Colour displays as faded in photoshop

[Jordan Carter Art]

Hello

I'm not sure why, but all my colours in photoshop are now displaying faded. I have reinstalled photoshop to see if it was a setting I had accidently changed. The colour settings are as I would expect (sRGB).

I don't believe it is my monitor as all colours in other software (After Effects, Premiere Pro etc) are displaying as I would expect. I have added an image here of how the same image is displaying in After effects Vs Photoshop

Is there anyone who has managed to fix this issue?! 

Thanks

[Ged_Traynor]

@Jordan Carter Art what colour profile does Windows colour management show

[Jordan Carter Art]

Hi @Ged_Traynor 

It's showing this.

I am a bit confused as to why it's only photoshop that is displaying incorrectly?

Thanks for the help!

[Ged_Traynor · Accepted solution]

Try changing it to sRGB colour space to see if it makes a difference, restart Photoshop if it's already opened

[Jordan Carter Art]

That was it!! Thanks so much @Ged_Traynor !

[Ged_Traynor]

You're welcome 👍

[D Fosse]

Not to be pedantic, but just to give the full picture:

Replacing your monitor profile with sRGB doesn't actually fix the problem - it just shows that your old monitor profile was defective/wrong. Bad monitor profiles from the display manufacturers are often distributed through Windows Update.

The function of the monitor profile is to be an accurate description of your display's actual and current behavior, in detail. The profile is used to correct the numbers sent to screen, so that the file is correctly represented on screen.

The monitor profile should ideally be based on measurement, created by a calibrator/colorimeter. But in most cases, sRGB is reasonably close, so it can be used - but it won't be entirely accurate. For that you need to use a calibrator..

Applications that don't support color management aren't using the monitor profile at all, so are unaffected by a bad profile.

[NB, colourmanagement]

@Jordan Carter Art It seems youre OK now, but this fuller explanation might help you (and others coming here) to appreciate the folow up comments and understand better.

Windows PC display profile, display profile issues on Windows PC

Here's something to try

It'll only take a few minutes and is good troubleshooting.

At least once a week on this forum we read about this, or very similar issues of appearance differing between colour managed applications.

Of course you must not expect accurate colour with programs such as early versions of Windows "Photos”*, because in those early versions colour management is not implemented, so, such programs are incapable of providing accurate image display.

*Windows "Photos” does do colour management now and has for a while, but beware early versions and other apps that are non colour management compliant.

Unfortunately, with Microsoft hardware: Windows updates, Graphics Card updates and Display manufacturers have a frustratingly growing reputation for automatically installing useless (corrupted) monitor display profiles.

I CAN happen with Macs but with far less likelihood, it seems.]

The issue can affect different application programs in different ways, some not at all, some very badly.

The poor monitor display profile issue is hidden by some applications, specifically those that do not use colour management, such as Microsoft Windows "Photos".

Photoshop is correct, it’s the industry standard for viewing images, in my experience it's revealing an issue with the Monitor Display profile rather than causing it. Whatever you do, don't ignore it. As the issue isn’t caused by Photoshop, please don’t change your Photoshop ‘color settings’ to try fix it.

To find out if the monitor display profile is the issue, I recommend you to try temporarily setting the monitor profile for your own monitor display under “Device” in your Windows ‘color management’ control panel to “sRGB IEC61966-2.1”. (If you have a wide gamut monitor display (check the spec online) it’s better to try ‘AdobeRGB1998” here instead as it more closely approximates the display characteristics).

Click ‘Start’, type color in the search box,

then click Color Management.

[or Press the Windows key + R, type colorcpl in the box and press Enter]

In the Devices tab, ensure that your monitor is selected in the Device field.

You can click to ADD to add “sRGB IEC61966-2.1” (or AdobeRGB1998) if not already listed there.

Again - IF you have a wide gamut display I suggest trying “AdobeRGB1998” 

Once it’s selected, be sure to check “Use my settings for this device” up top.

And click on “set as Default Profile - bottom right

Screenshot of Color Management Control Panel

Quit and relaunch Photoshop after the control panel change, to ensure the new settings are applied.

Depending on the characteristics of your monitor display and your requirements, using sRGB or Adobe RGB here may be good enough - but no display perfectly matches either, so a custom calibration is a superior approach.

If this change to the Monitor Display profile temporarily fixes the appearance issue, it is recommended that you should now calibrate and profile the monitor properly. This is done using a calibration sensor like the i1Display pro, which will create and install its own custom monitor profile. The software should install its profile correctly so there should be no need to manually set the control panel once you are doing this right.

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

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[faizan_4450]

it solved my probelm too late but if anyone else is also having problem with colors looking faded on photshop and only on photoshop just uninstall you monitor's driver 
yup belive it or not  but that solves the problem it did for me after i bought a new monitor (i know its dumb) and found that colors looked ok on defaulr driver (that detacts your monitor as "genaric pnp monitor") but as soon as i installed it orignal driver that shows its model colors started looking faded so

[D Fosse]

@faizan_4450 

It has nothing to do with the driver. Monitors are PnP (plug and play) devices that don't need a driver. All that gets installed is an .inf file that tells the system the model name - and a monitor profile. That's the problem. That's what the discussion above was about. These manufacturer monitor profiles are very often defective in various ways. It's a very common problem.

Removing this profile reverts the profile to the Windows default, which is sRGB IEC61966-2.1.

The proper fix is to use a calibrator to make a new custom profile. A monitor profile has one purpose: to be a description of the monitor's current and actual behavior, in detail. If the profile is incorrect, Photoshop cannot display correctly. A calibrator will make a profile based on actual measurement.

[NB, colourmanagement]

@faizan_4450 - @D Fosse has explained why you see what you see and also made a very good recommendation there, because no display screen actually matches sRGB fully - so, if you want proper accuracy then : The proper fix is to use a calibrator to make a new custom profile. A monitor profile has one purpose: to be a description of the monitor's current and actual behavior, in detail. If the profile is incorrect, Photoshop cannot display correctly. A calibrator will make a profile based on actual measurement.

I hope this helps

neil barstow colourmanagement - adobe forum volunteer,

colourmanagement consultant & co-author of 'getting colour right'

See my free articles on colourmanagement online