Lightroom 5 ICC profiles clipped shadows under OSX

[Max_Ramuschi]

Hi, I've just found a really bad issue occurring in Lr 5 (but also in all other Lightroom versions) under Mac OSX 10.9 with a calibrated monitor: dark shadows (from a value of 20 to 0) are all clipped (pure black with no detail and no textures) while the histogram remains ok, indicating NO clipped shadows at all. This issue afflics also ACR.

Photoshop for now is the only software under MAC that reproduces dark shadows correctly: Library Module shows a bit darker and shifted shadows than Ps but acceptable, Develop Module is really bad showing brutally clipped shadows (but you work in the Develop Module right?!).

The same problem occurred also in OSX 10.8 but it was related only to LUT profiles, creating a Matrix based profile problems were solved.

Now the issue occurs with both Matrix and LUT profiles, v2 and v4. There's no apparent way to make Lr working right.

Under Windows no problems at all: Bridge, Photoshop, ACR, Lr (Library Module and Develop Module) show the same correct NOT clipped shadows.

I tested 8 different Mac running 10.9 with different GPU, different monitors, different profiling Softwares (Color Eyes Display Pro, Eizo Color Navigator, BasICC Color, i1 Profiler). Same results.

I tried to change the gamma value (2.2, sRGB, L*) problems remain. I tried to change ICC version (v2, v4) problems reamain. I tried to change profile type (LUT, MATRIX) problems remain.

How can a photographer work professionally on RAW images if shadows are bad reproduced?

Why Photoshop can reproduce shadows correctly while Lr isn't able to do that?

Why this happens only on a Mac enviroment?

Is Lr based on ColorSync (that can't handle profiles correctly) while Ps isn't (because it can handle and it has no problem)?

Please Adobe, FIX IT for all professional photographers, we can’t use Lr for serious works under Mac.

Max Ramuschi

Adobe Certified Expert

[andrea_mencarelli]

Hi,

is there any news on this?

I'm seeing the exact same issue with Lightroom 10.2 and a display profile with XYZ LUT on Mac OS Catalina 10.15.5.
In the develop module the images look good, while in the library module the blacks are crushed.

This happens with both JPEG and RAW images and with both embedded and smart previews.

[D Fosse]

Try a matrix display profile. LUT profiles can exhibit exactly this problem in some situations.

[andrea_mencarelli]

A matrix based profile doesn't exhibit that issue but it isn't good enough for my monitor, unfortunately.

[D Fosse]

Out of curiosity, what do you mean by "not good enough"? Some high-end calibration software, like NEC Spectraview II, only makes matrix profiles. Eizo ColorNavigator (which I use) has a choice, but I've honestly never noticed any practical differences.

[andrea_mencarelli]

My monitor is roughly 10 years old. Since I bought it, something with it didn't look quite right but I wasn't into photography back then and I knew nothing about color profiles and color management, so I got used with it.

It's only since I got into photography and started printing that I realised how off my monitor was. 

For starter, the menu on the monitor allows to chose a gamma betwen 1.8 and 2.6. Even with the monitor set at 2.6, the actual gamma is 2.0 (measured with both the i1Display Pro and the SpyderX).

The gamma can be corrected relatively easily with the profile but also the colors are way off, the panel appears to be very non-linear. With a simple curve+matrix profile the average errors are roughly 10 times larger than with XYZ LUT + matrix.

I agree that this is overkill in normal circumstances, and it isn't required for the internal monitor of my macbook, but it appears to be essential for my (defective) monitor.

With the XYZ LUT + matrix profile I do get a perfect match between the soft-proof copy in the Develop module of Lightroom and the printer. With the curve+matrix profile I was never happy with the discrepancies between screen and printer.
For the avoidance of doubts, I do use the correct printer profile for the printer and paper combination that I'm using.

[D Fosse]

OK, got it.

Still, this isn't strictly a Lightroom issue. As I said, black clipping is a fairly common problem with LUT profiles made by some calibration software and used in some applications. I don't know why, but matrix profiles are always safer.

[andrea_mencarelli]

Yes, Mac OS color management has a bug and doesn't support LUT profiles correctly, causing the blacks to be crushed.

But this should happen only with applications that use the native OS color management.

Lightroom and Photoshop use the ACE color engine that should support LUT profiles just fine. The fact that both Photoshop and Lightroon (in the Develop module) works well, is a further indication of that.

Lightroom in the Library module, however, behaves like the native OS apps that shows crushed blacks. This to me means that either there is a bug in the way Lightroom manages colors in the Library module, or the ACE color engine isn't used in the Library module and Lightroom lets the OS doing the color management in that mode.

[uduak5E56]

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