Images with CMYK profile look over-saturated in Photoshop, but right everywhere else

Report · Sep 16, 2024

Hi everyone,

I'm currently preparing a bunch of book illustrations for print. The printing shop gave me the right ICC-Profiles, which I have converted my art to, and then exported with this profile embedded. I have done this with my usual programme, Clip Studio Paint.

Then I wanted to make sure the images look right when printed - I expect the print shop will be using Photoshop - so I downloaded the trial version of Photoshop and opened my file there. To my surprise, it looked off - too saturated and bright. It loses depth in the dark areas.
Everywhere else - including Windows Photo Viewer, IrfanView etc. - it looks just as in my original graphic programme. It's only Photoshop that looks off. I've tried everything, made sure the colour settings were proper, that it opened with the embedded profile, etc.

I've looked for similar posts on the Adobe forums or elsewhere online, and the prevalent statement seems to be "Photoshop is the only colour managed programme, so what that shows should be correct."
To my knowledge, both Clip Studio Paint (a literal graphic application) and IrfanView are colour managed and work with embedded profiles --- I find it hard to believe that they should all be wrong, and Photoshop the only app that's right?

After all, when I do the same conversion the other way round (put my original image with embedded sRBG profile into PS and convert it to the CMYK profile) it may look correct in Photoshop, but everywhere else, image viewers, browsers, other graphics programmes, it looks plain terrible. It loses vibrancy and the dark areas turn grey and ashy. I know it is a print profile, so no monitor or application will be able to truly display it, but I have no option to be on-site when it is printed, so I want to make sure what I deliver and what they will see on their monitors is correct and how I want it to look.

Can you help me shed some light on this issue? Is there something I'm overlooking?

(BTW I use a calibrated monitor.)

Thank you!

Sarah

Report · Sep 17, 2024

Would you mind sharing one of these files so we could examine it?

I opened some CMYK files in Photoshop, Windows Photos, Windows Photo Viewer and Irfanview, and they displayed identically everywhere.

Note that Irfanview is not color managed by default.

You have to download and install a plugin package, and then enable color management under Options > Properties/Settings.

In Response To Per Berntsen · Sep 17, 2024

Hi,

thank you for your reply!

here is a folder with three versions of one illustration, feel free to download them: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vi9fHw8VM0-3OuJQShWGJzZNGtC9EKPL
It's a rather dark image, and so it's one of the drawings I'm most anxious to turn out well.

Yes that's true, the image was displayed rather ugly in IrfanView but after downloading the plugins and enabling colour management, it looked a-ok and as expected (:

In Response To Sarah38760391u0fc · Sep 17, 2024

On my computer, the RGB and CMYK (Photoshop) files are a very close match. The CSP file is brighter, especially in the warm tones. Was the CSP file saved in CSP and the Photoshop file saved in Photoshop?

And does the CMYK (Photoshop) file look correct in my screenshot?

Windows Photos and Irfanview display the CMYK files darker than Photoshop, so I guess they cannot be trusted. (I used Coated Fogra 39 files for my test)

Really nice work by the way!

Report · Sep 17, 2024

Note that very few consumer applications, image viewers etc have proper CMYK support! They may or may not display the image, but colors and tones can be pretty arbitrary.

For CMYK you need to trust Photoshop. Just make sure your profiles are correct (document and monitor). I would not trust Clip Studio for CMYK.

In Response To D Fosse · Sep 18, 2024

@Sarah38760391u0fc I agree with @D Fosse "For CMYK you need to trust Photoshop. Just make sure your profiles are correct (document and monitor). I would not trust Clip Studio for CMYK."

Photoshop is the master program for viewing of colour managed images. It’s widely considered to be the industry standard. I too have seen issues trying to make CMYK using non Abobe apps. Frustrating I know.

Did @Per Berntsen 's images make sense to you. He's done the tests for you.

How is your monitor display screen calibrated & profiled?

Also please embed a screenshot of Photoshop's color settings in your next reply.

Bottom left in Photoshop is a small dialog that can be set to show "document profile" IS that info showing the same ICC profile you converted to in your Clip Studio Paint application?

When you made the conversion from RGB to CMYK in Clip Studio Paint what CMYK profile did you use. And importantly was there a change in appearance after the conversion? i.e. did the CMYK look like the RGB?

How about if you open the RGB in Photoshop? How does it look?

If you really doubt Photoshop is working right, then you could reset Photoshop preferences. I'll paste some info about that separately. But maybe a friend has Photoshop and can view for you before going to that extent?

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
Help others by clicking "Correct Answer" if the question is answered.
Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

In Response To NB, colourmanagement · Sep 18, 2024

@Sarah38760391u0fc

Perhaps try a thorough reset of Photoshop preferences?

(read this entire post before acting please)

Resetting restores Photoshop's internal preferences, which are saved when Photoshop closes.

If they become corrupt then various issues can occur.

Here’s some info on how to do that:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

Manually removing preferences files is the most complete method for restoring Photoshop to its default state:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#Manually

Manually removing preferences files is the most complete method for restoring Photoshop to its default state. This method ensures all preferences and any user presets which may be causing a problem are not loaded.

Quit Photoshop.
Navigate to Photoshop's Preferences folder.
macOS: Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings
Windows: Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop [version]/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings

Note: The user Library folder is hidden by default on macOS. To access files in the hidden user Library folder, see How to access hidden user library files.
Drag the entire Adobe Photoshop [Version] Settings folder to the desktop or somewhere safe for a back-up of your settings
Open Photoshop.

New preferences files will be created in their original location.

Note re macOS: The user Library folder is hidden by default.

To access files in the hidden user Library folder, see here for how to access hidden user library files.

https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/access-hidden-user-library-files.html

Unexpected behaviour may indicate damaged preferences. Restoring preferences to their default settings is a good idea when trying to troubleshoot unexpected behaviours in Photoshop. check out the video

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#reset_preferences

Learn how to access and modify Photoshop preferences and customise per your frequent workflows

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

And here’s an earlier forum discussion as an aid to understanding

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/quick-tips-how-to-reset-photoshop-pre...

You may want to backup your settings and custom presets, brushes & actions before restoring Photoshop's preferences.

Here is general info about that: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#BackupPhotoshoppreferences

Before you reset your preferences

in case of future issues, I suggest you make a copy as Adobe may need one to check problematic references.

Quit Photoshop.
Go to Photoshop's Preferences folder

Preferences file locations: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/preference-file-names-locations-photoshop.html\

[on MacOS see: Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings

Note for those on macOS: - be aware that the user Library folder is hidden by default on macOS.

https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/access-hidden-user-library-files.html

In the Finder, open the “Go” menu whilst holding down the Option (Alt) key.

Library will now appear in the list - below the current user's “home” directory. ]

Now you can drag the entire Adobe Photoshop [Version] Settings folder to the desktop or somewhere safe as a back-up of your settings.

Note for those on macOS:

Preference preservation is affected by macOS permissions,

you’ll need to allow Photoshop ‘Full Disk Access’ in your Mac OS Preferences/Security and Privacy

If that doesn't fix the issue:

Go to Preferences > Performance... and uncheck Multithreaded Compositing - and restart Photoshop.

Still hanging?

Go to Preferences > Performance... click Advanced Settings... and uncheck "GPU Compositing" - then restart Photoshop.

Do you still have problems?

It may even be time to reinstall Photoshop.

It’s recommended that you use the Adobe CC cleaner tool to remove all traces first.

(See above about preserving preferences though! It’s worth preserving them unless they are corrupted.)

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

Uninstall Photoshop BUT make sure to choose the option “Yes, remove app preference”.

Once that process finishes, start the installation process and look into the “Advanced Options”. Uncheck “Import previous settings and preferences” and choose to “Remove old versions”.

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

Help others by clicking "Correct Answer" if the question is answered.

Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

Report · Nov 12, 2025

I'm having a similar problem and I'm not sure if I should trust the Clip Studio Paint file.
It looks alright in Illustrator and Photoshop (somewhat oversaturated but ok), but in inDesign the colors look green and purple.

I'll play it safe and use the RGB files and only change into CMYK via inDesign. But in the past, designs tended to look too dark in print. (cheap online printers, but still...)

Is there any way to make sure color management is fine?

I use a color profile (CMYK ISO Coated v2 300 % )
I recheck the % amount of color in Acrobat
Screen is calibrated with Spyder

-> what are the recommendet options in Acrobat Print preview?

In Response To hira.mi · Nov 13, 2025

Hi Hira.mi,

I'll have to admit I didn't follow this thread so much anymore since I figured out a pretty reliable workflow for print conversion myself, which I am happy to share with you.

I am still working with Clip Studio Paint, but as per D Fosse's comment, I am doing the conversion to CMYK explicitly in Photoshop. I make sure to first export my file as a TIFF with my working sRGB colour profile embedded (this is important! In CSP you do that via "Export (Single Layer)", just in case you didn't know that)

Then I pull it into Photoshop and convert it to my CMYK profile of choice. Do some colour tweaks through Photoshop's "Selective Colour" tool, in case anything looks too outrageously off after the conversion.

Then I put an adjustment layer on top that i set to something between 10-30% brightness and -10-20% contrast. This is to counteract the fact that prints come out darker and more contrasted. For art that's quite bright by itself it's enough just to dial it up a little, for really dark and saturated scenes you'll have to go further.

Then I check the Gamut Warning for any spots that might cause trouble and spot brighten them. Export again as TIFF with the new CMYK profile embedded (in PS it does that automatically when you go through "save as...") and that should be good to go.

Got a couple more books into print since I was first struggling with the issue, as well as a calendar and tons of art prints, and this workflow proves very reliable. Best of course is to ask for test prints or do your own tests before you order a big batch, so you know what to expect, and have an example to adjust future motives accordingly to.

The problem with online printers is that they may have different shops that they print different orders at, so a test print might not always work. For an order of calendars, I had a test print made, but the big order was then done elsewhere and with a much cheaper printer, so the calendars came out horribly. Thankfully I found a local shop who even let me come in to check whether the colours were right, but that's a really lucky circumstance.

I hope this helps!

In Response To Sarah38760391u0fc · Nov 13, 2025

@Sarah38760391u0fc @hira.mi

I just want to insert a small comment here, since you both mention prints coming out too dark.

This is invariably because the screen is too bright. There is a reference here, and that reference is paper white. You can't adjust the print to your screen, but you can adjust your screen to match the print. So you need to calibrate your display so that monitor white is a visual match to paper white, as seen in your preferred print viewing light.

The keyword here is visual and you can't really put any fixed numbers or formula on this. If it looks right, it is right. But that said, for most "average" conditions, the monitor white point luminance should be in the vicinity of 100-120 cd/m². A white point color of around D65, maybe temperature lowered to 6200-6300K, will also usually be a fairly good match.

It also helps to use a light interface in Photoshop, to give your eyes a reference. The default dark interface removes the reference and basically makes everything look good, right or wrong.