Photoshop Looks Desaturated On Vista

[stenchcroft]

Hey Everybody! I've searched a bit on this and paged through the stickies but nothing obvious hit me over the head while I glanced around. I'm having some trouble getting my colors right with Vista/CS3 and was hoping someone might have some feedback. Just some background info... I do a lot of web development so it's important to me that what I see in PS is as close to what people are going to see on screen. In the past I've had 2 laptops with W2k and XP and Photoshop 7 that were setup just about right for me. I had my Rebel XT set on sRBG and that seemed to work pretty well too. In the past 4 months I've upgraded almost everything... PC, Monitor, Camera Body, Software, Lens, etc.. So everything is a little wonky right now. I have it setup basically the same way as before but something is off because Photoshop looks horrible. Here's my stuff:

>5d set to sRGB
>Dell 2407wfp that I just calibrated with Adobe Gamma (by eye but better than nothing)
>Second 15.4 Gateway LCD mounted Vertically for PS and AI controls/pallets, etc (This monitor looks like crap always and has noting to do with the results I am talking about in this thread, just wanted to mention it in case it could be to blame for the 24 incher's problems.)
>Dell XPS 420 with Vista Ultimate
>Often use Zoom Browser w/Raw Image Task (set to ignore monitor colors for adjustment/management and embed the ICC profile)
>Adobe Photos CS3 with colors setup for "North America Web/Internet"

Basically I can open the images in Zoom Browser and the look okay. From there I convert to an 8-bit tiff and open them in Photoshop where they look super desaturated. If I save directly from PS to a .jpg with no color adjustments then open the.jpg into a browser the image is a pretty close match to what I am seeing in Zoom Browser. However if I work the levels in Photoshop so it looks a little better (usually still not great because the baseline is so flat and gray) when I save the image out and preview in a browser the colors are super strong and over saturated.

Everything I've read today has been about the colors going the other way, looking good in PS but bad outside in the unmanaged world. I've done everything I know to do like making sure everything is set to screen/sRGB and calibrating the best I can. Any tips? I just bought a new lens and it's bumming me out that I can't adjust my images with any kind of predictability.

[stenchcroft]

Two things I forgot to mention: 1) I am including the ICC profile (sRGB) when I save the jpgs. 2) I get basically the same results when I open the raw file directly into Photoshop and skip Canon's raw image software.

[PixelMagic]

Dell 2407wfp that I just calibrated with Adobe Gamma (by eye but better than nothing)


Hmmm.... Adobe Gamma is not designed to be used with LCD monitors...that's the reason why Adobe did not include it in the most recent version of Photoshop.


http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=333356

"Note: Adobe Gamma does not support LCD monitors. To create a profile for an LCD monitor, use a color calibration tool from companies such as Chromix, ColorVision, Gretag/Macbeth, or X-Rite."

[Colorblinded]

First I'd agree with ditching Adobe Gamma. That's not the best way to calibrate a screen anyway. Secondly, if you hope that by calibrating your screen and getting it to look right there then it will look right for other people, good luck. Unfortunately most people don't calibrate their screens, control their computing environment (ambient lighting matters) or have any idea what they're doing anyway so they're almost guaranteed to not be seeing what you want them to.

As far as your washed out problems, what display and color space settings are you using in CS3? What web browser are you using?

[stenchcroft]

No wonder it's hidden away! I can't say I noticed much of a difference after running it but the change was there. I'll look into those other programs but I'm wondering if it will have much of an effect on my problem.

[stenchcroft]

emorphien, my goal is just to have my local browser and CS3 to look at least close. The results are the same (or close enough) with IE and Firefox. Here are the settings I've tried so far... same basic results with both. Thanks for looking.

[René Damkot]

First off: I'd tick the checkbox for missing profiles, specially if you convert to working RGB by default.

Second: PS looks desaturated using sRGB?
If your monitor profile is not corrupt, and you compare PS (colormanaged) to Zoom Browser (which you set to not color manage if I understand correctly? Didn't know you could; I cannot on my Mac...), then that would mean that your monitor has a smaller gamut then sRGB... Sounds reasonable.

If you want PS to display identical to a non color managed program (IE), set PS to "settings: Monitor Color". That will throw color management right out of the window, but that might be not too important in this case anyhow ;)

[stenchcroft]

(which you set to not color manage if I understand correctly? Didn't know you could; I cannot on my Mac...)


The setting is in Raw Image Task > File> Preferences > General Settings > Color Management > "Adjust image colors using a monitor profile" and I have the unchecked. I'm assuming this means use the monitor settings instead of the embedded profile which should be sRGB. Correct me if I am wrong becuase obviously I'm missing some things here.

[stenchcroft]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'm starting to get the idea that the issue is a large difference between sRGB and my monitor's default profile. I'm still stuck on what I what to do since sRGB is suppose to be the baseline for the web and on my screen it's way off.

[René Damkot]

The setting is in Raw Image Task > File> Preferences > General Settings > Color Management > "Adjust image colors using a monitor profile" and I have the unchecked. I'm assuming this means use the monitor settings instead of the embedded profile which should be sRGB. Correct me if I am wrong becuase obviously I'm missing some things here.
Easy to see what profile is used: Photoshop can tell you.
It does so in a few ways:
http://img.skitch.com/20080623-gewsfxk3p25a9hpas2nnn16a1u.jpg

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'm starting to get the idea that the issue is a large difference between sRGB and my monitor's default profile.

That would be my guess too.
I'm still stuck on what I what to do since sRGB is suppose to be the baseline for the web and on my screen it's way off.

Your Dell has a S-PVA panel AFAIK, so it should be decent enough. I'd get a calibrator.