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eugenei27144166
Inspiring
April 21, 2022
Question

PS exports still are too contrasty/saturated after attempted fixes

  • April 21, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 1964 views

My workflow has always been processing the photos in Adobe Camera Raw, then opening them as objects in Photoshopping for any Photoshoppery.  However, when I export them, they are way contrastier and more saturated than what I see in Photoshop.  

So for fixes, I've tried the following:
-  upping exporting as a PNG
-  exporting the highest image quality JPEG possible

-  exporting while embedding color space
-  checking the convert to sRGB box

Due to starting in ACR, the color space I was working in was Adobe RGB. I heard that a lot of platforms use sRGB color spaces as their standard.  So I tried the "Convert the Profile" option and set it to sRGB and then exported it again.  

Importing them back into PS both the Adobe RGB and sRGB-converted photos were accurate, also true in Windows Photo Viewer, but pretty much everywhere else made them constrastier and more saturated.  

What am I missing???

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2 replies

NB, colourmanagement
Community Expert
NB, colourmanagementCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 21, 2022

You're probably missing colour management. Not all programs do it

What application programs are you using to view your files?

and are you embedding the icc profile when saving

(BTW why export when you can simply "save as"?

 

neil b

colormanagement 

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    eugenei27144166Author
    Inspiring
    April 21, 2022

    I'm trying the programs/platforms my clients would see the photos from.  So I send via DropBox, which they show up inaccurate there, Windows Photo if they decide to download them and see them locally, the preview pane in File Explorer, Chrome, and they're all inaccurate.  I haven't tried Insta yet, but I imagine it'd be the same.  

    Is embedding the icc the option you check that reads "Embed Color Profile"?

    As far as exporting instead of saving as, I'll be straight with you, I don't know what the difference is.

    E
    eugenei27144166Author
    Inspiring
    April 30, 2022
    quote

    I'm trying the programs/platforms my clients would see the photos from.  So I send via DropBox, which they show up inaccurate there, Windows Photo if they decide to download them and see them locally, the preview pane in File Explorer, Chrome, and they're all inaccurate.  I haven't tried Insta yet, but I imagine it'd be the same.

     

    It's the application, not what the application happens to be displaying at any moment. Instagram is irrelevant here, Dropbox is irrelevant here. What's relevant is which web browser you have them open in.

     

    Bottom line: embed the profile, use a color managed application. Then it will display correctly, or at least as correct as your monitor profile (which is why people have calibrators).

     

    quote

    As far as exporting instead of saving as, I'll be straight with you, I don't know what the difference is.

     

    Export is specifically intended for web/screen/mobile devices - smallish files that need to be as compact as possible. It strips everything non-essential from the file, compresses the data as efficiently as possible, and lets you preview the result. The overriding aim is a small file that loads quickly.

     

    Save As retains all the data and is the standard/normal way to output a file from Photoshop


    The photos are shot for web/computer/lapton screens/mobile/etc. so I would want the finals to cater to that.  I've heard that the applications I'm using (Chrome, Safari, Windows Photo when reviewing locally), they all may not have Adobe RGB color management or Pro Photo, etc, but they are all sRGB color space friendly.  So I tried to convert to sRGB, and JIC, I also switched the color space on the RAW side to sRGB so it's sRGB 8-bit/channel from the very beginning.  They're not as bad, BUT when comparing 1:1 in Windows Photo and PS, there's still a noticeable drop in luma. 

    My goal is to have PS show me what it will look like in an sRGB-managed application, and I can't seem to make that happen.

    I thought I understood everything that was mentioned here on the thread, but this is still persisting.  Is there something that I'm missing or just misunderstanding?

    J E L
    Community Expert
    J E LCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 21, 2022

    Hi @eugenei27144166. I'm not sure what you mean by "pretty much everywhere else," but when viewing images with some browsers, such as Edge, recently introduced settings can alter image appearance. These are sometimes turned on by default.

     

    "With a new option enabled, Microsoft can render images on websites in an improved way. The browser will change the image brightness, contrast and improve tones to make it look impressive on your screen."

      E
      eugenei27144166Author
      Inspiring
      April 21, 2022

      So I've found they're different Windows' Photos app, Window's preview screen when clicking on the file, opening them in Chrome, opening them in DropBox, I think I even did Paint for fun and it was the same issue there. Checked the dropbox from my iPhone as well JiC. 

      For clients, is there a way to make it more consistent, so they get accurate photos?  For instance, I send them via DropBox, which is inaccurate.  If they download them and look at them in Photo, that's inaccurate (especially as newest Windows dropped Windows Photo Viewer altogether).  I haven't tried Instagram yet, but if they want to post them to an Instagram, I'd imagine it'd be the same story?   

      NB, colourmanagement
      Community Expert
      NB, colourmanagementCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 22, 2022

      Generally, it's considered best practice to save as sRGB for "general" (sometimes non colour managed) viewing. 

      On a "normal" gamut screen - even with out a colour managed application to use the document profile correctly the appearance should be ?OK?

      BUT these days there are a growing number of 'wide gamut monitor screens' in the field [claimed "9x% of Adobe RGB gamut", or maybe "P3" (P3 = macs, mostly), with those screens colour management is vital, because "throwing" an sRGB image onto the wide gamut screen, without colour management, will make the image awfully over-saturated. 

       

      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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