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Known Participant
January 30, 2019
Question

Photoshop export + Blues turn to purple

  • January 30, 2019
  • 8 replies
  • 8928 views

Hi all! My problem is just that. When editing in photoshop, everything looks right. This particular image is very blue with a blue tint throughout the entire photo; however, when exported to jpg (via export as well as save to web) the image comes out with a purple tint. When putting the jpg image next to the photoshop version there's a huge noticeable difference in tones.

I've noticed this issue to be only with blues and purples. I went through and looked at other images and didn't see any differences, in fact very accurate, so again this seems to only be with blues.

I have my monitor calibrated, having used the i1 Display Pro. My workspace is set to sRGB IEC6196602.1 but the embedded color profile is ProPhoto RGB.

Any suggestions, as this is driving me bonkers!

Thanks,

Neil

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    8 replies

    February 2, 2019

    Have you fixed it? I'm trying to resolve the same problem,

    Known Participant
    February 3, 2019

    Unfortunately not! :/

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 31, 2019

    One additional thing comes to mind, though: is this a very noisy image - particularly with a lot of color noise? In that case you always need to compare at 100% view. Screen resampling algorithms could affect the result at other zoom ratios. The only way to take that out of the equation is to view at 100%.

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 31, 2019

    Yes, but the monitor profile will use Relative Colorimetric intent in either case, hard clipping everything outside monitor gamut. There's no remapping (which otherwise tends to give a blue to purple shift).

    So the color space of the document doesn't play a part here. Everything outside monitor gamut is hard clipped no matter where that clipping occurs, whether in the monitor profile or by profile conversions in the application. It's all invisible.

    But ultimately, as long as you have two color managed applications, they should always be identical. The difference between them is in itself an indication that one of them isn't doing it correctly. They can't both be right.

    Either Faststone's color management isn't properly set up, or the monitor profile is defective. Or Photoshop's color settings have been changed so that color management is disabled and/or the document profile isn't embedded.

    In any case the colors here are very muted and should fit comfortably inside sRGB.

    Known Participant
    January 31, 2019

    Thanks for your assistance! Both my faststone and fast image viewers are set to color management. Even after embedding the profile on export, the jpg version is still displaying that magenta color cast on those color managed browsers (although not windows photo viewer - that shows correctly (maybe that is based off my monitors profile? where as faststone isnt?)

    Also, when uploading to my website and viewing via google chrome the same applies. Magenta cast image.

    Photoshops color management for RGB is set to preserve.

    Yeah, there is also a good deal of color noise. I just applied 100 to color noise for a test to see if that would help but it did not.

    I can try and re-calibrate my monitor today, as it has been a few months since I last did so.

    *I also zoomed in at 100% and it does appear to be blue (greener tint) that way also.*

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 31, 2019

    https://forums.adobe.com/people/Neil+Tapman  wrote

    windows photo viewer - that shows correctly (maybe that is based off my monitors profile? where as faststone isnt?)

    • If that is "Windows Photo Viewer", the Windows 7 version, then that is color managed and should be identical to Photoshop.
    • If it is Windows "Photos", the Windows 10 version, it is not color managed. Anything that exactly matches "Photos" means color management isn't working as it should.

    The distinction above is important.

    Color management means it's using your monitor profile in a straight profile conversion. A phrase like "based off your monitor's profile" indicates you don't fully understand how this works. It's a standard profile conversion from the document profile into your monitor profile. These converted/recalculated numbers are sent to your monitor - not the original unmodified numbers. That's the difference.

    This conversion is performed on the fly, as you work, by the application. That's why you need to have both profiles present and correct, and in their proper places. If one profile is missing or incorrect, the application won't display correctly.

    The whole principle is based on the profile describing its associated color space accurately. The Adobe RGB profile is an accurate description of the Adobe RGB color space. Your monitor profile has to be an accurate description of your monitor's actual and current response.

    Bob_Hallam
    Legend
    January 31, 2019

    The monitor gamut is too small to view a full gamut Pro-Photo embedded image properly.  So there is clipping and interpolation that can occur when the image gamut is outside of the display gamut.

    For example, if your monitor gamut was sRGB:

    Or if your monitor gamut was Adobe 1998:

    So regardless of the monitor gamut, there is a good portion of Pro-Photo RGB that is outside of the display gamut.  Whenever one image must be interpolated to be viewed it can easily be displayed slightly "different" than an image that is entirely inside the gamut of the display. 

    ICC programmer and developer, Photographer, artist and color management expert, Print standards and process expert.
    Known Participant
    January 31, 2019

    Thanks a lot! I was wondering if something like this was going on in this image, as I brought the midtones (blue) down quite a lot.

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 30, 2019

    Here's a full and complete color management troubleshooting checklist:

    • does the file have an embedded document profile, and is it the right one?
    • do you have a valid monitor profile - one that correctly describes the actual response of the monitor?
    • is the application color managed, converting correctly from the first into the second?

    This simple list covers all scenarios. Color management is a simple chain from document profile (source) to monitor profile (destination). In Photoshop everything will work out of the box at default settings - with one important exception: Export/Save For Web both have all color management disabled by default.

    The description above has a lot of holes. Why was color management policies suddenly "off"? That indicates random experiments which is guaranteed to mess everything up. Has anything else been accidentally changed?

    The prime suspect in these cases - assuming all applications have color management correctly configured and working - is always the monitor profile. A defective profile will often affect different applications differently. So the first troubleshooting step is always to rerun the calibrator, making sure all parameters are set to safe options. That basically means version 2 and matrix-based (not LUT).

    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 30, 2019

    Please set the Status Bar to »Document Profile« and post a screenshot of the original layered file and the jpg side by side (at the same magnification).

    Known Participant
    January 30, 2019

    Below are two screenshots:

    1st with the original layers ProPhoto compared to exported Jpg

    2nd is the resized export (sRGB) with the exported Jpg

    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 30, 2019

    I can discern no relevant difference between the layered file and the flattened sRGB jpg in Photoshop so the problem would seem to be something else.

    Per Berntsen
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 30, 2019

    In the Export dialog, as well as in Save for web, make sure that both Convert to sRGB and Embed color profile are checked. You are probably viewing the image, with ProPhoto embedded, in an application without color management, which will result in wrong colors.

    sRGB embedded is the safe choice.

    Known Participant
    January 30, 2019

    Thank you for the reply. I did not have embed color profile selected, only covert to sRGB for "export". I just ticked that option as well and did a test but the same issue still occurs. (Should I always have embed color profile selected, as I have never before and my other images appear fine on my website, instagram, etc)

    I also attached my color settings in the post above.

    Per Berntsen
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 30, 2019

    And you can uncheck Ask when opening for Profile mismatches in the Color settings. Photoshop will display correctly regardless what profile is embedded in image. There is no need for the embedded profile to match the working space.

    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 30, 2019
    When putting the jpg image next to the photoshop version there's a huge noticeable difference in tones.

    In Photoshop?

    Please set the Status Bar to »Document Profile« and post a screenshot of the two images side by side (at the same magnification).

    Do you embed the profile when exporting the jpg?

    What is the image’s bit depth?

    What are your Edit > Color Settings?

    Known Participant
    January 30, 2019

    Thanks for the quick reply!

    Yes, when I look at the photo in photoshop itself, and compare it to the JPG using a color managed viewer (fast picture viewer) or to the photo uploaded to my website/phone, they all look purple-ish and not blue like when viewed in photoshop.

    I was not embedding the profile when exporting to jpg, only covert to sRGB was ticked; however, I just did a test and ticked embed profile also but the same issue occurs, so it seems to have no effect. (Should I always have embed profile selected while exporting? I have never done so before but my other photos appear fine via website, etc)

    Screen shot below of color settings. For whatever reason, under RGB, it was selected as OFF although It is normally set to preserve.

    Do you want me to pull up a photo viewer and screen next to photoshop?

    Per Berntsen
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 30, 2019

    https://forums.adobe.com/people/Neil+Tapman  wrote

    Screen shot below of color settings. For whatever reason, under RGB, it was selected as OFF although It is normally set to preserve.

    If RGB color management policies was set to Off, Photoshop's color management was turned off.

    Start over with the settings in the screenshot above, then export with Convert to sRGB and Embed profile checked.

    These two options should always be checked. With the profile embedded, color managed applications will display correct colors.