CS3 Upgrade & Color Management?

Mike Lane

Okay this always, always, always trips me up when I install a fresh version of Photoshop. :splat This may be something that everyone else knows. If so then this is a thread that I can search for in the future that will remind me of what settings I need to make sure to have. But maybe there are others who could use this info.

I noticed when I was making a web graphic (the one at http://mikelanestudios.com/) that what was showing on the web was quite a bit darker than what was showing on photoshop. It was doing this no matter what setting I selected in the save for web dialog despite what the dialog preview was showing me :scratch. After some searching and pondering and digging back into my memory, I finally looked at the proof setup. It was on and working CMYK was selected. :doh I think this may be the Photoshop default setting as I don't recall setting it (and if I did, then I can't possibly imagine why I set it to working CMYK).

Anyhow, turning the proof colors option off (view > proof colors, cmd y on the mac, or cntl y on the pc) fixed my problem. The next problem: I had to fix my colors as they were now showing up much too dark. (They were at least matching what was on the web at that point!) Once I did that and re-uploaded my images, all was right with the world.

rutt

This is definitely a case of the blind leading the blind, but I just solved a similar problem of my own and here is what I know. The fact that I don't actually like this topic means I might be able to make it simple enough for someone else to understand. Here are the things I think I know. I'm happy to be corrected.

• As you discovered, proof colors off, unless you want to see how it will look on some particular device. When you do this, PS proofs for your monitor using it's calibration.
• Be sure that Edit -> Color Settings is not checked. In that dialog box there is a check box Desaturate Monitor Colors. (You may need More Options to see it. This is what bit me.
• Make sure that your image is in the sRGB colorspace. When it comes time to save it, you can check by using Edit->Convert to Profile and checking that the source profile is sRGB. If not convert it to that. Be careful here not to use Assign Profile which is an entirely different animal and well cause you a world of hurt.
• If you do all these thing and have a calibrated monitor, then your image will look pretty much the same on your monitor as on other people's monitors in profile aware applications. Unfortunately, Firefox is not profile aware. Yes, it assumes your image is sRGB and you have saved as sRGB, so you are in agreement with it on that. But it also is not aware of the display profile. So from my limited understanding, there may be times when it will display differently than Photoshop (or Safari or IE).

So that's exactly what I think I know. Hope it helps.

Angelo

Hey Mike:

Referencing back to your business card thread; When you export your file for printing make sure you choose wisely. You want the printer to know this is a mono print job by selecting "grayscale" or "output all colors as black" (I'm not familiar with the terms in PS)

This will ensure your file is printed with a nice saturated black.

Mike Lane

Angelo wrote:

Hey Mike:

Referencing back to your business card thread; When you export your file for printing make sure you choose wisely. You want the printer to know this is a mono print job by selecting "grayscale" or "output all colors as black" (I'm not familiar with the terms in PS)

This will ensure your file is printed with a nice saturated black.

Thanks angelo! I'll ask the printer about that when the time comes. That would definitely not have been on my radar.

Angelo

Mike Lane wrote:

Thanks angelo! I'll ask the printer about that when the time comes. That would definitely not have been on my radar.

That will be $5 please. I accept Green Stamps and Food Stamps.