Help! Photos too red? Color management Confusion

Ok, I've read the sticky on color calibration, I have a Spyder 2 Express calibration device for my monitor, and I have PS CS3. I have PS currently set to sRGB as the colorspace, but have tried Adobe RGB as well with the same results. Here are 2 photos - Number one looks perfect on my monitor in PS3 - not too red at all. Model is very tan. When I upload the photo to my Model Mayhem account and view it in Internet Explorer, or view it in ACDsee (2.5 that DOES have Color Management) it looks REALLY RED.

In photo number 2 I have done a hue/sat adjustment layer and reduced the red by about -21 or so. It looks almost gray in PS3 but just about perfect in internet explorer and ACDEE 2.5. Actually if I compare #1 in PS3 and #2 in Internet Explorer or ACSEE they look almost the same - close enough anyway.

How do the photos (color balance wise) look to you? Any idea what I am doing wrong? VERY frustrating thinking I have it looking great and then uploading it to my website or account and it looks like she has a sunburn....

#1 - Looks PERFECT in PS3 color management is on and set to sRGB. Monitor has been calibrated.


#2 - Skin Looks almost gray in PS3 but great in Internet Explorer or ACDSEE (YES it is set to sRGB as well.).

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I'd say that the first one does look oversaturated in the Reds -- the strap looks virtually blown as does the label of the tool in the background. I've checked them out side-by-side on a calibrated monitor in CS Bridge and Photoshop and they look pretty much the same.

I also have an uncalibrated monitor that I frequently use for these kinds of comparisons, because occasionally things aren't quite what one expects, and I could see some difference, so I suspect that your calibration isn't quite right. This happens, and the Spyder2 Express software isn't known for the best most consistent results.

You could try re-doing it with this problem in mind and looking for what could address this. Color Temp could be the culprit. Alternatively, I've heard that the Spyder2 Pro uses the same "puck" but improved software and if you download the Pro software you could have better results. I have the Spyder2 Pro and it does reasonably well, but like I say sometimes things can pop up.

Tony -

The thing is, in Photoshop it looks like photo #2. It's not blown out in the reds. It's only everywhere else that's the red looks so hot. Why does PS3 look right but everything else doesn't?

Your posted image looks the same when I open it in PS (CS3) as it does on the forum. Both look too red and measure the same RGB values.

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Ok, so how do I get PS3 to show me the right colors? Obviously ACDSEE and even Internet Explorer are showing the same colors as you get in PS3.....

So I disabled Color Management in PS3 and now it is displaying the intense red....... WTF is going on? What I did:

1. Ran the Sypder Express 2 software and calibrated the monitor. It saved a profile that is loaded everytime the computer boots.
2. Ran PS3 and chose sRGB in Color Settings.

That's it......... And I get better results that match everything else including your PS3 by turning color management off in the PS3. <scatching head....>

Like I said earlier it could be your calibration settings are off, but it also could be a monitor that doesn't "take" well to being properly calibrated.

Maybe if you give us the make/model of your monitor, and give us as many settings as may be applicable (temperature, saturation setting, etc) some of those here who have more expertise than I about the specifics of monitor calibration can be of help.

Tony -

Samsung Syncmaster 2693. I did not run any of the color calibration software that came with it as I wanted to use the Sypder Express software.

Settings:
Live Color - Custom (Because I adjusted brightness and contrast on my own)
Color Tone - Normal
Color Control - R=50, G=50, B=50
Color Effect - Off
Gamma - mode 1
Brightness 100
Contrast 100
Magic Bright - Custom

That's all the settings I see.

Might be a matter of taste, but IMO the first image is too red as well.

If you see such a difference between two color managed programs (ACDsee Pro and PSCS3), I'd guess that the monitor profile is corrupted somehow, affecting the displaying in PS.

To see a difference such as this between a color managed and not color managed program (non-color managed software displaying more saturated) would imply that the monitor profile were way bigger then the images color space (sRGB).
The Samsung is not a wide gamut screen however (as far as I can see looking at the specs on the www)

James33 wrote in post #8068199
So I disabled Color Management in PS3 and now it is displaying the intense red....... WTF is going on?

Can you post a screen shot of your color settings panel?

Peano wrote in post #8069945
Can you post a screen shot of your color settings panel?

Here you go - one with it on and one with it off. Remember - when I view my files in any other app on my monitor after editing it with color management ON, it still looks like the screen capture of it with the color management OFF. In other words I think it looks great after editing in PS3 only to upload it or view in ACDSEE and see it is REALLY red. BTW - it looks right in Light Room as well. Feedback on the color of each appreciated. Thanks for all the help!

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The second one (color mgmt ON) looks about right to me. The first (color mgmt OFF) looks much too red.

Peano wrote in post #8074277
The second one (color mgmt ON) looks about right to me. The first (color mgmt OFF) looks much too red.

You are correct - in Photoshop they LOOK right. I save the file as a JPG and look at it in ANY other app and it looks like the first one. I am having to use ACDSEE and dropping the red channel to about -10 to get it to look like the second one above in Photoshop with CM on.

Ok - new discovery. When I click the SAVE FOR WEB AND DEVICES it gives me a preview of the file. It is RED RED RED - yet the file I am editing looks perfect.... It's like when it saves it, it adds a ton of red to it. Does that help? Is there a setting that is doing that when I save the file????

Think I have it figured out... When I save as a JPG, it had under the save options in the window, a box for color that read ICC Profile: sRGB that was checked. It also had the same option in SAVE FOR WEB AND DEVICES. When I deselected this box, what was on the screen matched my output in everything. Maybe it was applying the ICC Profile twice or something???? Anyway, does anyone see anything really wacko by unchecking this box?