. What does it mean if one part of the test it works fine but the other is off a bit?