PS CS3 Color Settings Don’t Match Save-for-Web Settings?

A
Posted By
archer73
Sep 8, 2007
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274
Replies
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Closed
Hi, folks. This is quite possibly a ridiculous question but it just keeps stumping me.

I’m using CS3, North American Prepress, Adobe RGB (1998), am working in RGB 8-bit (with Save-for-Web settings of 60 quality, non-optimized, non-progressive, non-ICC profile, no check next to "Convert to sRGB") and every time I use the Save for Web feature, my colors shift, to the point that I can’t even verify accuracy before printing. My monitor is calibrated, but for some really stupid reason, I can’t figure out why my Saved-for-Web Jpegs have an entirely different cast than my other RGB 8-bit files. Is there some hidden setting that I missed? Basically, the colors become flatter and duller–not so much that you’d notice if the two images weren’t side by side, but enough to destroy any critical color-matching.

The only clue I have is that when I re-open the Jpeg that I just Saved for Web, Photoshop informs me that the file "does not have an embedded RGB profile." I’m almost certain that has something to do with it, but I can’t figure out why the Saved-for-Web Jpeg wouldn’t have the same profile as the file from which it was saved. Hence the quandary…

Should I just stop using the Save-for-Web feature? That’s what I’m starting to think, especially since a regular save keeps the colors in perfect working order.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!
Related Tags
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chrisjbirchall
Sep 8, 2007
Adobe RGB (1998), am working in RGB 8-bit (with Save-for-Web settings of 60 quality, non-optimized, non-progressive, non-ICC profile, no check next to "Convert to sRGB")

If you want to have one of the wider gamuts, such as Adobe RGB1998 or ProPhoto, as your working space profile, then you’ll need to Convert to sRGB before Saving for Web.

Should I just stop using the Save-for-Web feature?

SFW give you more opportunity to prune the file size down whilst giving a visual guide to image quality. It also strips out some/most of the metadata. In these days of faster internet connections this is less important. You could just "Save As" a Jpeg and us a quality setting of around 60, which is absolutely fine for most web images.
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chrisjbirchall
Sep 8, 2007
my colors shift, to the point that I can’t even verify accuracy before printing…

Just re-read the OP. If you are saving files for printing, you shouldn’t really be using SFW at all. Keep your master files saved at their generic size in a lossless format such as TIFF or PSD. Then make a copy in the required size and save that out under a new name as a "maximum quality" Jpeg before you send it for printing. To ensure the colour remains faithful, ascertain that your lab uses sRGB as it’s recommended profile (most do) and the convert to this before saving the Jpeg.

Alternatively you could set sRGB as Photoshop’s working profile and not have to bother with the conversion whether you are going to Web or Print.

Hope this helps.

Chris.
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chrisjbirchall
Sep 8, 2007
Thanks for that Ian. Not having used SFW myself in CS3, I’d not noticed this new feature. It certainly makes SFW a more useful tool.

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