HELP! Photoshop Color Management.

[cowman345]

Good news! What I see on my monitor is what comes back from the lab, perfect!

Bad news: When I'm viewing files in the photoshop CS file browser, they're unmanaged leaving them looking very warm-toned until I actually open them (then they look like they should).

I'm using as my working space a profile that fits my monitor. Like I said, my results from printing are great and match ok, but until I open the file, the pictures look like crap in the browser. Is there any hope?

note: the poor color in the browser occurs on raw files shot in either srgb or adobe color space.

-dave-

[Jesper]

I'm using as my working space a profile that fits my monitor. Like I said, my results from printing are great and match ok, but until I open the file, the pictures look like crap in the browser. Is there any hope?

Did you set your monitor profile as the working space in Photoshop? That's wrong...

There are two types of ICC color space profiles: device dependent and device independent. When you profile your monitor, printer, scanner etc. you are creating a device dependent profile for the device. That profile describes how the device displays colours. The CMS (Colour Management System) in your computer uses it to make sure that colours on the device are displayed correctly.

There are also a number of device independent colour spaces, such as Adobe RGB and sRGB. These describe a standard colour space. You shouls always use a standard, device independent colour space as your working space in Photoshop.

If you set the working space to your monitor's colour space, you are saving your images in the native colour space of your monitor. You don't want that, because that colour space is unique to your monitor. No other device has exactly the colour space of your monitor, and monitors even change with age, so a year from now the photos that you save in your monitor's colour space now, are referring to the colour space of your monitor as it was a year ago.... :?

Look at this thread for correct settings: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=39821

[cowman345]

Thanks for the reply, but that thread only tells me i'm wrong in my settings. If I set the working space for Adobe or sRGB, then EVERYTHING looks too warm, the colors are wrong (i.e. B&W looks sepia toned) and what I see is NOT what I get from my lab (who says their printers output sRGB).

So... how do I work in sRGB, but have the colors display properly?

Thanks again for your help!

-dave-

[scottbergerphoto]

Your working space should be the color space you shot the image in. When you open an image in PS you shoul be asked what working space you wantto use even if you have selected a default. Use the one the image is shot in as shown in the link given. Edit the image in that space. If you plan to print it at home, leave it in the space it is in. If you plan to use it on the web, convert it to sRGB if it is in Adobe RGB. The same is usually true for sending images to a commercial lab.
Scott

[Jesper]

Thanks for the reply, but that thread only tells me i'm wrong in my settings. If I set the working space for Adobe or sRGB, then EVERYTHING looks too warm, the colors are wrong (i.e. B&W looks sepia toned) and what I see is NOT what I get from my lab (who says their printers output sRGB).

So... how do I work in sRGB, but have the colors display properly?

Thanks again for your help!

-dave-

1. Make sure you calibrate and profile your monitor properly. You can do this with Adobe Gamma, which is installed if you have Photoshop. Look in Control Panel for it. It's much better to use a hardware calibration and profiling device such as a ColorVision Spyder (http://www.colorvision.com) with the accompanying software. It will produce a much more accurate profile than when you use a software-only solution such as Adobe Gamma. p.s.: If you do use a Spyder, make sure you remove Adobe Gamma from the Start / Programs / Startup menu, otherwise it will interfere with the Spyder's software.

2. Set your Working Space to sRGB in Photoshop.

3a. If you shoot JPEG: Set the camera to sRGB (I don't know which camera you're using, but on the 10D, go into the menu, choose Parameters / Standard or Set 1, 2 or 3, but not Adobe RGB).

3b. If you shoot RAW: It doesn't matter what you choose in the camera. Make sure your RAW conversion software converts your image to a JPEG or TIFF image in sRGB (at least in Photoshop CS and CaptureOne you can choose what the output colour space should be).

4. If your image doesn't contain an embedded profile, Photoshop will probably complain about it when you open the image. If it does, assign the sRGB profile to the image.