Shift in color and contrast: Photoshop is unable to renders images neutrally.

[#1]

Hey there,

for some reason the color rendering in Photoshop is broken on my machine.

Left: Original (same in Browser and any other desktop app)

Right: Photoshop

Left: Original (same in Browser and any other desktop app)

Right: Photoshop

Photoshop v23.1

Windows 10 (19043.1415)

There is no proof activated in Photoshop. Color space is default, sRGB, no additional conversion or processing of the image. The problem appears to affect Indesign and probably other image processing apps by Adobe, as well.

The difference is there with and without systemwide calibration with my .icc monitor profile. Must be an issue with the way the engine of the Adobe apps renders images on my windows machine.

Any idea what could cause this shift in color and contrast?

Looking forward to your feedback. 🙂

Best wishes and happy holidays!

[Per Berntsen]

This is most likely caused by a defective monitor profile.

Try setting the monitor profile to sRGB. If that fixes the issue, you should, for best results, calibrate your monitor with a hardware calibrator. This will also create and install a custom monitor profile that describes your monitor accurately.

Close all color managed applications, like Photoshop, Indesign, Windows Photos, web browsers.

Press the Windows key + R, type colorcpl in the box and press Enter.

Add the sRGB profile, and set it as default.

[#3]

Thanks for your reply.

As already described in the first post, the display profile is not the cause since the problem is also present without a custom icc-profile applied to the system.

[Per Berntsen]

As already described in the first post, the display profile is not the cause since the problem is also present without a custom icc-profile applied to the system.

So did you try setting the monitor profile to sRGB like I described above? If you didn't, please try it. It's quick and easy, and will tell you in a few seconds if there is a problem with the profile.

We must be getting hundreds of post similar to yours every year from Windows users, and I'd say that in 90% or more of the cases, the problem is caused by a defective monitor profile.

Windows updates will often install profiles from monitor manufacturers, and these profiles are surprisingly low quality, and very often defective out of the box. 

If you have a hardware calibrator, and do your own calibration, make sure to create a matrix-based (not table-based or LUT) version 2 (not version 4) ICC profile.

Please post a screenshot of your Photoshop color settings, as requested by @TheDigitalDog .

Also post a screenshot of an image open in Photoshop with the status bar set to Document profile.

All the major web browsers for Windows are now color managed, and should display identically to Photoshop, as long as the image has an embedded profile. (and the monitor profile is sound and correct) 

All the major browsers, except Firefox; will assign sRGB to untagged material (images and CSS colors) by default.

Firefox needs to be set to color management mode 1 to this. The default mode is 2, where color management is applied only to tagged images.

Windows Photos has recently become color managed,  but Paint, Desktop and the File Explorer are not color managed.

[PECourtejoie]

Hello, are the other apps (which browser? ) color managed?

[D Fosse]

Probably not, Pierre-Etienne.

It could be a broken monitor profile as Per suggests, but it could also be just the normal difference between a color managed and a non-color managed application. The screenshot is inconclusive when we don't know what display the OP has or where his monitor profile comes from.

It's interesting that in these cases, people always trust a simple photo viewer over a professional image editor, without any question. I've always wondered why.

[#7]

I appreciate your participation. But it really doesn't seem to be a simple calibration thing, as the problem also occurs on other monitors and quite explicitly without a custom icc profile applied. The screenshots attached in the first post were made with windows stock color settings, sRGB.

Other than that: I don't know why I should trust a professional photo editing software when it is not even capable of rendering #000000 as pure black. I can't find any desktop application that reduces the dynamic range in such a way.

[D Fosse]

If Photoshop doesn't diplay correctly, it's because your monitor profile isn't accurate. Photoshop absolutely relies on a good monitor profile. It's crucial, and that's why people buy and use calibrators. It's the only way to have full control over it.

Other applications that aren't color managed don't use the profile. They just ignore it, and so are unaffected by a bad profile. They just send the numbers directly to screen, and it displays according to whatever characteristics and flaws the display has.

Just so it's said, a monitor profile must not be confused with calibration. The profile doesn't do anything, it doesn't change the monitor's behavior. It just measures and records it. It's a map. Photoshop corrects the numbers sent to screen based on this profile.

Color management is not a "thing", it's a chain. One profile is converted into another. It can be broken down into these three elements. If they are all present and correct, Photoshop will by definition display the file with absolute accuracy:

• an embedded document profile defining the numbers
• an accurate monitor profile
• a color managed application that correctly converts from one into the other

[TheDigitalDog]

Left: Original (same in Browser and any other desktop app)

Right: Photoshop

Photoshop is correct, browser isn't. Could be due to browser not being color managed and/or a dispaly profile issue but the browser isn't something you should consider being 'correct'. At least PS is using color management, albeit with a possible display profile issue. If the browser acted the same, as it should, the two would match.

[#10]

Thanks for your contribution.

As already mentioned: The dynamic range in photoshop is reduced. Firefox (at default rendering intent setting, which treats images w/o embedded profile as stock sRGB) as well as pretty much any other image app I have installed on my system do render the contrast just right. But as soon as I copy and paste the image into PS, the colors get washed out.

[TheDigitalDog]

1st, depending on the version of FireFox, color management may not be on:

https://cameratico.com/color-management/firefox/

2nd, without color management savvy applications and a proper display profile, sRGB is a meaningless concept. Images without an embedded profile may or may not be sRGB as well.

3rd, show us the Color Settings in Photoshop (screen capture). Pasting images, depending on the settings could be the issue.

[Test Screen Name]

Don't copy and paste from other apps into Photoshop. The colour is likely to change, because it has a monitor profile attached. Does this happen if you OPEN or PLACE?

[#13 · Accepted solution]

I found the solution today.

It appears that Windows 10 itself is the problem which sometimes fails to render the colors of some apps correctly and screws up the color tables, especially for the color red which shifts to a dark orange then. The solution is to completely reset the cache by going to the Color Management panel and clicking thorugh the "Calibrate display" function in the third tab without changing any of the sliders. After that, reapply your monitor-specific calibration profile in the first tab and you are read to go!

No idea why W10 does such weird things. Might also be a driver-related issue of some graphic cards.

However, if you are in the same situation as me and some colors are rendered completely wrong although the system is calibrated corretly: Reset the windows color management!

Photoshop is healed now, same as Firefox. 🙂

[#14]

Addition:
Don't forget to deactivate "Use Windows display calibration" after running through the default W10 calibration process!