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phoerious
Inspiring
May 19, 2012
Answered

Problem with color management, exported images too saturated

  • May 19, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 22274 views

Hi,

I have an image in Photoshop (CS5, Windows 7) which I wanted to export to PDF in order to print it but then I noticed that the colors varied significantly making the result unusable.

The image is composed in AdobeRGB and I'm working on a wide gamut monitor (Dell U2711) which I calibrated and profiled with a Spyder4.

In Photoshop the image contains a nice dull light brown but when I open the PSD in Illustator or InDesign or when I export it to PDF and view it in Acrobat there is way too much red in it. Below I have attached an example of how colors look like in Photoshop (left) and the rest of the system (right):

(note: this is an AdobeRGB JPEG, so viewing it on a normal gamut monitor might not show as much difference as there actually is)

This color mismatch is very extreme and I don't know what's causing the problems. I tried different profiles for my monitor (the one I created with the Spyder, the factory profile from Dell, the standard AdobeRGB profile, no profile at all etc.). While the color obviously changed a little the overall problem still persists: Photoshop shows the nice yellowish brown, all the other applications show a very reddish image. The difference is even noticeable quite extremely on my second monitor which is just a normal gamut monitor with a color range of about 73% of sRGB.

I also tried exporting it to a flat JPEG with no embedded profiles which makes the result a little better but the colors are still not accurate at all. This is very confusing as I don't know what the problem is and I also don't know if it's just Photoshop displaying wrong colors or if all the other applications just do bad color management.

It would be great if you could help me here.

Thanks.

P.S. This issue might be related to this thread http://forums.adobe.com/message/4178572#4178572 although I couldn't find any working solution there.

P.P.S. Opening the exported image/PDF in Photoshop, produces the desired colors again, so it's not a weird conversion causing the issues.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer phoerious

    Did you make that last test using Illustrator too? So far from all you said it appears that the monitor profile is OK because Windows Explorer, Photo Viewer, and Bridge are using the same monitor profile like Photoshop, but Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat may be are using your laptop screen color profile confusing it for u2711. That's why I'm asking you to remove your laptop color profile to force and make sure all programs are using the same monitor profile.


    If it's not the right profile, there would be at least two independent even more wrong profiles which I switch by assinging the right and wrong profiles. I doubt it. I'm pretty sure Windows and Photoshop are using the right profiles. Both monitors change independently when assinging different profiles and the colors in Photoshop always change accordingly.

    The applications which don't seem to choose the correct profile are Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat. When I make the external monitor the primary one they display the colors correctly. But as soon as I make the notebook monitor the main display the colors are wrong again.

    So I suppose Windows and Photoshop are doing everything right, but Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat are only using the profile of the primary display. So when viewed on the wide gamut monitor it's all clearly oversaturated (especially in the reds). However, when I set the wide gamut monitor as my main display they use that profile for both resulting in accurate colors on the big monitor and also quite accurate colors on the internal monitor because it's color range is much smaller.

    I would declare this a bug in those applications.

    1 reply

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    emil emil
    Inspiring
    May 19, 2012

    1. Make sure the image has its color profile embedded. The screen shot below shows one way to check this and this menu is available in most color managed Adobe programs.

    http://forums.adobe.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/2-3549763-61576/426-183/LowerLeft.jpg

    2. Make sure your monitor profile created with the Spyder is installed properly in your system. On Windows you can check this by using the Color Management control panel. In the Devices tab, your monitor profile is listed with its name ending with the word (default). You can also check the monitor profile being used with the color settings of the Adobe color managed programs. In the Working Spaces section of the Color Settings the RGB menu will list the name of the monitor color profile as Monitor RGB followed by the name of the color profile file of the monitor.

    when the above two conditions are met your image should display consistently in all  Adobe color managed programs. The only exception is if you have soft proofing on with another color space (profile) - so, when comparing images make sure Proof Colors is off from the View menu. Soft Proofing if used will last only during a session, so when the program starts it is always off.

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    phoeriousAuthor
    Inspiring
    May 19, 2012

    Hi emil emil,

    Thanks for your answer. Yes, the profile is embedded in the file. The (extreme) color mismatch also appears when I export the document to CMYK (ISO Coated v2), sRGB or any other profile regardless of whether the profile is actually included or not.

    And yes, the profiles are installed correctly. As I wrote, I tried several profiles and I always saw a slight change in color when the new calibration information was loaded to the LUT. I also saw a color shift inside Photoshop when the program recognizes that there is a new profile for this monitor (can be tested quickly by assigning an sRGB profile to the AdobeRGB monitor which will produce colors that are obviously wrong, refreshing the view in PS, and then switching back to the correct profile and refreshing the view again).

    You can also check the monitor profile being used with the color settings of the Adobe color managed programs. In the Working Spaces section of the Color Settings the RGB menu will list the name of the monitor color profile as Monitor RGB followed by the name of the color profile file of the monitor.

    Where do I find that? I don't have an English PS version. Which RGB menu do you mean?

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    phoeriousAuthor
    Inspiring
    May 19, 2012

    I was now able to export a JPEG with embedded AdobeRGB profile which looks exactly like the image in Photoshop when viewed with the Windows Photo Viewer. However, as soon as I import it into Illustrator or InDesign it becomes quite reddish again. The color management settings are syncronized, though.

    EDIT:

    And the Windows explorer preview of the produced PDF file looks better than the actual PDF inside Acrobat (although not exactly what it should look like).

    EDIT2:

    When opening the print dialog in Photoshop the print preview also looks all wrong.

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