Color Inconsistency Problem when opening a file designed in InDesign

MB
Posted By
Mary_Brewer
Oct 31, 2008
Views
383
Replies
3
Status
Closed
I am designing images in Indesign CS. I am using lab color. When I export those files as pdfs (in the color settings I check "leave unchanged") and when I open them up in Photoshop CS in lab color, I use the eyedropper tool to see if my colors are the same. The lab color numbers are all shifted slightly from what they originally were in InDesign. I am using color management in both Photoshop and InDesign with the same profile. Shouldn’t my colors stay the same? Why are they changing slightly? It is very important that they be exact.

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GH
Gernot_Hoffmann
Nov 1, 2008
Mary,

I’ve done two tests:

1. Open p.3 of this doc in PhS (CS2) in mode Lab:
<http://www.fho-emden.de/~hoffmann/swatch16032005.pdf> The doc was programmed in Lab by PostScript. PhS shows
the correctly rounded values (original values under
each swatch). Occasionally tiny errors like this:
50.47–>51 .

2. The same doc p.3 placed in ID, then added a rectangle with Lab=50/60/70. Exported as PDF (colors unchanged)
and opened in PhS: exactly 50/60/70.

So far everything seems to be correct, but the second
test concerns only one ID Lab swatch.

If you send me an example doc with color swatches and
numbers then I would analyze it (e-mail by clicking
on my name).
I don’t have CS, only CS2, if this should matter.

Best regards –Gernot Hoffmann
MB
Mary_Brewer
Nov 2, 2008
Thank you. I tried your file, and it worked just fine. Then I looked at mine, and I had a suspicion that the problem might have something to do with the fact that my file contains some bitmap .psd images of varying opacity. So I removed those and now my lab colors remain accurate. I don’t understand why, but it works now.
GH
Gernot_Hoffmann
Nov 3, 2008
Mary,

thanks for the feedback. Obviously no problems for
handling opaque Lab objects by InDesign and Photoshop.
Problems with transparent objects are quite common.

Best regards –Gernot Hoffmann

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