Photoshop 2024 Has a Color Management Glitch on External Monitors

[Jared Platt 2]

Photoshop 2024 has a Color Management issue (GLITCH) on external monitors.  I don't know if it is on all monitors, but it is on my ASUS Art Pro 4K Monitor.  It does not happen on screens that are attached to the computer, like a laptop screen or an iMac.  It only happens on an external monitor.  My monitor has its profiles stored in the moniotor itself, so I thought it might have something to do with that, but it DOES NOT happen in Photoshop 2023.  I can open the same images in 2023 and 2024 and the issue only occures on PS 2024.

1. Attache an external monitor as an extended disply (not as a mirror)
2. Open photoshop 2024 in that external monitor.
3. Open a JPG or PSD that you know the color.
4. PS2024 opens it with a sickly grayish undersaturated look.
5. Now click and hold the PS window and move it slightly to one side
6. let go
7. the color will come back to the photo and PS2024 will act as normal in this photo until you close it and open it again.  Then you are back to the sickly desaturated images again.
8. Try it on as many photos as you like, it does the same thing.
9. open those same images in PS2023 and the color will be right from the very begining.
10. open PS2024 on the laptop screen, even while the external is attached and open the same images, it will look just fine.  No issues.
11. If you open a RAW image in Camera RAW in PS2024 on the external monitor, it will display with the bad color for a brief second or less and then it converts to the good color.  So it is still having an issue, but it doesn't require you to touch the window and move it.
12. BY THE WAY: only moving the window brings the color back.  Choosing tooks, converting from one profile to another, working on the photo, nothing like that works.  Only grabbing the photoshop application window and moving it slightly, fixes the color.

With all of that being said, you can see why I call this a GLITCH.  It is some kind of strange gremlin in there and it is not an understandable one.  It is a weird issue with PS2024.  Until it is fixed, I think I can't even trust 2024's color management.

Some things abut my system

• PS2024 25.0.0 release
• Mac OS Venture 13.5
• Working on a Mac Book Pro M2
• Monitor is a 4K Asus Pro Art Monitor and holds the calibration internally rather than in the system of the computer.  The computer system simply points to the monitor's internal calibration.

[Thomas Dearie]

Same here on Ps v 25.0.0, except my images look oversaturated instead of less saturated. Maybe because of profile differences.

But the window moving behaviour is the same.

T.

[D Fosse]

My monitor has its profiles stored in the moniotor itself,

By @Jared Platt 2

We need to clear one thing up first. The monitor profile is not stored in the monitor - the calibration tables are; that's a different thing.

To briefly explain the difference: The monitor profile is a description of the monitor's behavior in its calibrated state. The profile doesn't do anything, it's just a map. The profile has a much higher precision level than the calibration, and using more parameters.

The monitor profile is set up in the operating system. The application loads the monitor profile from the operating system at startup. Photoshop just loads whatever profile it gets from the OS for each screen. This profile is then used in a standard profile conversion, and these recalculated numbers are sent to screen.

With that out of the way.

The most likely explanation is that the profile has some properties that causes the system to stall and not load it properly. We've seen a few cases recently where version 4 and/or LUT-based profiles don't work well with MacOS (I don't know if it's widespread or isolated cases). It could also be that the profile isn't written to correct icc specification.

The first thing to do here is to go into the calibration software and make sure it's set to make version 2 and matrix-based profiles. Those are always the safe options, and most experienced users on both platforms routinely do this.

[Jared Platt 2]

Thanks for the specific on where everything is held having to do with
monitor calibration.

*The explanation would make sense as to why there is a slight delay with
the color switch EXCEPT:*


- The problem does not exist with the same MAC OS when using PS 2023.
So it is solely a difference between 2023 and 2024 that is at issue. So it
has to be something to do with PS 2024. It is not MAC OS that is the
constant.
- The issue does a slight delay when you use a RAW file and go through
Camera RAW. So it shows bad color and then it corrects itself after a
moment's delay. So that suggested that PS2024 might truly be having what
you suggest, a delay in getting to the correct profile info. But again, it
does not happen in PS 2023. So it is a PS 2024 programming issue.
- The issue exists on multiple monitors, both high end that have the LUT
style storage onboard the monitor (you can fill in the technical mumbo
jumbo) and the less pro level monitors that just have the standard profile
on the computer and no LUT based files on the monitor. And of course,
again, everything is perfect in PS 2023. In PS 2024, it pauses on the bad
color until you move the window.

So... if this were a MAC OS thing, then it would be a problem when you
upgrade to a specific MAC OS, not when you upgrade from PS 2023 to 2024.
And if it was a simple MAC OS delay at getting to the LUT or the Profile or
both, it would either happen like it does in the Camera RAW scenario with a
slight dealy. OR it would happen like it does in all other instances where
it pauses on bad color until you move the window. It would do one or the
other because the OS would have the same problem either as a pause or as a
delay. But the fact that it does it two different ways in two different
areas of Photoshop 2024 (RAW and PS) tells me that it is a program issue in
PS2024 and that it is NOT in the OS. PS 2024 code was written in a way to
create the issue. And for some reason, the Camera RAW handoff triggers a
bandaid kind of fix to the code issues.

Also, keep in mind that Lightroom Classic or Desktop does NOT experience
this, not does any other software from Adobe or any other brand. So... I
don't buy the idea that this is an OS issue at all. I think that is a bit
of a passing the buck off to the easiest possible scapegoat... APPLE.

I realize that MAC OS might not be perfect in the way it serves up the
option to access the profiles. But clearly Adobe programmed it to work
seamlessly in PS 2023. So whatever was "wrong" with the MAC OS in 2023 has
not changed in 2024. It is just Adobe's code that changed the way it asks
the MAC OS to deal with color. So rather than pass the buck to apple,
maybe the time should be spent in looking at the difference between 2023
and 2024 code and finding out where it was broken.


*Jared Platt*

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[Thomas Dearie]

I wouldn't go spending a lot of time tinkering with your system.

Given that the issue is happening on other people's systems too, and those systems were functioning normally before the application update, the most likely culprit is the updated application itself.

The fact that simply moving a window corrects the glitch also points squarely at a software bug.

In the vast majority of cases, the one thing that changed before a problem is the thing that's the culprit.

Here, the one thing that changed was the app update — you've confirmed that other users see the issue too and that they also only saw the issue arise with this update.

In working with Photoshop since version 1,  I've seen these kinds of issues almost invariably traced back to bugs in the app that were not caught in testing. They're typically addressed in future updates.

I'd report the issue as a bug to Adobe and look for future updates.

[D Fosse]

It could also be a GPU-related problem. The actual conversion into the monitor profile is performed in the GPU. The additional descriptions in the last two posts make that more likely.

Photoshop moves more and more functionality to the GPU, and requirements increase with new calls and new functions. Latent bugs can surface in a new Photoshop version.

This is not a general Photoshop problem, I'm not seeing it on either of my two Windows systems, and in fact this is the first time I've heard about it here in the forums.

Post Help > System Info to show the GPU configuration.

[Jared Platt 2]

I imagine it is a PS 2024 coding bug that does the GPU assigning poorly.
That makes sense. I know it is happening on multiple machines, although
admittedly, I have no experiences on a PC at all, so I wouldn't know if it
is happening on a PC, but then it doesn't need to, since the code for the
PC and the MAC versions are different code. So, Adobe may very well have
coded it poorly for the MAC OS and got the code right for the PC as they
transitioned to 2024. But again, nothing has changed on either of the
machines I have been testing on except for the change from PS 2023 to
2024. So it is 100% in the code of PS 2024. Hopefully the engineers will
see this as an important bug to fix and go into the code and figure out
where they changed it between 23 and 24 and fix it rather than
assigning the blame to the OS.

*Jared Platt*

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[D Fosse]

OK, quick test: Uncheck "Use Graphics Processor" in Preferences.

That shifts display color management off the GPU and back to the CPU.

[Jared Platt 2]

Well, that fixed the issue. So it has something to do with the way PS2024
deals with the GPU on MAC OS. When I *unchecked* the graphic processor
setting, it displays the correct color right from the moment it opens the
file. It operates just like it did in PS 2023.

Good call on trying that setting. I imagine not having the GPU on will
have some major side effects in my work in Photoshop, but at leaste for the
purposes of finding the glitch, we know it has something to do with the GPU
part of the code.

More info just to track down the glitch in the code: I am on a Apple M2 MAX
Mac Book Pro, 38 Cores.

*Jared Platt*

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[D Fosse]

That shows it's a GPU bug and you should take it up with Apple.

...or at least a bug in the interface between the GPU and the monitor profile. You still haven't said anything about your monitor profile and where it comes from, which calibrator you're using. These things can be two sides to the same coin: a marginal profile can cause the GPU to fail, and a latent GPU bug can cause a monitor profile to fail.

[Theresa22322656ot97]

You're not alone. Experiencing it now on PS 2024 version 25 on Windows 10.

Very frustrated as I cannot edit photo's because of CR & PS showing false colors upon opening Original Camera File.

I thought it was my monitor and started messing with my color management on my display and PS then i see others with the same problem.

These programs cost alot of money to be having this type of problem. Not happy with Adobe.

CSR's no help either. I have spent 4 days and countless hours with CSR's for them to tell me to calibrate my monitor.

DO NOT CALIBRATE YOUR MONITOR! This is Adobe's fault, they need to fix this ASAP!

[Theresa22322656ot97]

It is a PS problem not anyone's monitor.

Adobe needs to be aware that customers are not going to run out and buy new laptops/desktops everytime they want do a fancy upgrade. Adobe needs to be keenly aware that they need to make their programs work for current systems and monitors and not do upgrades that force people to have to purchase new equipment to run their program. There are other photo editing software programs besides Adobe. This company needs to remember customers have other options besides them.

[D Fosse]

Using a calibrator to make a new monitor profile, to known good parameters, is the solution to these problems, not the cause.

Do not touch your color settings! That's not where the problem is.

Photoshop and ACR just use the monitor profile they get from the operating system. If the profile is bad, that is not something Adobe can control.

The actual conversion into the monitor profile is executed in the GPU. If the GPU driver is buggy, again, that is outside Adobe's control.

[Thomas Dearie]

It's not an OS or hardware issue, as these systems were running fine before the Adobe update.
If the update is what has changed, then that's where the problem is.
The fact that simply moving the window nerfs the glitch also suggests it's a software issue.

Even if there's an incompatibility with the GPU, that's still a software issue.
Software devs are tasked with writing software that runs properly on the systems for which they're sold. Not the other way around. But it's rare for software to be tested on all configs, so bugs are almost always present in a yearly update.
They've been happening since PS was invented.
Report the bug to Adobe and hope for an early fix.
If you want to report it to Apple too, be my guest.
But I can almost read you the verbatim script of how that will go. : )

[D Fosse]

That is a simplistic interpretation that will get in the way of effective trobleshooting.

A new Photoshop version will have new code, new GPU functions and new calls to the GPU. The most dramatic development in Photoshop/ACR/Lightroom in recent years, is the explosion in GPU functionality. It happens in leaps in every new version.

So it can easily happen that latent problems come to the surface.

Software isn't written to run on hardware. Software is written to APIs (application programming interfaces). Photoshop has no control over the GPU or the GPU driver or the OS interaction with the GPU. It only knows the APIs, and they are standard functions.

In the same way, Photoshop has no control over the monitor profile. It can only use what it gets.

[Jared Platt 2]

FIXED in BETA 2024

OK.  Everyone can stop fighting about whether this is an Adobe thing or a computer hardware, or monitor thing.  In the newest version of Photoshop BETA 2024, the issue is resolved.  They fixed something in the code and it is working correctly again.  At the moment, Photoshop 2024 still has the issue, but Photoshop 2023 is fine and Photoshop BETA 2024 work perfectly.  So, Aodbe found the issue and fixed it.  So... that answers the question of what it was and it who needed to get the job done.  But much more importantly, it is fixed.  We just need to wait for the fix to get pushed to the Photoshop 2024 in the next dot release.  I hope that is soon, but until then, I will just be using Photoshop BETA 2024.

If Adobe wants to mark this as the correct answer and maybe tell us when the Dot release is going to come out with this fix in it, that would be great.

[Thomas Dearie]

=;- )

[voyager7777]

I have excactly the same problem. I'm also on mac and the colors between an image opened in PS 2024 is vastly differnt from preview or PS 2023.

This is not acceptable in a pro tool where color is super important.

The images in PS 2024 look like you would see Argb images in a non color managed environment. (somewhat desaturated)

At least the saved files seems to be ok.

[D Fosse]

OK, so now we have three users, all on Mac, all with an external display where the monitor profile doesn't load properly.

(There was a Windows user up there, but that was clearly an unrelated issue).

What would be very useful to know at this point, is what monitor profile these three users have set up for this external display. Where does the profile come from? Yes, the monitor profile is significant here, because it's very obvious that the problem is failure to load the profile properly.

What OS version? The OP says Ventura, the other's don't say.

What GPU? M1/M2? A discrete AMD GPU, which one?

In short, help the engineers narrow it down. Three complaints, without any specific details, isn't much to go on.

[voyager7777]

I don't think the issue is with the monitor profile not loading, that's on the os side and all other apps, including PS 2023 do display correct.

Now i'm on monteray, latest version on a mac pro with D500 gpu.

My profile is one i made with a calibrator and it's loaded in the os, not the screen hardware. Furthermore, i have the problem on both screen, each have their own profile.

[D Fosse]

When I say the monitor profile isn't loading correctly, I'm just describing the symptom. That is very obviously what is happening. I don't think anything about what the cause is.

The monitor profile is always loaded in the operating system. Photoshop uses whatever profile it gets from the operating system when it starts up. You're confusing with the calibration tables, which on more expensive monitors can be stored internally in the monitor. But that's not the monitor profile.

It's not the first time this happens BTW. Some years ago there was a very similar problem, also on Mac, and also on external displays. What happened then was that the monitor profile for the primary integrated display was also used for a connected external display. There were lots of reports about this. Apparently Apple eventually fixed that, because the reports just stopped coming at some point. Until now. It may not be the very same issue, but it's very similar.

[Jared Platt 2]

What all of this is ignoring is the fact that the issue is not in PS 2023.
Then it is in PS 2024. And then it is fixed in the latest Beta PS 2024.
So the idea that it is an issue in the MAC operating system is
preposterous. It is clearly in the way the code is written in PS 2024
Public version. But they seem to have found and fixed the bug in PS 2024
Beta. So can we get some kind of confirmation and timeline as to when they
will push the fix into PS2024?

Then we can all stop trying to blame the MAC OS or the monitors. And just
recognize that the code was messed up... I haven't seen anyone else confirm
that the PS 2024 Beta is working correctly for them. It is working fine
for me, and PS 2024 Public is NOT. So it would be better for people to
test 2024 Beta and tell us if that is working.


*Jared Platt, MFA*

Photographer and Videographer

Marketing


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[D Fosse]

Just for a second, focus less on who to blame and more on what is actually happening.

It's very clear that the monitor profile is not loading, or the wrong monitor profile is loading. That's a symptomatic description, not a diagnostic. It doesn't say anything about the cause.

It's also clear that this is happening to very few users, so whatever the problem is, it becomes very important to provide as much specific information as possible. What's special about these three systems? Not saying it's not a real problem, only that it's not widespread.

It isn't necessarily "fixed" in the beta. It can be that different GPU calls either triggers it or not. That's troubleshooting 101.