Please help me with Color Problems

09/02/2014 07:52:30 PM · #1

Hey all... I really need some help.

My BFF's body died yesterday... and I'm supposed to be helping the family with some "generic" thankyou notes... that they can just add a note to and not have to write a full letter to each person who has done kindness for them.

HOWEVER...

I made the front of the card in PS... and the colors are GREAT! Very natural ... hair and skin are just as they were in life... on my screen in PS.

BUT... when I tried to send it to her hubby... I saw in the email that the colors are brassy and off.

Curious, I uploaded it here on DPC in my workshop... same thing! BAD brassy colors.

WHY?

Why is it that a file would look TOTALLY different ON THE SAME MONITOR in PS than it does elsewhere?

Here's a cell phone shot of the same image on the same monitor... DPC on left and PS workspace on the right. (the cellphone shot is not what I see in real life here looking at the monitor... but you can see the difference in the same image)

When I open the saved file on the same monitor... I get the same thing I see in PS.

HELP!!

09/02/2014 08:02:33 PM · #2

I had this same issue in PS when I entered for the fair

Not sure but maybe it was the same problem... how are you exporting the file and make sure its saved as srgb instead of the adobe srgb

My files were just saved wrong

Message edited by author 2014-09-02 20:03:15.

Google Glass Google Glass

09/02/2014 08:23:36 PM · #3

Thank you, Julie.

I'm checking on that... trying to see where to check to see.

BUT... if I were saving it incorrectly, wouldn't it look wrong when I view in in Windows Viewer, also?

Same monitor... same file...

ambaker

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM

09/02/2014 08:43:50 PM · #4

On your computer Adobe RGB should look just fine.

On line it would have been converted to sRGB by the site. Likely it was also converted when you put it in the email. Check the email copy to see if it is sRGB or not.

09/02/2014 08:48:12 PM · #5

I think you two are onto something, Alex (I didn't say "on something"... *grin*)... because...

When I "save for web"... it's normally colored.

So... when I have them printed (VistaPrint.com), what it looks like on the monitor there... is how it will print, right?

I wish I talked Geek.

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

09/02/2014 08:49:24 PM · #6

Oh wait... I know the email's not doing it... because I emailed myself a Save As and a Save For Web and only the SFW was good.

So... now what? How do I set the default to save as the correct way, please?

CS3

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

09/02/2014 08:54:01 PM · #7

Originally posted by Lydia:

Yup, you're processing in a different colorspace than sRGB. Save For Web automatically assigns sRGB. If you're using a good printer, they'll deal with this colorspace issue themselves anyway. If it's Walmartish stuff, you'll want to convert your file to sRGB before sending it to them. In the PS menu, "Edit>Convert to Profile" and choose sRGB.

If you process from RAW as a rule, using Adobe's Raw converter, next time you do one look down to the very bottom: there will be a line of blue type, clickable, telling what colorspace it's going out in: click that and you can change the default from Adobe RGB to sRGB and you won't have this issue anymore.

bob350

Sony Alpha 1

Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM

09/02/2014 09:02:29 PM · #8

Color management gets complex fast and is the subject of long and helpful books. For the issue at hand, the most likely diagnosis centers on selection of color space. Color space expresses the relationship between various aspects of color (lightness, saturation, hue mainly - ranges are graphed in three dimensions hence color "space"). Some colors fit in one color space, but don't fit in another color space. Web color space, usually sRGB, is smaller than many others. When moving from one color space to another, colors that don't fit can be mapped to the closest available color, or all colors can be shifted the keep the relationships between colors about right. Either way, colors get changed, and not just extreme ones. Different devices have different color limitations that interact with color space selection.

Many photographers and many cameras work in Adobe RGB as a preferred default because this is a moderately large color space that preserves more subtle gradations and wider ranges of color than sRGB, which is the default color space for web. When Photoshop opens an image file, it can accept the color space established in the source file or assign a color space based on Photoshop settings. Color settings lurk in out of the way places in Adobe Camera Raw settings and in Photoshop settings. If you know your output will only be for web, one solution is to assign the image to sRGB right when opening it and make all adjustments within that color space and save it in that color space. If you might print the image, you can work in a bigger color space and use the "soft proof" option to show the image in sRGB. But you'll probably end up converting the image to sRGB and then tweaking it more before saving and sending. Once working in the sRGB space, screen and soft proofing view for sRGB probably will look the same. Notice that the "save for web" option typically saves in sRGB, which can make for unwanted color changes if all post processing was done in a different color space. If you save the file using the Adobe RGB but display the file in a web sRGB space, you are at the mercy of the color interpretation of the browser software and should expect that colors will change, often for the worse, and maybe differently in different browsers.

If you stick with sRGB all along, the image has a fair chance of looking the same way on another color-calibrated monitor as on your color-calibrated monitor. If the cards will be emailed (sRGB) or posted to web (sRGB), you should be pretty close this way. Just remember that how the image will look on an uncalibrated monitor is completely out of your control. And what the image might look printed is an entirely different adventure involving mapping image file color to printer/ink/paper color profile for a given display lighting type (printers usually have smaller color spaces than computer monitors, and prints depend on reflected light rather than glowing with internally generated light like a monitor screen). Best wishes in your project.

edited to add: And what Bear said (more succinctly) while I was typing away.

Message edited by author 2014-09-02 21:11:10.

09/02/2014 09:21:16 PM · #9

I thank BOTH of you Roberts very much! You've nailed it... and explained it well enough for Non-Geek me to understand.

Thanks bunches!

09/02/2014 09:30:15 PM · #10

Yeahhh!!!! I am so glad you got it figured out!

I was just fighting with this the other day when I was trying to upload for prints myself LOL

Its a pain but thank God an easy fix

09/02/2014 09:31:49 PM · #11

I knew if I tried to explain it I would just confuse you more hahahahah I am very good at confusing poeple

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED

09/02/2014 10:10:52 PM · #12

We'd make a great pair then... since I'm really good at being confused! :D

Thanks bunches, Julie!

tanguera

Nikon D750

09/03/2014 02:02:06 AM · #13

I went through this very thing earlier this year. It was driving me to drink. (It was, admittedly, a short drive).

I just wonder why the color spaces got altered in the first place. I don't recall changing any settings in that department in either LR or PS.