Soft-Proofing vs "Save for Web" :second try

SS
Posted By
Stan_Schwartz
Jul 22, 2007
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337
Replies
7
Status
Closed
(second try; sorry about previous blank post)

The color on the images I post on my website don’t look as good on some other monitors as they do on my calibrated LCD monitor.

From the FAQ, I understand I should be soft-proofing using the Monitor RGB profile.

I also tried using Save-for-Web. I thought the image in that dialog window was supposed to simulate what the image would look like on an uncalibrated monitor. But when I did that and posted the image to my website, it still appeared washed out when I looked at it with another monitor.

Should I be using soft-proof along with the Save-for-Web function?

Is there a simple way to de-profile one’s monitor on-the-fly to simulate an uncalibrated monitor when looking at a website via Internet Explorer (completely outside of PS)?

WinXP, Dell LCD monitor, PS CS3

Stan
www.tallgrassimages.com
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C
chrisjbirchall
Jul 22, 2007
Is there a simple way to de-profile one’s monitor on-the-fly…

Two wrongs don’t make a right. You need to re-calibrate your monitor.

What method of calibration are you using? Unfortunately LCD monitors are difficult to correctly calibrate using Adobe Gamma (which is why Adobe dropped it with the release of CS3). You really need to use a third party hardware solution. Be aware, however, that even these cannot accurately calibrate a budget LCD screen. Only the likes of Eizo and other professional flat screens can be profiled to the standard of a pro CRT.
SS
Stan_Schwartz
Jul 22, 2007
I calibrate my monitor with Colorvision Spyder2. After the first calibration about 4 months ago, I don’t see much difference after each use of that instrument.

I have read more on colorspaces and color profiles than I will ever absorb or understand.

If my monitor were accurately calibrated, should the appearance of an image in PS not change as I toggle softproofing with Monitor RGB on and off?
SS
Stan_Schwartz
Jul 22, 2007
Hmmm.

I think I may have a fundamental misunderstanding of this.

The "View > Proof Setup > Monitor RGB" selection: is that referring to the profile I have chosen for MY monitor (the one I created with Spyder2)? Or is that some standard or generic profile, ie, to be used for soft-proofing to YOUR monitor?

According to the help file, which is finally getting through to me, it seems like Monitor RGB is my profile.

If my particular image is destined for web and not printer, should I then be working with soft-proof/Monitor RGB on all the time? Or should I using Windows RGB?

I may yet understand this.
C
chrisjbirchall
Jul 22, 2007
If your working space is anything other than sRGB, you should go Edit>Convert to Profile using sRGB as the destination when saving for the web.

Soft Proofing is really for checking how an image will look when printed using a specific profile (usually in CMYK) provided by your print shop.
SS
Stan_Schwartz
Jul 23, 2007
Yes, my working space is Adobe RGB, but for web images, I do the Edit>Convert to sRGB.

—————————-

I just recalibrated my monitor.

I have used the soft proof feature when printing to specific papers on a specific printer, and I find it helps make final changes in saturation, etc.

PS is an ICC-aware application and automatically uses my custom monitor profile. I understand that soft-proofing with Monitor RGB simulates how a device that doesn’t use color management will display the colors in my images. I figured that’s what I needed to do to have colors display as I want them on browsers/monitors that aren’t color-managed.
MD
Michael_D_Sullivan
Jul 23, 2007
The soft-proof with Monitor RGB uses your monitor’s profile but not the more sophisticated LUT and gamma controls that color managed apps like Photoshop normally use, so it simulates how the image will look without color management; it does use the profile you made when you calibrated, however. In other words, it shows you how the image will look on your calibrated monitor in a non-color-managed app such as Internet Explorer. No soft-proofing can show you how your image will look on all of the uncalibrated, misadjusted monitors out there; there is too much possible variation among such monitors.
SS
Stan_Schwartz
Jul 23, 2007
Oh.

Next, I need to try calibrating a spare monitor (which is uncalibrated and misadjusted!) I have and see if I can get my web-based images to look the same on it as they do on my main monitor.

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