Why do my image colors look drastically different in photoshop than lightroom on two calibrated monitors?

Question

I am using Lightroom 5 and Photoshop cs5. I have two monitors, both are calibrated, (one is a better screen and more precise but they are very close.) When LR is open I can drag it from one screen to another and there is very minimal change in color. But when I export the image from LR as a psd or tiff and open that in PS the colors are very very different from one screen to another, as well as very different from the image I am seeing in LR. Please help! Thank you!

Points that may make a different to peoples answers. -The image in LR has had adjustments made it to
-Tiff files look fine from screen to screen in Preview -exporting as adobe 1998 RGB and Prophoto space causes the same problem.

Answer 1

When you move Lightroom from one screen to another it's likely being subjected to mild differences in calibration whilst still accessing the same monitor profile, whereas when you open a TIFF or PSD in Photoshop it'll certainly be accessing the profile for whatever monitor you open it on. Or if it isn't you'd need to reconfigure it. The monitor profile 'in play' will be listed in edit>color settings>working spaces>RGB - so it needs to match the monitor you're using for that app.

Calibration settings and profiles are two separate things - the changes that kick in at startup, if any, are calibration settings tagged to the loading profile. The photo isn't wholly 'colour corrected' or managed at that point, as calibration only ever addresses neutral colour, hence even the Windows desktop might look slightly garish on some monitors.

Answer 2

Actually, if it is the issue I have experienced it is because you are possibly using a newer camera who's RAW files are fully supported in Lightroom 4, but not PS5, because PS5 has stopped updating Camera RAW. Adobe wants you to buy CS6 to be able to get any new and updated versions of Camera RAW. Ridiculous.

One way to test this.. if you export your file as a TIF to another program (or just to your desktop), save it without making changes, then export that file into CS5, and the colors do not change, then you are most likely experiencing the Camera RAW issue. It is silly that I have to export it to a TIF first, before exporting it into CS5 as a TIF to maintain the white balance and colors, but I have not found a way around that yet, without purchasing cs6.