Color settings issue

DC
Posted By
d_cole
Jul 28, 2008
Views
534
Replies
14
Status
Closed
I am using CS3 under Vista Ultimate.

I’d be grateful for help with a couple of problems:

1. When I customise my color settings the customisarion is not sticking – that is, when I save the customisation, close the settings box and reopen it – the settings have returned to North America General Purpose 2. Similarly, if I load a customised setting it has always reverted to North American General Purpose 2 when I next look at the color settings.

2. For reasons I don’t understand, recent photos have started to look over saturated with a blue shift when I Save (them) For The Web. My work is all for the internet and my workflow is all sRGB. That’s why I am surprised by the colour problem. It’s definitely something to do with the colour profile of the photo I am working on – when I take photos I have worked on a few weeks ago there is no colour shift when I Save for Web. I have converted the problem photo to sRGB but that has not solved the problem. I know I’m doing something dumb but I can’t work out what it is or how to rescue the photo I have been working on.

Thanks for any help.

David

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F
Freeagent
Jul 28, 2008
over saturated with a blue shift

That sounds almost like it has assigned ProPhoto RGB, which would look heavily cyan – magenta. But Save For Web should strip profiles (which, btw, looks similar but is not identical to sRGB). You don’t happen to have a wide-gamut monitor? In that case there would be a mismatch.

I think I’d try to reset PS preferences first. Look it up in the FAQ.
DC
d_cole
Jul 28, 2008
Thanks. Yes, I am using a NEC 2690 display which is wide gamut – but I am using it in its sRGB mode.

I’ll try resetting preferences again – though it seems odd that just this photo is affected.

David
DC
d_cole
Jul 28, 2008
I reset my Preferences and that made no difference unfortunately – custom Color Settings are still not sticking and the rogue photo is still – even after convert to sRGB (it already is sRGB) – showing an oversaturation and blue shift when viewed in Save for Web or looked at in Corel Painter.

Grateful for any other ideas. I am stumped.

David
F
Freeagent
Jul 28, 2008
If that single photo somehow got ProPhoto RGB assigned (perhaps by accident), then it would retain the over-saturated cyan/magenta look when converted to sRGB.

Make a copy, and try to convert it to ProPhoto (that’s for testing my theory), and then assign sRGB.

I think I’d recognise the "ProPhoto look" if you could post an image. The reason I’m thinking ProPhoto and not, say, AdobeRGB is that with the latter it would look overall warm, not cold. But a wrongly assigned ProPhoto profile looks very characteristic with strong magentas and an equally strong greenish cyan.
DC
d_cole
Jul 28, 2008
That’s brilliant!

I tried the process you suggested and on assigning the ProPhoto setting the image became too unsaturated in CS3 (before I looked at it in Save for Web). So I tried recopying, then converting to Adobe RGB and assigning sRGB – and that solved the problem. The image looked as it should in CS3 and in Save for Web.

Thanks so much for sorting that out for me. Somehow the image had picked up an aRGB profile. Why wasn’t that removed when I first converted the image to sRGB (as opposed to assigning it?). I’ll have to do some more reading – I didn’t realise profiles were so persistent.

Do you by any chance have any idea why my color settings aren’t sticking?

David
F
Freeagent
Jul 28, 2008
converting to Adobe RGB and assigning sRGB – and that solved the problem

Ahh…so it was AdobeRGB after all…anyway, good thing you didn’t start to fiddle around with your image, trying to "correct" it. Glad you got it sorted 🙂

As for your color settings, sorry, but that one I can’t figure out. Clearing the prefs really should have fixed it. Only thing, do you have a Suite, or just Photoshop? If suite, Color Settings can be accessed from Bridge, and there will be a "synchronize color settings" button that might override what you set in Photoshop. I’m not on my CS3 machine right now, so I’ll have to check that later.
F
Freeagent
Jul 28, 2008
Why wasn’t that removed when I first converted the image to sRGB (as opposed to assigning it?)

It would indeed be removed, but in the process Photoshop would also change the actual RGB values to keep the appearance unchanged. That’s what Convert to Profile does.

Assign Profile, however, will not try to keep the appearance. Instead, it will re-interpret the visual appearance according to the new profile, but leaving the numbers unchanged.

It’s all a bit confusing, but if you keep an eye on the histogram while you do all these conversions and assignments, it becomes a little clearer.
DC
d_cole
Jul 28, 2008
I have a standalone version of CS3 – with PS 7 also installed.

I haven’t used Bridge yet.
F
Freeagent
Jul 28, 2008
Anyone?

Just to have it out of the way – you did get a confirmation pop-up when you pressed ctrl-shift-alt upon startup? If not, it didn’t "take". You have to be quick. Or you can delete the stuff manually, and new pref files will be created on next startup.
DC
d_cole
Jul 28, 2008
Yes, I got the confirming pop up.

I just checked the settings again. It’s still a problem. If I change any of the individual settings, or apply a saved custom settings set, the settings revert back to the default as soon as I reopen them. It’s annoying because I have no control over my colour settings.
DC
d_cole
Jul 29, 2008
The answer was to run the Adobe wincs3clean which removed all the Adobe stuff. I could then reinstall PSCS3 (and Dreamweaver) fine.
F
Freeagent
Jul 30, 2008
Nice. Maybe it was a corrupt profile.

I half-wanted to bump this thread to see if anyone else could find a solution. Most times a reinstall won’t fix anything, but clearing the prefs will.

🙂
DC
d_cole
Jul 30, 2008
I spoke too soon.

The impermanent color settings have returned.

The reinstall did not solve the problem. Whenever I open the Colour Settings box the settings are all back to the North America General Purpose 2 profile.

I have contacted Adobe tech support who replied that it was not a technical problem but a usage problem (pilot error). I have gone back to them again to see if they can help.

Anyone got any ideas, please?.
DC
d_cole
Jul 30, 2008
No. That didn’t solve the problem either.

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