P: Interprets colors differently than Photoshop 2017

[alanterra]

[Edited: No one has commented on, or perhaps even read, my post below, which means that I can still edit it. So I changed the title from the more sanguine "Photoshop CC 2018 interprets Vibrance/Saturation layer differently than CC 2017."

I think that this bug is a complete show-stopper. If Photoshop 2018 changes the colors, and the effect of flattening, compared to Photoshop 2017 and earlier versions, then I can't use it. And I find it surprising that others can use it, at least on images that were edited with earlier versions.

Perhaps I am being overly shrill — I would love it if someone would check out and confirm or deny that this is a widespread bug.

My original post follows.]

I installed Photoshop CC 2018 (Macintosh, Sierra v. 10.12.6) and I find that the colors displayed in a file are different than they are in Photoshop CC 2017. This makes it impossible for me to use Photoshop CC 2018.

I have a test file with two layers — an image and a Vibrance/Saturation layer. The file is in 8-bit Pro Photo. I have one color sampler in it (set to 5 x 5 in both versions of the program). If I turn on the Vibrance/Saturation layer, the colors are much less saturated in PS CC 2018 than in PS CC 2017. There are also small differences in hue. The following table shows the differences seen:

This difference can also be seen visually, and if you show out-of-gamut (CMYK gamut) colors the areas shown are different between the two programs. And, if you flatten this image, the values shown in the two versions of the Photoshop above are "baked into" the file — which means that the difference I am seeing is not a difference in reporting HSB values, but is a difference in interpreting a Vibrance/Saturation layer.

The file, and versions flattened in PS CC 2017 and PS CC 2018 can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/35yds87iocpglup/AAAd-QVKoztY2HDxonkgxXQca?dl=0

It would be great if someone else could test this bug report and see if it can be replicated on other machines.

[alanterra]

That is the issue, eartho, it is the color settings. I get one value with sRGB (default on install) and the other with Pro Photo RGB. I'm still trying to figure out the details, but that is the difference. THANK YOU!

[alanterra]

So, to finish this saga (thank you, everyone who contributed).

If change your working space in your color settings, the colors will be different (at least for this image), even if your image has an embedded profile.

My test image (linked above) is in Pro Photo RGB color space. If you open that image with your "working RGB space" as Pro Photo RGB, then the image will be more saturated.


If you open the same image with Working RGB space as sRGB, then the photo will be less saturated.


This difference follows through if you flatten the image. In either case, the flattened image will be saved in ProPhoto RGB (because I have "preserve embedded profiles" set for both cases). But the colors of the flattened images will be different. Here are the examples:



I had no idea that this is how Photoshop interpreted colors, but now I do. This issue has nothing to do with the version of Photoshop being used. I don't know where Photoshop saves its Color Settings, but it seems that it is not saved with the other preferences in the ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop folder.

[PhotoshopScripting]

Hello Alan, It's very good that we got some understanding of this tricky case. Do you think you can still send in the old preferences? I would like to document this behavior, but right now I cannot reproduce it, everything now looks OK. Thanks a lot.

[alanterra]

Hi Domnita. Attach to this thread or upload them somewhere? I can replicate this behavior in multiple versions of Photoshop, and can even suggest why it is happening (what i think is going on inside Photoshop). But I don't want to add to this already overlong thread. Let me know.

If you want to continue this via email, send me something at adobe at alanharper.com.

[PhotoshopScripting]

Yes, let's take it offline from here, could you please email me the prefs, dpetri@adobe.com? Thx

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

> That is the issue, eartho, it is the color settings. I get one value with sRGB (default on install) and the other with Pro Photo RGB. I'm still trying to figure out the details, but that is the difference. THANK YOU!>

Glad Earth came up with the right question. I got back to this just now and was about to ask if you had your eyedropper set to sample a different size. I noticed that made a difference, but didn't think about having Color Settings that might affect color space. I hadn't even gotten around to setting up my own settings, figuring default was fine until I went through the whole uninstall, remove prefs, start fresh routine—and I completely forgot about that factor. Good catch on Earth's part.

Numbers in RGB have to represent vastly different color spaces, but stick within 255 numbers to represent the colors, so a wide gamut space to a narrow one or vice versa will be completely different numbers. And no, Settings aren't saved with Preferences, though I think it would be nice. On Mac, User Library> App Support> Adobe> Color> Settings.

And I am adding to the thread because many of us (including future readers here) need to remind ourselves how critical color management is, and how easily it affects our files, especially when we ignore it.  '-}

[alanterra]

Just to summarize. It should be clear from this discussion that this is not a bug in Photoshop CC 2018. A (hopefully clear) description of the issue is in my followup post.

[bellevue scott]

I could not reproduce the issue with the TIF file of the sunflower. However when I run PS 2017 and PS 2018 side by side and open the same PNG file next to each other, they appear differently. But when I look at RGB values with the eyedropper, the values are the same, they are displaying differently. 

Hope this helps. 

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hi Everyone... I am not sure what exactly you are all talking about, but i have a similar kind of issue like what you people face with PS 2018. When i open a new file, the background instead of white color, it shows pale yellow. But the same image is seen as white outside PS 2018. Sometimes, i have white background display correctly, but while exporting it to PNG or JPG, the background white becomes Pale blue. Please let me know what settings i need to change. Thanks!