COLOR DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PS7 AND " MY PICTURES" FILES

I need advice on a problem: I can process photos in Photoshop 7 and get them exactly like I want them, but once I've saved them into a file in "my pictures" those same processed images look extremely "hot" and way over-saturated in color. I have gone back into PS7 and reduced the saturation to compensate, but wonder if there is a fix I can apply to make my PS7 and my saved files identical when finished.
Any suggestions welcome, and thanks in advance for your help! Please be very specific with any corrections I can make, as I suffer from technophobia and have no idea how to fix this. bob

How are you viewing them from "my pictures"? Chances are you're using a non-colour managed application. There's nothing you can do to fix this except use colour managed applications only.

Windows is not color managed, so if your photos are saved in anything but sRGB color space and you view them in the Windows viewer, they will not look the same as viewing them in a color managed, color smart application like Photoshop. My guess is your photos are in Adobe RGB...

Even in sRGB they will look wrong, they'd have to be set to the monitor profile to view correctly.
DO NOT DO THAT THOUGH.

HankScorpio wrote in post #10413861
Even in sRGB they will look wrong, they'd have to be set to the monitor profile to view correctly.

Yeah, I'm wrong on that, but using the monitor profile will only make the images look the same in PS and Windows. Still doesn't mean they will be correct unless the monitor is properly calibrated.

If the images are looking over-saturated in an non-c. m. viewer, chances are that is a combination of sRGB files and a "wide gamut" monitor. The opposite situation, Adobe RGB and a traditional monitor would cause loss of saturation and contrast.

Folks, I appreciate the input and responses, but I still don't know what to do about the problem. I operate a photo biz and the only time this seems to cause problems is when I upload portraits to my website printing lab. Sports and event photos aren't as problematic, but the portraits are "saved" over saturated and hot. They look great in PS7, but in my files show up as hot.

First, you do want to check your color space for Photoshop and the photos you are working on. The safest thing is to have everything in the sRGB color space, so if these are pictures you are shooting, check your camera and make sure it is set to the sRGB color space. Then, in Photoshop, use your Color Preferences dialog to make sure that Photoshop is using sRGB, and that Photoshop converts files to sRGB on opening them.

You say that sports and event shots come out fine, but portrait-type shots don't, and I'd suspect that two cameras are being used with two color space settings. So you can compare the camera setting to see if that might be true. Picture Style settings can certainly affect the contrast and saturation of jpegs, but that would show in Photoshop as well.

Try opening one of the "good" sports/event photos in Photoshop, and opening one of the "hot" photos as well, and on each, open the Edit/Convert to Profile dialog and see if you can see any differeces, as in is the source profile identified in a different way (either a non-sRGB profile or no profile at all in one of them).

Finally, you should know that if you monitor is not properly calibrated/profiled, all bets are off. Photos will display differently in different apps and nothing can be considered "accurate". So, monitor calibration is always a good place to start.

village idiot wrote in post #10414434
Folks, I appreciate the input and responses, but I still don't know what to do about the problem. ...

...but the portraits are "saved" over saturated and hot. They look great in PS7, but in my files show up as hot.

Maybe give us some more information. Is your monitor a wide gamut type? Is it hardware calibrated? What color space do you work in and save your images to? How do your portrait photos look when viewed in a color savvy browser like Firefox or Safari?

Thanks for your help, guys. I'll get back with you as soon as I figure out what to do.

ChasP505 wrote in post #10413846
Windows is not color managed, so if your photos are saved in anything but sRGB color space and you view them in the Windows viewer, they will not look the same as viewing them in a color managed, color smart application like Photoshop. My guess is your photos are in Adobe RGB...

This is somewhat incorrect. Starting in windows Vista, Windows photo viewer is color managed if you set up windows color management correctly.

Sdiver2489 wrote in post #10416018
This is somewhat incorrect. Starting in windows Vista, Windows photo viewer is color managed if you set up windows color management correctly.

OK, I sincerely apologize to everyone for still running XP, both at home and at work.

ChasP505 wrote in post #10416118
OK, I sincerely apologize to everyone for still running XP, both at home and at work.

Don't got to take a simple clarification so hard. Just pointing out that Windows is "partially" color managed now...kinda of...lol

The OP seems to be shy about volunteering the information needed to help him with his problem.

village idiot wrote in post #10414434
but I still don't know what to do about the problem.

Give us more info:

What OS, what monitor, is it calibrated, what color settings in PS, what browser?

Generally speaking, unless you set up PS wrong, PS is right and what you are seeing in "my pictures" is not.