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Re: Photoshop Colors are different on my monitor than on my phone screen???

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
December 28, 2022
4 replies
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Hi

I have a problem with not been able to see colors on my desktop PC when using Photoshop, but I can see the color when exporting the png file and viewing it on my phone. I have #f6f6ef as the background color and #ffffff color on top of that, and you can't see it at all on the PC. I've been on Photoshop Edit, Color Settings and the working RGB space is already set to sRGB IEC61966-2.1. I've no idea what else to do. Can you help?

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Conrad_C

Community Expert

I have #f6f6ef as the background color and #ffffff color on top of that, and you can't see it at all on the PC.
By @defaulttyofxgnc1c66

You should expect to see that color difference, so because you can’t, something is off. I can see a difference between those two hex colors in sRGB on both of my displays, one fully hardware calibrated and custom profiled, and the other a fading 15-year-old LCD that is custom profiled.

Therefore, any PC should be able to show that difference — if the display is using a reasonable display color profile. If the display profile assigned in your OS does not sufficiently represent the actual color reproduction of your display in any way (for example, if the profile is the wrong one, or outdated because the display has shifted) then it might not sufficiently show the difference between those two light colors. This is a problem to solve outside of Photoshop, by generating and applying an accurate color profile of the current state of your display.

This test might show you what's going on: If you view a test strip containing 21 steps from white to black, can your display show each step clearly, or does your display mash some of them together into the same tone? You might try viewing some of the free download test images at the following link; I do not endorse and am not affiiliated with the website (it was from a very quick web search) and there are many other test images you can find online.

https://www.finalcolor.com/downloads

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

A properly calibrated and profiled computer screen using Photoshop (a colour management a savvy application) will give you an ACCURATE image preview. [as long as the display profile is good, I'll post a test for that separately]

Generally handheld devices are pretty good at colour matching, there IS colour management going on but it's all hidden. You'll ideally convert image files to sRGB in Photoshop and save with the ICC profile embedded.

Do some testing with this image please go here and download the Adobe RGB testimage: https://www.colourmanagement.net/index.php/downloads_listing/ on your main screen and this image on your mobile (open in a web browser) - the "mobile" test image had the P£ ICC profile embedded, most handhelds are P3 colourspace nowadays.

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net - adobe forum volunteer - co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

Display profile issues on Windows

Here's something to try

It'll only take a few minutes and is good troubleshooting.

At least once a week on this forum we read about this, or very similar issues of appearance differing between colour managed applications.

Of course you must not expect accurate colour with programs such as early versions of Windows "Photos”*, because in those early versions colour management is not implemented, so, such programs are incapable of providing accurate image display.

*Windows "Photos” does do colour management now and has for a while, but beware early versions and other apps that are non colour management compliant.

Unfortunately, with Microsoft hardware: Windows updates, Graphics Card updates and Display manufacturers have a frustratingly growing reputation for automatically installing useless (corrupted) monitor display profiles.

I CAN happen with Macs but with far less likelihood, it seems.]

The issue can affect different application programs in different ways, some not at all, some very badly.

The poor monitor display profile issue is hidden by some applications, specifically those that do not use colour management, such as Microsoft Windows "Photos".

Photoshop is correct, it’s the industry standard for viewing images, in my experience it's revealing an issue with the Monitor Display profile rather than causing it. Whatever you do, don't ignore it. As the issue isn’t caused by Photoshop, please don’t change your Photoshop ‘color settings’ to try fix it.

To find out if the monitor display profile is the issue, I recommend you to try temporarily setting the monitor profile for your own monitor display under “Device” in your Windows ‘color management’ control panel to “sRGB IEC61966-2.1”. (If you have a wide gamut monitor display (check the spec online) it’s better to try ‘AdobeRGB1998” here instead as it more closely approximates the display characteristics).

Click ‘Start’, type color in the search box,

then click Color Management. In the Devices tab, ensure that your monitor is selected in the Device field.

You can click to ADD to add “sRGB IEC61966-2.1” (or AdobeRGB1998) if not already listed there.

Again - IF you have a wide gamut display I suggest trying “AdobeRGB1998”

Once it’s selected, be sure to check “Use my settings for this device” up top.

And click on “set as Default Profile - bottom right

Screenshot of Color Management Control Panel

Quit and relaunch Photoshop after the control panel change, to ensure the new settings are applied.

Depending on the characteristics of your monitor display and your requirements, using sRGB or Adobe RGB here may be good enough - but no display perfectly matches either, so a custom calibration is a superior approach.

If this change to the Monitor Display profile temporarily fixes the appearance issue, it is recommended that you should now calibrate and profile the monitor properly using a calibration sensor like the i1display pro, which will create and install its own custom monitor profile. The software should install its profile correctly so there should be no need to manually set the control panel once you are doing this right.

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net - adobe forum volunteer - co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

D

defaulttyofxgnc1c66Author

Participant

I've tried to follow your advice, but what comes up in 'Color Management' is very confusing. "Under Device" it doesn't have any monitor details, instead under device it has 'Printer: Fax'. I've no idea whats going on. Can you help?

mglush

Community Expert

Hi!

Do you use any type of Calibration software? Are you building images for the web on your phone or are you building a phone user interface?

Michelle

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

What do you mean "not been able to see colors on my desktop PC"? There is no color, a color mismatch?

What phone?

We need a lot more information, perhaps a screen capture from both.

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

D

defaulttyofxgnc1c66Author

Participant

Example: If I have two colours which are very similar on photoshop (#f6f6ef as the background color and #ffffff in the foreground), I can't see the difference between the colours. They look exactly the same on my desktop PC. If I look at the same PNG file on my phone, I can clearly see both colours.

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

Can't help you if you can't answer the questions asked of you to help you out.

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

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