muted colors in jpeg

Hi there

I am using Photoshop CS 2. My monitor has been calibrated with spyder pro 2, the color space has been set to north american prepress 2.

I have imported a RAW file with an adobe RGB (1998) profile.

Everything looks fine, but when I convert this to an jpeg (save to web) the colors become muted. I have tried converting the image color space to sRGB and also setting the color settings to the north american web/internet, and do a save to web, I get the same results.

Anyone any ideas on what I have done wrong?

Thank you for your help
Ice

Hi there

my mistake....

I opened the psd in acdsee 5, and it looked the same as the jpg export, with the toned down colors. I then opened up the psd in PS CS 2 on another system and the psd was toned down and looked the same as the jpeg export version in the original export.

So perhaps it is not the conversion that is the problem, but the initial display of the psd.

So the question should be that the initial display of the psd is very vivid. I do not have proof colours selected. Any ideas on how to get the psd to display correctly?

Thank you
Ice

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 08:37:36 +0000, ice70 wrote:

Hi there

I am using Photoshop CS 2. My monitor has been calibrated with spyder pro 2, the color space has been set to north american prepress 2.
I have imported a RAW file with an adobe RGB (1998) profile.
Everything looks fine, but when I convert this to an jpeg (save to web) the colors become muted. I have tried converting the image color space to sRGB and also setting the color settings to the north american web/internet, and do a save to web, I get the same results.
Anyone any ideas on what I have done wrong?

Thank you for your help
Ice

Hi there

ok, If i set the color settings to use my calibrated monitor profile, and then open the aRGB psd and select the 'don't color manage' option, the psd looks right.

Is this the right way to do things, or am I just creating more problems, for example when I print?

Thank you for your help
Ice

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 09:40:13 +0000, ice70 wrote:

Hi there

my mistake....

I opened the psd in acdsee 5, and it looked the same as the jpg export, with the toned down colors. I then opened up the psd in PS CS 2 on another system and the psd was toned down and looked the same as the jpeg export version in the original export.

So perhaps it is not the conversion that is the problem, but the initial display of the psd.

So the question should be that the initial display of the psd is very vivid. I do not have proof colours selected. Any ideas on how to get the psd to display correctly?

Thank you
Ice

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 08:37:36 +0000, ice70 wrote:

Hi there

I am using Photoshop CS 2. My monitor has been calibrated with spyder pro 2, the color space has been set to north american prepress 2.
I have imported a RAW file with an adobe RGB (1998) profile.
Everything looks fine, but when I convert this to an jpeg (save to web) the colors become muted. I have tried converting the image color space to sRGB and also setting the color settings to the north american web/internet, and do a save to web, I get the same results.
Anyone any ideas on what I have done wrong?

Thank you for your help
Ice

I've never used spyder, so can't comment. The second PC with PS you tried the image on, how was that monitor calibrated?
Try calibrating yours with Adobe Gamma, you will find the icon for it in Control Panel.

HTH
MH

Hi there

thank you for the reply

The second PC is also spyder calibrated, which is instead of the adobe gamma cp.

If the psd looks a certain way under what ever calibration the moniter is under, should it not also look the same way when its converted to a jpg? I was under the impression that sRGB was used for web and aRGB for print - although converting the psd between the two color spaces showed very little difference in the psd, but there was always a large difference in look when converting to a jpg...

Thank you for your help
Ice

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 11:16:30 -0000, "Mike Hyndman" wrote:

I've never used spyder, so can't comment. The second PC with PS you tried the image on, how was that monitor calibrated?
Try calibrating yours with Adobe Gamma, you will find the icon for it in Control Panel.

HTH
MH

"ice70" wrote in message

Hi there

thank you for the reply

The second PC is also spyder calibrated, which is instead of the adobe gamma cp.

If the psd looks a certain way under what ever calibration the moniter is under, should it not also look the same way when its converted to a jpg? I was under the impression that sRGB was used for web and aRGB for print - although converting the psd between the two color spaces showed very little difference in the psd, but there was always a large difference in look when converting to a jpg...

Ice,

(Cool name;-) how many time have you heard that?)
I still think you have a calibration problem. Any colour rendition problem with PS is almost entirely down to incorrect calibration.(as far as PS is concerned, it's very choosey) Does it only mainfests itself in save to web jpgs or is it the same in other conversions? The only difference between the save as and save for web should be that the latter strips out the file's metadata.

sRGB is closer to the generic colour space of the average monitor and non-managed applications, so can be used in almost any situation, including both web and print.

MH

Hi there Mike

sorry for the delay in response.

OK, opened up the psd and saved as a tiff. opened the tiff in PS CS 2 and the colours are the same as the original psd - very saturated. Open the same tiff on the other PC or on the same pc in acdsee and the colours are muted. printed the tiff on a canon 8500 and the print looks roughly the same as the muted colours version. The psd is aRGB. If I proof colours and show monitor colours, I get the 'correct' muted colours version.

I know I recently did something to the settings of PS CS 2, is there a way to reset all the settings as though I have just installed it on a fresh machine?

Thank you for your help
Ice

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 15:47:59 -0000, "Mike Hyndman" wrote:

"ice70" wrote in message

Hi there

thank you for the reply

The second PC is also spyder calibrated, which is instead of the adobe gamma cp.

If the psd looks a certain way under what ever calibration the moniter is under, should it not also look the same way when its converted to a jpg? I was under the impression that sRGB was used for web and aRGB for print - although converting the psd between the two color spaces showed very little difference in the psd, but there was always a large difference in look when converting to a jpg...

Ice,

(Cool name;-) how many time have you heard that?)
I still think you have a calibration problem. Any colour rendition problem with PS is almost entirely down to incorrect calibration.(as far as PS is concerned, it's very choosey) Does it only mainfests itself in save to web jpgs or is it the same in other conversions? The only difference between the save as and save for web should be that the latter strips out the file's metadata.

sRGB is closer to the generic colour space of the average monitor and non-managed applications, so can be used in almost any situation, including both web and print.

MH

I know I recently did something to the settings of PS CS 2, is there a way to reset all the settings as though I have just installed it on a fresh machine?

Ice,

If you mean deleting your preferences file, restart PS with the shift, control and alt keys held down. This will delete the prefs files and create a default one at startup.
It's also worthwile doing this if ever you need to reinstall PS as the reinstall uses the previous installations prefs file and if this is goosed, the reinstallation will work as bad as the previous.

Regards
Mike H

Hi there Mike

thanks for the info, alas the pref reset made no difference...

There seems to be other wierd things going on on my PC - non PS CS 2 related, so it may well be time for an XP reinstall once my current project is complete :(

Cheers
Ice

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 16:34:27 -0000, "Mike Hyndman" wrote:

I know I recently did something to the settings of PS CS 2, is there a way to reset all the settings as though I have just installed it on a fresh machine?

Ice,

If you mean deleting your preferences file, restart PS with the shift, control and alt keys held down. This will delete the prefs files and create a default one at startup.
It's also worthwile doing this if ever you need to reinstall PS as the reinstall uses the previous installations prefs file and if this is goosed, the reinstallation will work as bad as the previous.

Regards
Mike H

"ice70" wrote in message

Hi there Mike

thanks for the info, alas the pref reset made no difference...
There seems to be other wierd things going on on my PC - non PS CS 2 related, so it may well be time for an XP reinstall once my current project is complete :(

Ice,

Sad to hear that, have you scanned for viruses and other nasties, spy and malware? Do a Google for Spybot and Adaware, both free, so don't just rely on one spyware checker. Also , see about a registry checker as well. Is your virus checker up to date?
Are you up to date with all the security patches? A reinstall can be a PITA!

Best of luck

Mike H

Hi there Mike

all the spyware, virus checkers & so on are up to date, but they tend not pick up on the ^ahem^ fiddling that goes on by a user....

Reinstalls are not too bad - all my works is synced on 3 different systems at anyone time, so once XP has installed & the basic software you need is on, just copy it back over and off you go.

you would have thought I would have learned by now not to muck about with these things.. but no, and no doubt i will end up doing it again in the future. I have at least learned to back my stuff up ;)

Cheers
Ice

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 23:38:11 -0000, "Mike Hyndman" wrote:

"ice70" wrote in message

Hi there Mike

thanks for the info, alas the pref reset made no difference...
There seems to be other wierd things going on on my PC - non PS CS 2 related, so it may well be time for an XP reinstall once my current project is complete :(

Ice,

Sad to hear that, have you scanned for viruses and other nasties, spy and malware? Do a Google for Spybot and Adaware, both free, so don't just rely on one spyware checker. Also , see about a registry checker as well. Is your virus checker up to date?
Are you up to date with all the security patches? A reinstall can be a PITA!

Best of luck

Mike H

.. I have at least learned to back my stuff up ;)
Ice,

That's the main thing ;-)

Regards
Mike H

ice70 wrote:

Hi there Mike

sorry for the delay in response.

OK, opened up the psd and saved as a tiff. opened the tiff in PS CS 2 and the colours are the same as the original psd - very saturated. Open the same tiff on the other PC or on the same pc in acdsee and the colours are muted. printed the tiff on a canon 8500 and the print looks roughly the same as the muted colours version. The psd is aRGB. If I proof colours and show monitor colours, I get the 'correct' muted colours version.

I know I recently did something to the settings of PS CS 2, is there a way to reset all the settings as though I have just installed it on a fresh machine?

Thank you for your help
Ice

I don't think that it is a problem with your computer or CS2. It sounds like you forgot to convert to sRGB before you made the JPEG. Once you get an AdobeRGB file outside of a color managed program, the colors look "muted".

OTOH, Photoshop should print an AdobeRGB file just fine. Well, if you are doing that right. What are your print settings and workflow?

This is one of the reasons that I only use sRGB; I don't have to remember if I'm in a color space that is going to work or not.

Clyde