Image tone changes from Lightroom to Photoshop

Forum|Forum|10 months ago
May 7, 2025
2 replies
4618 views

Hi there, this is quite an embarassing problem, and I cannot find the solution.

If I process an image in Lightroom Classic, and edit it in Photoshop, the copy that has opened in Photoshop has different tones.

I am using the Adobe RGB colour space in Photoshop, and Lightroom's External Editing colour space preference is set to Adobe RGB, and Bit Depth is at 16bit.

I am using Photoshop 26.6, Lightroom Classic 14.3, and Camera Raw 17.3. The computer is a Mac Studio M2 Pro, Sonoma 14.4.1.

Attached are files showing the difference between the LR and PS images, plus the relevant LR and PS settings.

Please help! I have alway been winging it with colour space and profiles, but this one has me beat.

Thanks, Jamie

macOS

D Fosse

Community Expert

This is an issue that has been reported from several Mac users lately. The symptom seems to be the same: excessive black clipping in Lightroom compared to Photoshop.

I would start by determining which of these two is the correct representation. That's pretty easy to determine. Take screenshots of both, assign your monitor profile, and convert back to Adobe RGB. All the 3 histograms - original Adobe RGB file and the two screenshots - should now be a perfect match. If they're not, the odd one out doesn't display the file correctly.

So far, all the signs point to a bug in MacOS - specifically, the GPU driver component in MacOS. It could be an Adobe bug, but if so, it's specific to the Mac Photoshop version. This has never been reported from Windows, and cannot be reproduced by Windows users who have tried (including myself).

And if, as you say, disabling the GPU clears it, that's further confirmation.

Jamie FarquharsonAuthor

Known Participant

Hi D,

Thanks for your reply, I have been reading your posts about this issue, your diagnosis of the problem is amazing!

I will be following your instructions as to whether PS or LR is the source of the problem tomorrow. This is well out of my comfort zone, and a day spent searching for answers for this has finished me.

One other useful piece of information I found was from user rvdknl in the Apple forums. He says in the post "Lifted and desatured blacks in Photoshop" that switching from Adobe ACE to Apple CMM in PS's colour settings virtually fixes the issue. Colours and tones match between LR and PS, with very minor diffrences in deep blacks. I have tried this and I can confirm.

Again, thanks for your reply, it came at just the right time,

Jamie

D Fosse

Community Expert

One other useful piece of information I found was from user rvdknl in the Apple forums. He says in the post "Lifted and desatured blacks in Photoshop" that switching from Adobe ACE to Apple CMM in PS's colour settings virtually fixes the issue.

By @Jamie Farquharson

Yes, that has also been reported here. For some it corrects it completely, for others some of the way. Of course, both color management engines should produce the correct result. This isn't open to interpretation.

Figuring out which version you can trust should at least give you some firm ground.