I have searched all over the Adobe Support Community discussions and despite finding a few similar looking discussions not a one helped to solve my issue. I hope someone here will be able to help.
My problem is this: recently I purchased a subscripton to Lightroom and Photoshop programs and as I was testing the software on photos I took with my iPhone 13 Pro I found a very weird phenomenon. The photos I tried to edit are in a HEIF format. I imported the photos in the Photoshop and did only a slight adjustments with the cloning tool. I was not adjusting colors at all. When I exported the photos and viewed them on the iPhone next to the original photos the edited photos looked different, I would say slightly darker, less bright, and it also seems there is less detail. On a computer both of the photos, the original and the edited one look the same.
At firts I thouht this was caused by the color profile settings. When I was importing the photos in the Photoshop a prompt questtion appeared if I want to use the embedded profile, if I want to convert document colors to the working space or discard the embedded profile. I tried all the options. I also tried to export a JPG picture in SRGB color profile with insert embedded color profile option ticked and all the possible combinations (without embedded color profile option tick and converting to SRGB, with embedded color profile option tick but not converting to SRGB, without embedded color profile option tick and not converting to SRGB). The edited picture never looked the same next to the original picture on iPhone, I mean colorwise.
Then I suspected that the difference might be caused by difference between HEIF and JPG formats. I tried to edit the original photo in the Pixelmator app, made only a slight adjustment with a brush tool and then exported the photo in JPG: the colors of the original and edited picture looked exactly the same on the iPhone.
The same phenomenon happend when I use the Photoshop on PC, the Lightroom on PC or the Lightroom mobile app. It drives me crazy. I tried to screenshot both the original and the edited photo with washed out colors on iPhone only to find out that in the screenshots both the photos looked the same.
Here I add the photos of the original photo (photo 1) and the edited photo (photo 2) as they appear on my iPhone screen.
Thank you for any help.
17
Replies
When you open any image in Photoshop its important for your standard response to the profile dialog should be "use embedded profile".
When saving the file it should also be saved with the checkbox ticked - to embed the profile.
Yes, most of the times I used embedded profile and exported the photo with the checkbox ticked - to use the embedded profile. Yet both the original and the edited photos look different on the iPhone screen.
You mention "exporting" the image once its been opened in Photoshop, instead I would try saving as a copy -
your next step is to open it on the phone - how are you doing that?
Importing to "Apple's Photos" perhaps?
I tried even to save the photo as a copy, the result is still the same - the original and the edited photo look different. I tried to get picture to the phone in various ways - sending the edited photo to icloud folder on my PC and then saving the photo to the Apple Photos from Apple files app, I also tried to transfer the photo trough Google Drive from the PC and then saving it to the Apple Photos from Apple files app. I also tried to save the edited photo from the ios Lightroom app by exporting it to Camera Roll. All these options ended with the same result - different looking photos in the iPhone photos app.
I undertand that various laptops or monitors have differently calibrated screens and that photos look different on various mobile devices. What I don't understand is how the same photo, which was not color adjusted, looks different on the same device after running it trough the Photoshop or the Lightroom, especially when this problem doesn't exist when using different software (Pixelmator). However to be fair, if I alter any photo in the Snapseed app, the edited copy of photo also appears to change in color in the same way.
Hi, did you test the images I provided a link to? what are the results?
Yes, I looked at the images both on my PC and on Safari on the iPhone screen and color are quite matching. Howerver, I do not perceive the difference between my PC and my iPhone screen as a problem, the problem is that two identical pictures look different on the same screen - the iPhone screen - so I am not sure if I understand the meaning of this experiment.
SO you see variation using those methods above - are all the results identical - same appearance on phone?
As I have said before, yes, the result are almost always the same. I can see a different result only when I do not tick the use embedded profile and transfer to SRGB checkboxes at the same time - in this case the colors of the edited picture get very different, but that is a thing I understand. However, in all other cases the edited pictures look the same, but never are identical in color as the original pictures.
You also mentioned symptoms which would seem to be connected to a reduction in resolution - is the file you save at the same resolution as the original you open? The iPhone makes pretty large images (12 megapixels).
I can confirm that the resolution is the same in the picture, I always export jpeg in the highest quality.
When you simply open an unedited image on the iphone does that match Photoshop?
Just trying to work out if its something to do with the editing / saving step
On more thorough examination I have found out that when I import the unedited picture to iOS Lightroom app, the picture is already different in color on import. But what I do not understand is why? I can't confirm if the unedited image on iphone matches photoshop because the pictures look a little different on the iphone and on the PC screen.
When you reopen the edited (copy) to Photoshop is the appearance same [in Photoshop] as the unedited original?
no layers in your edited file?
On the PC, yes. The edited picture appearance is the same as the unedited original, both in Photoshop and in Windows photos viewever. On the iPhone they look different though.
Hope this description helps to detect the problem, thank you. One interesting thing is that if I try to make onphone screen recording or take two screenshots of the both edited and original pictures, the difference between these two photos can't be seen on the screen recording or screenshots. But when you compare the pictures on screen, the differece is very visible. Only way to capture it is to record or take photo of the iPhone screen by another camera.
Apple's image to screen interpolation is optimized for Apple's own formats so they will look the best. That was the reason for the HREF format in the first place.
That is what I was thinking but I think it is not correct, because when I make adjustments in Pixelmator app and export it as JPEG, the colors after export look still the same as Apple HEIC format.
Nevertheless upon many hours delving into this issue I found the possible culprit - there is a settings toggle in Apple Photos App called "View full HDR", and If I toggle this off, the colors of both the original and the edited photos look the same. I found out that when "View full Hdr" is on the photos that contain many whites and lights are strongly affected - whites and lights get much brighter. The details also look sharper. When it is off all the pictures look exactly the same as the edited pictures in Lightroom or Photoshop - more dull, washed out.. The issue is more thoroughly described here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/view-full-hdr-is-broken.2240744/
So everything above leads to question whether Lightroom and Photoshop do not support full HDR from iPhone (whatever that is)? And if they are not, is there anything to fix it? Like delving into settings in PS app when exporting or make Adobe aware of this issue so they might add support for it later? Because Pixelmator app does not have this issue.
@nazdar.ganzar wrote:
Apple's image to screen interpolation is optimized for Apple's own formats so they will look the best. That was the reason for the HREF format in the first place.
That is what I was thinking but I think it is not correct, because when I make adjustments in Pixelmator app and export it as JPEG, the colors after export look still the same as Apple HEIC format.
You are correct, that was not correct.
AdChoices