All of a sudden, I am getting image color casts when I use Lightroom's "Edit in Photoshop CC 2017..." or "Open as Smart Object" to open a RAW file in Photoshop CC 2017. However, if I instead use Lightroom's "Export..." to send the RAW file to Photoshop as either a PSD or a TIFF, the image opens in Ps with color that matches Lightroom's. That is, I can perform these 3 different ways of editing a RAW image in Photoshop and compare the 3 resulting Photoshop edit windows side-by-side -- the "Edit in..." and "Smart Object" versions will be exactly the same but wrong (usually too Cyan), with only the "Export..." version's color correctly matching Lightroom's window. I'm at a loss why this is now happening...I have checked:I am using current CC 2017 versions of Lightroom, Photoshop & ACR (Lr v2015.10.1/ACR v9.10.1; Ps v20179425.r.252x64/ACR v9.10.1.750);Running Windows 10, Creator's Edition x64 with all Microsoft updates applied;Turned off GPU acceleration in Lightroom & Photoshop;Double checked that Lightroom's "Preferences/External Editing": exports to Photoshop in "ProPhotoRGB 16bits"; Checked that my Photoshop default Color Space is the same. "Color Settings" in Photoshop has the 3 "Ask" boxes checked for missing and mismatched color profiles.Although it seemed a long shot, I re-calibrated my monitor since other forum threads suggested doing that. I also double checked that correct monitor profile is being used (through Window's "Color Management");Is there anyone who can help? TIA!

Known Participant

Answered

Color mismatch between Lightroom and Photoshop ACR

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
June 19, 2017
12 replies
12708 views

All of a sudden, I am getting image color casts when I use Lightroom's "Edit in Photoshop CC 2017..." or "Open as Smart Object" to open a RAW file in Photoshop CC 2017. However, if I instead use Lightroom's "Export..." to send the RAW file to Photoshop as either a PSD or a TIFF, the image opens in Ps with color that matches Lightroom's. That is, I can perform these 3 different ways of editing a RAW image in Photoshop and compare the 3 resulting Photoshop edit windows side-by-side -- the "Edit in..." and "Smart Object" versions will be exactly the same but wrong (usually too Cyan), with only the "Export..." version's color correctly matching Lightroom's window.

I'm at a loss why this is now happening...I have checked:

I am using current CC 2017 versions of Lightroom, Photoshop & ACR (Lr v2015.10.1/ACR v9.10.1; Ps v20179425.r.252x64/ACR v9.10.1.750);
Running Windows 10, Creator's Edition x64 with all Microsoft updates applied;
Turned off GPU acceleration in Lightroom & Photoshop;
Double checked that Lightroom's "Preferences/External Editing": exports to Photoshop in "ProPhotoRGB 16bits"; Checked that my Photoshop default Color Space is the same. "Color Settings" in Photoshop has the 3 "Ask" boxes checked for missing and mismatched color profiles.
Although it seemed a long shot, I re-calibrated my monitor since other forum threads suggested doing that. I also double checked that correct monitor profile is being used (through Window's "Color Management");

Is there anyone who can help? TIA!

color_mismatch

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer yvn76

I just figured out, it is a GPU bug in the photoshop. My color don't match between Lightroom and photoshop. Even black and white photo in photoshop has a weird color cast yet in Lightroom perfectos I turned off the GPU in photoshop and lo and behold perfect match!

burtonr59576513

Participant

Those with Mac Studio Ultra: this worked for me - open lightroom file as a smart object in photoshop. Then convert it to a layer, or flatten image, to preserve color match.

D

Dirtsa66

Participant

May 2021! Same issue - solutions (turning off GPU still worked for me. It happens totally randomly for random photos. Weird!

J

JMDesigns83

Participating Frequently

Try something because turning off graphics excelleration does not work for my situation. If Photoshop is in full screen mode, go up to either top corner and slightly minimize the screen. As soon as I do that my colours are correct. It is a pain in my butt to have to do that everytime I edit in photoshop but it allows me to use my 4k 28 in monitor for edits instead of my 21in imac 4k

yvn76Correct answer

Participant

I just figured out, it is a GPU bug in the photoshop. My color don't match between Lightroom and photoshop. Even black and white photo in photoshop has a weird color cast yet in Lightroom perfectos I turned off the GPU in photoshop and lo and behold perfect match!

gcorreddu

Participating Frequently

A year later, this is still true (at least on Intel Integrated Graphics). Any updates from Adobe on this issue?

D Fosse

Community Expert

This is less important for B&W. It will obviously always be in gamut.

But there are still differences. sRGB, for instance, has a rather idiosyncratic tone response curve with a flat linear "toe" near black. This tends to clip the deepest blacks if you're not careful. Adobe RGB, on the other hand, is straight gamma 2.2.

Gradients will always be good as long as you work in 16 bit depth. It may not always seem that way, since your display system is 8 bit depth, and will easily show some banding even in 16 bit files. It's not in the data. Indeed, this is exactly the case with what we were originally discussing here - the cyan shadow banding in ProPhoto. It's on screen only, it's not in the data.

D Fosse

Community Expert

There are inaccuracies in OpenGL code, which mostly show with ProPhoto files. Cyan/red color banding in the shadows is fairly common. It happens in the conversion into the monitor profile and does not affect the data as such. The large ProPhoto gamut has a price, which is very compressed shadow values (just compare histograms to verify this). So inaccuracies get amplified.

This has been a known problem for years.

The type of monitor profile plays a part. LUT profiles are more susceptible than matrix profiles.

And yes - setting GPU to Basic shifts color management back to the CPU in the traditional way, which avoids the issue. Slower, but more robust.

W

WLan7371029

Participating Frequently

Hey D Fosse

Could you tell me what else I'm missing when using the Basic drawing mode? does it use less VRAM? does it affect 3D? Effects?

I will check the histogram with different profiles, thanks for the heads-up.

I don't think it would be wise though to switch to another color space such as aRGB for pro work using RAW images.

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

You're missing some speed but otherwise, you'll lose a lot more (potently) by not using ProPhoto RGB. Especially if indeed, as asked, the RGB values using ProPhoto RGB are the same with GPU on or off. Yes, it will be slower and yes the previews are more correct but you could toggle the GPU on for intensive work while knowing the RGB values are correct. Turn it off for proper preview (yes I know, that's a drag) or again, try making a matrix profile if the software allows this.

So don't check the Histogram. Export the file both ways and examine the same area with the Info Palette. I can't believe the GPU affects the numbers, only the preview but it would be useful to double check this. If this is as I expect, the preview is wrong with GPU set for on in Photoshop. Probably best to keep it OFF and continue to work with ProPhoto RGB.

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

W

WLan7371029

Participating Frequently

Update:

I have the exact same issue with my new card, the AMD RX580. So again a cyan color cast shows up in Photoshop after using "Edit In" in Lightroom.

My observations:

- Changing camera profile to adobe standard does not help

- Switching monitor profile to sRGB does not help

- Setting GPU acceleration drawing mode to Basic still fixes the issue but I specifically bought the new card to avoid this because support told me this would be a graphic driver issue

- Assigning AppleRGB or ColorMatch RGB in Ps fixes the issue, so does converting to those profiles

- Edit In Ps and saving back to Lr without edits shows the proper colors again so it's only in Ps conversion the issue exists.

So for now I'll have to put GPU drawing mode back to Basic again which means I wasted 300 euro's on the RX580, yikes!

Maybe many have the same issue without knowing and color correcting for it?

Here are some screenshots:

Ps on the left showing cyan color cast, Lr on the right:

Basic drawing mode in Ps vs Lr. Slight difference in contrast but at least no color cast

Update: after googling I have found many threads about this issue going back to 2012, here's a few:

Color mismatch

Adobe Photoshop/Nvidia OpenCL bug messes up colors rendered to the screen: PC Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

https://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=14aruvrjok9o9qtbmeta1m6op7&topic=99482.0

Bottom line is that it's a PS bug with ProPhotoRGB and GPU color profiling.

Since this seems to be an unsolvable issue can you at least tell me how to use the advanced drawing mode in Photoshop without using the GPU for color management? maybe a file I can replace or included in a future update?

Again I am stunned that only few people seem to report this issue while everyone knows it's best to work in the ProPhotoRGB color space.

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

WLan wrote
Update:
- Assigning AppleRGB or ColorMatch RGB in Ps fixes the issue, so does converting to those profiles.

I'm sorry but that doesn't make any sense as written. You assigned AppleRGB or ColorMatch RGB to a document in ProPhoto RGB?

You converted from what to what?

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

W

WLan7371029

Participating Frequently

Apologies, English is not my native language and this is pretty technical stuff.

If I edit the image from Lightroom in Photoshop the color cast is there but if I then convert (within Photoshop) to either of those profiles the color cast goes away. Hope that makes more sense.

arieln76859910

Participant

Having the same issue here. Actually it's not the first time it happens and I couldn't remember what I've done before to solve this.
To make the story short, I've recently updated LR to 7.3 and CR was also updated in the process. Then I had to revert LR to 7.2 due to the buggy 7.3 presets and more. Anyways, exporting for external editing from LR 7.2 to latest PS and CR version is what causing this issue. All profiles match and I've ran the same tests as in the comments above. Upgraded to LR 7.3 again just to test and the problem was gone. The thing is that I don't want to use 7.3 until it's fixed so now I'm stuck with mismatching versions and useless Adobe bundle...

*UPDATE* rolling back to the previous version of CR did the trick. All this time consuming issue is just a matter of matching versions (having in mind that you have everything set up correctly such as color profiles in both programs)

D Fosse

Community Expert

Yes, this is a known issue. As you noted, keeping Lr and ACR at synchronized version level (either way) avoids the issue.

W

WLan7371029

Participating Frequently

Similar issue here but in my case turning off CPU or setting it to Basic in Photoshop seems to solve the issue. There is still a slight change in color and contrast, especially noticeable in black and white images but not alarming.

This issue also does not occur when I export from Lightroom to PSD on my desktop and then preview the image in Finder by using the spacebar.

I just reinstalled PS and the issue remains so in my case the best solution would be setting the GPU performance in PS to Basic since I do regularly use the tools that take advantage of the GPU (and I'm into 3D in PS)

I wonder if there are others with a similar issue but without even knowing they just correct the color cast in PS.

Hope that helps others with the same issue.

D Fosse

Community Expert

Setting GPU to basic in Photoshop shifts the display color management back to the CPU (the traditional way). So that points to a buggy video driver. There are some inaccuracies in OpenGL code, most pronounced in ProPhoto where the compressed shadow values (compared to aRGB or sRGB) can amplify these small inaccuracies.

Generally, any color difference between color managed applications indicates a problem with either the monitor profile, or the conversion itself, as performed by either the GPU or the CPU. Those two can interact so that a slightly defective profile can throw one off but the other handles it correctly.

W

WLan7371029

Participating Frequently

Thanks for your input D Fosse, much appreciated. At least now I know what the culprit is!

Per Berntsen

Community Expert

rsamco wrote:
I have checked:
Turned off GPU acceleration in Lightroom & Photoshop;

Since you don't specifically mention it, did you also turn off the GPU in the Camera Raw preferences?

J

Joe Foe Toe

Legend

This is only very "hunchy" - but I seem to recall a problem with Camera Profile differences between PS Smart Object and Lightroom, for the life of me I don't remember the conditions, but you might try turning off in both images, applying Adobe standard in both, etc. Very fuzzy in my head, but not too hard to check!

R

rsamcoAuthor

Known Participant

OK, here's what I have tried:

Changed RAW's camera calibration to "Adobe Standard" in Lightroom and then compared subsequent "Edit in..." vs "Export..." in Photoshop -- rendering difference remains.
Reset RAW's settings in Lightroom (i.e., everything zero'd out) and then compared subsequent "Edit in..." vs "Export..." in Photoshop -- rendering is identical.So one or more ACR settings are being rendered differently (but it's not within "camera calibration." Time for a search for the culprit within Lr ACR settings...
Found that apparently each and every ACR adjustment is rendered differently in Lr vs Ps ACR! That is, started with totally reset RAW (w/o any adjustments) and then just adjusted WB, then just adjusted Vibrance, then HSL, ... Every such isolated Lr color adjustment that I tried was rendered differently!

So it appears that the ACR rendering difference is pervasive -- any ACR setting is rendered differently in Lr vs Ps! Time for a reinstall of Photoshop?

D Fosse

Community Expert

More data...

Remove interface concerns between Lr & Ps by, within Lr, writing image's ACR settings to image's xmp sidecar file and then opened that RAW file using Photoshop's Open ... as a result, fiile opens directly into Ps' ACR. Rendering problem shows. I then simply converted and opened image in Ps, and, sure enough, same rendering difference/error is there.
Then copied RAW+xmp & TIFF "Export..." image files to my laptop and opened using same v20170425.r.252 x64 version of Photoshop ... RAW+xmp rendering looks correct to my discerning eye! When I compared it to Photoshop's TIFF file rendering, I saw an extremely small brightness difference in shadows and, sure enough, performing a difference comparison using layers & extreme curves enhancement showed some difference. But I'm going to ignore this for the time being and focus on the fact that the laptop's ACR rendering is essentially correct, and assume therefore that there is something odd with my desktop Photoshop installation/configuration.
Laptop's Creative Cloud app then notified me that Photoshop needed updating, but not ACR ... so updated laptop's Ps and it now reports same v20170425.r.252 x64 version as before, so don't know what the update did. Anyway, then performed same as above by opening RAW and TIFF versions. Same results as above: So also going to ignore this version strangeness.

So, the big finding here is that my Laptop's Photoshop basically renders the RAW+xmp file correctly. And I believe that I have also ruled out Lightroom as a factor. I am leaning toward removing and reinstalling my desktop's Photoshop and ACR, but I hesitate since I'd like to figure out what's going on before I brute-force fix it (it's the engineer in me).

rsamco, remember that "Reset" takes you to default settings, not "zero". They may not be the same if you have accidentally saved new default settings. In ACR that's very easily done if you're in the panel flyout menu and happen to click in the wrong place. In Lightroom it's even easier, press the alt key and "Reset" changes to "Set Default".

I think that's what happened here. Zero everything and save that as new default, then check again.

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