Elements 7 saturation problem in "save for web"

pardes

I can have a photo with near muted coloring in Photoshop Elements 7 and then when I do a "save for web" it suddenly screams of over saturation.

If I then open that same saved file back in edit mode of PE &, it looks muted again.

Obviously I'm missing something in the settings and the edit mode is not showing the true coloring except in the "save for web" mode.

I'm on a Dell Laptop editing Pentax RAW files converted in Above Raw Converter 4.5.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

jfriend

We need to be able to figure out whether the issue you are seeing is:

1. Something that Save for Web is doing to the image
2. How your system behaves differently when you view an image in a color-managed way vs. in a non-color-managed way

So, some questions.

1. Can you take one of these images, upload it to Smugmug to a gallery where we can access originals and then post a link to it in the gallery?
2. When you see it as saturated (outside of Elements) what software are you using to view it with?
3. Is your monitor calibrated/profiled?
4. What internet browsers do you have installed on your system?
5. Do you know what colorspace the image was originally shot in?

jrmyrnsm

My guess is that you have Photoshop's colorspace set to AdobeRGB and that is leading to the inconsistent colors after saving. I had the same problem when I started using Photoshop Elements 6. Someone else may be albe to better tell you how to change the default settings but for now try this. Open the image you are having trouble with and go to:
Image->
Convert Color Profile->
Apply sRGB Profile

When you first went to the "Convert Color Profile" if AdobeRGB was selected I'm almost sure this is your problem. Most of the internet, and probably your computer itself for that matter, uses sRGB. If you are doing home printing you may see an advantage for using AdobeRGB to get accurate prints, but for most stuff sRGB is the more standard profile. Hope that helps!

pardes

Thanks guys. You are such good guys!

I've posted three photos in SmugMug. I did want to try out SmugMug and this was the perfect tme for that.

I would have labeled the two adjusted ones but I can't find the filename on SmugMug to figure out which is which!

One is from the Pentax RAW file with no processing. One is sRGB with saturation only adjusted and saved as "save as." The last one is saturated adjusted and saved as "save for web."

On the monitor the saturation looks okay until I look at it in "save for web." When I look at it here on SmugMug, it looks over-saturated but not as badly as my "save for web" view.

My default color profile is sRGB.

No, the Dell laptop LCD has not been calibrated.

I'm using Firefox 3.

I don't know what colorspace it was shot it. New camera! Pentax K20D in default settings. I'll try to find that out for you.

jfriend

pardes wrote:

Thanks guys. You are such good guys!

I've posted three photos in SmugMug. I did want to try out SmugMug and this was the perfect tme for that.

I would have labeled the two adjusted ones but I can't find the filename on SmugMug to figure out which is which!

One is from the Pentax RAW file with no processing. One is sRGB with saturation only adjusted and saved as "save as." The last one is saturated adjusted and saved as "save for web."

On the monitor the saturation looks okay until I look at it in "save for web." When I look at it here on SmugMug, it looks over-saturated but not as badly as my "save for web" view.

My default color profile is sRGB.

No, the Dell laptop LCD has not been calibrated.

I'm using Firefox 3.

I don't know what colorspace it was shot it. New camera! Pentax K20D in default settings. I'll try to find that out for you.

If you want us to be able to look at these photos, then you will need to give us a link to them on your Smugmug account? And, please make sure that originals are enabled for access on the gallery that you put them in.

pardes

jfriend wrote:

If you want us to be able to look at these photos, then you will need to give us a link to them on your Smugmug account? And, please make sure that originals are enabled for access on the gallery that you put them in.

Sorry, the ink isn't even dry on signing up to SmugMug....

http://pardes.smugmug.com/gallery/7968095_WcCQB/1/517607513_ruBdA

As far as I can tell, the originals are enabled. Sorry for the inconvenience.

jfriend

pardes wrote:

Sorry, the ink isn't even dry on signing up to SmugMug....

http://pardes.smugmug.com/gallery/7968095_WcCQB/1/517607513_ruBdA

As far as I can tell, the originals are enabled. Sorry for the inconvenience.

OK, these images look to me like I would expect. The first one looks a little drab. The second two look the same as each other. When I download their two originals and compare them in Photoshop, I can find no meaningful differences between the two.

Can you describe again what the problem is? Right now, I'm seeing the two adjusted photos look the same and a lot more saturated than the unadjusted one and that seems to be what should be happening?

pardes

jfriend wrote:

OK, these images look to me like I would expect. The first one looks a little drab. The second two look the same as each other. When I download their two originals and compare them in Photoshop, I can find no meaningful differences between the two.

Can you describe again what the problem is? Right now, I'm seeing the two adjusted photos look the same and a lot more saturated than the unadjusted one and that seems to be what should be happening?

The 2 adjusted files look over-saturated but they looked fine in the edit mode of PE7 that is until I drag them over to "save for web" where they start screaming again. Actually, they look even MORE screaming in the "save for web" windows than here. (I'm talking here especially about the green grass on the left side.)

Now that I'm very recently doing much of the processing in the RAW converter, maybe it won't be as much of a problem since there is very little I do in PE7 but tweak things. Maybe I just have to keep in mind that saturation has a hair trigger in the edit mode and to tread lightly.

jfriend

pardes wrote:

The 2 adjusted files look over-saturated but they looked fine in the edit mode of PE7 that is until I drag them over to "save for web" where they start screaming again. Actually, they look even MORE screaming in the "save for web" windows than here. (I'm talking here especially about the green grass on the left side.)

Now that I'm very recently doing much of the processing in the RAW converter, maybe it won't be as much of a problem since there is very little I do in PE7 but tweak things. Maybe I just have to keep in mind that saturation has a hair trigger in the edit mode and to tread lightly.

I don't have PE7 so I'm not sure what to advise. Historically (I don't know about the latest versions of PE), Save for Web is not the best thing to use for photos because it could lose the colorspace of the image causing all sorts of possible color problems. It is much safer to use Save As JPEG. If I were you, I'd do two things. Make sure that the colorspace of your JPEGs is sRGB before saved them for the web. I don't know how you check this in PE7, but in CSx, it's Edit/Convert to Profile/sRGB. Then, secondly, I'd use Save As JPEG instead of Save for Web.

Lastly, you should know that when you have a system that is color calibrated and profiled, you aren't giving yourself very much control over what the color really is. And, you are likely to get different color viewing when using a color-managed application (like PE7) vs a non-color-managed app like IE7 or Windows Image viewer.

The way to set and view consistent color is to calibrate and profile your monitor and then use only color-managed applications (ones that use your monitor profile built by the calibration/profiling process) to view your images. I know it may sound like a pain, but if you are in pursuit of accurate and consistent color, it is the only way.

pardes

Thank you very much for your replies. Yes, I know, I know, I need to calibrate the laptop LCD but the excitement of doing that pales in comparison with playing with my new Pentax K20D. Owwweeeeee but I'm having a blast.

I'll tackle the monitor issues shortly and in the meantime back things way down for contrast and keeping checking the final results.