Photos look different in photoshop than other programs.. which one is the 'right' one?

[june_daley]

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I have read that windows picture viewer is often different to photoshop, which it appears to be on my computer.

My question is - which one is the 'correct' image, the one other people will see when I give them a disc of photos?

They will see the windows viewer photo, right? If I have that correct, then do I need to edit my photos using the proof

colours set to Windows Viewer?</p>

<p>See attached photo... image in photoshop and in an email...</p>

<p>Thanks for any suggestions!<br>

June</p>

[kyleweems]

<p>What you are likely running into is a lack of other programs to read different color spaces.</p>

<p>Before you save your jpg, go to edit>convert to profile and select sRGB.</p>

<p>This is the default for web browsers and most other programs and it's what they can understand.. I'd bet when you are importing your color space is probably being set to adobe rgb or something else, which will cause problems for people viewing online or in many applications outside of photoshop.</p>

<p>Kyle</p>

[sheldonnalos]

<p>Have you profiled and calibrated your monitor? If not, then none of the renditions is "right".</p>

[benbangerter]

<p>It appears to me that Windows Picture and Fax Viewer is "sort of" color managed. I find that some ProPhotoRGB images look essentially the same in PSCS2 and Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, while some look very different, depending on the colors. Here is an example where the two applications produce similar results.</p><div></div>

[benbangerter]

<p>Here is one where the results are very different - evident in the blue sky.</p><div></div>

[kyleweems]

<p>"Have you profiled and calibrated your monitor? If not, then none of the renditions is "right"."</p>

<p>If it's on the same machine, this shouldn't matter.. should look the same everywhere on your computer. Calibration only becomes an issue when transferring the image out to a printer or to someone else.</p>

<p>Kyle</p>

[alec_myers]

<blockquote>

<p>which one is the 'correct' image, the one other people will see when I give them a disc of photos?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>It's a good question, and the answer is depressing, for those who care about such things. Firstly, unless you've calibrated your monitor, neither is right. If you've calibrated your monitor then the Photoshop one will be "correct".<br>

However you have no control over what other people will see when you give them a disc (or, equivalently, when you post a picture on a website) unless they've calibrated their screens too, which most likely they haven't.<br>

See this series of pages for more info:<br>

<a href="http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/color-spaces-page1">http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/color-spaces-page1</a></p>

 

[chrise_boris]

<p>Color shift in photoshop has been or is a dilemma for so many people including myself. The photo would look the same in photoshop as in the 'save for web' window but then there was always a color shift when opened in a web browser or the windows default picture viewer. Someone mentioned that you convert to sRGB and you'll be fine. That is not quite right. You must convert to your monitor profile from whatever profile your photo has to be able to assess what it will look like inside your web browser. If your monitor is indeed sRGB then it's fine to convert to sRGB but if you're on a calibrated monitor you must go:<br>

edit>convert to profile and select your monitor profile</p>

[chrise_boris]

<p>there is one caveat though with cs3. In the save for web dialog there are hidden settings behind small arrows. Find the one where it says 'convert to sRGB' and uncheck it. Otherwise you will reintroduce the sRGB profile, assuming your monitor is using a calibrated profile and not sRGB.</p>

[june_daley]

<p>Thanks for all the responses - I'm relieved to see it's not only me with this problem! My monitor is calibrated. I seem to have found a good solution for my purposes... I changed the colour space settings in photoshop to match my printer - all of a sudden the photos looked a lot better matched in all other programs too.</p>

<p>Thanks again for the advice<br>

June</p>