1
\$\begingroup\$

I recently calibrated my laptop screen using spyderx pro and created a profile. I am so confused as the colors in photoshop display and of exported image are completely different. The exported image is oversaturated. What changes in the settings(photoshop ,monitor and premiere pro) should I do to make everything look correct ?

Nightlight is the calibrated profile, set to default huh;

Working Space is set to SRGB huhh

I imported this srgb image into photoshop srgb tiger

I did not edit anything and simply exported in these settings exprt settngs

Now the export looks like this : final

There are lots of tutorials for color calibration but there are none that explain what to do after calibration. What should be the working space and monitor space ? what should be the proof setup in photoshop ? The images look different in photoshop screen and premiere screen and completely look different after export in the same laptop. Please Help!!!!!!!!!

\$\endgroup\$
3
  • \$\begingroup\$ The image after export appears to be brighter and the overall brightness of the monitor appears brighter. \$\endgroup\$ Nov 28, 2021 at 7:03
  • \$\begingroup\$ The monitor brightness is same but the export still looks a bit bright, contrast and saturated \$\endgroup\$
    – Rjd
    Nov 28, 2021 at 9:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ I can't see anything inherently wrong in your workflow, but I don't know your viewer app. Test in a few different apps - some are good at adapting to the OS profile &/or image profile… & some are not. If you haven't rebooted since you set up your new display profile, try that. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tetsujin
    Nov 28, 2021 at 11:22

4 Answers 4

1
\$\begingroup\$

Have you set up color management in FastStone? (F12 > CSM tab > Enable CMS).

Many programs are partially color managed in that they read/honor the color space profile of the image, but they do not apply the monitor profile. This is because bad monitor profiles are not uncommon; whereas all monitors are reasonably sRGB compatible (PS does apply the monitor profile).

I'm not entirely certain about FastStone, but I'm guessing it is not using the monitor profile (and it may not even if CMS is enabled). And that probably means your monitor profile is a little wonky... you could try enabling the default sRGB monitor profile to see if that is your issue.

The only thing I set differently in PS is to also enable "convert to sRGB" in the export dialogue by default... IDT it will make a difference here; it just helps prevent user error mistakes during export.

\$\endgroup\$
1
\$\begingroup\$

It looks like your viewer (FastStone) is not applying the colour management (CM), either because it's not set up to, or because it's doing it incorrectly.

Photoshop (PS) is fairly reliable in terms of CM, so we can use it as a benchmark, but let's rule out some remaining possibilities (considering your PS Color Settings, which are basically correct1):

  • You (re)started Photoshop after the monitor profile was installed;
  • Color Proof is not enabled (View -> Proof Colors, there should be no tick)2.

Having checked that, and having opened an image with an attached colour profile, we can be reasonably confident that the colours we see in PS are the "right" colours,3 and any visible discrepancies are likely to be the fault of the other application.

Now, every other application, viewers and editors, can have their own colour management settings. They can be as sophisticated as PS's, or as simple as an "enable" tick, or even none. In the latter cases we can only wonder (or read the documentation) how CM actually works in them. You need to review each application you use individually.

It's helpful to understand that conceptually, display of a colour pixel is a two-stage process:

  1. Decode the image values using the image's colour profile (most commonly sRGB).
  2. Encode the result for display, using your own individual profile created at calibration (or more precisely, at profiling).

Part or all of this process can be done by the application (e.g. PS, which has, arguably, a better CM engine) and the other part by the operating system (OS). This in part explains the multitude of CM settings in various applications.

In particular, some Windows applications do not make use of the OS display profile (set in your first screenshot). They have their own setting for the display profile, and you need to change it separately every time you re-calibrate your monitor. (This was more common in the past, with older applications).

Some applications mismanage images which have no profile attached (the most reasonable approach is to treat them as sRGB).

Basically, you need to explore every application's CM settings and make them similar to the PS's settings (CM enabled, no proof, display profile set if required, default image profile sRGB, etc.)

Now, you mentioned Premiere. Historically, video had a different colour process and different standards, and many video applications (both players and editors) still lack proper CM support, and even if they do have it, it is rarely enabled by default. (You are supposed to use a monitor that complies with a certain colour standard by itself).

However, recent versions of Premiere Pro do have an option to enable colour management. (I don't have it at hand to show where). It requires hardware support though.


1 I would suggest to tick "Ask When Pasting" as well. You want to know about all colour conversions/mismatches happening. I also wouldn't use dithering, but that's a matter of taste/priorities.

Also, if you are serious about CM, I would advise you against having switchable "daylight" and "night" profiles. It just doesn't work well. Deliberate yellowing at night (if that's what I think it is) just ruins colours instead of helping with anything. After calibration, no settings on the monitor should be changed, even brightness (ideally).

2 Colour proofing is emulation of colours of one device/medium on another. For your task, you don't want it enabled anywhere, including your viewer.

3 Contingent on the monitor (=display+video card) settings remaining intact from the time of calibration.

\$\endgroup\$
1
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for fleshing out what I'd already been thinking - Windows is still a nightmare for colour management, compared to Mac, where it 'just works' ;) \$\endgroup\$
    – Tetsujin
    Nov 29, 2021 at 9:16
1
\$\begingroup\$

Thanks to everyone for your answers. I found out a solution (not sure if its the proper way but it works). After experimenting a lot in photoshop I found that

  1. when I let the default profile to stay for an image instead of assigning the calibrated profile ,

  2. Switch on the Proof Colors and set the proof setup to Monitor RGB and export the image....

    The exported image looks similar to my photoshop preview........

When my laptop was not calibrated I used to check that proof colors is unticked but now using proof colors gives me absolute results.

Also I switched from Premiere Pro to Davinci. The video in davinci preview and the exported video look exactly similar now......

Thanks

\$\endgroup\$
-2
\$\begingroup\$

There are some misconceptions or/and missing steps. To making simple, there are three steps to follow when doing color calibration

  1. Laptop: create an ICC profile as you did, named 26-11-2021 Nightlight

  2. Application: define this profile as default at the application workspace. This steps is for new files, not for files coming with their own profiles. As I can see at the second image this step is not made since the RGB working space still being the Photoshop Default and not the one you have created: 26-11-2021 Nightlight.

  3. File: apply the ICC profile to the file, this step is very important to see and modify/adjust the colors in the opened image.

    Menu Edit → Assign Profile... → Profile = 26-11-2021 Nightlight

As you have described the process in your question, it's not surprising that your image has wrong colors because there's a color profiles conflict between the laptop, program and document. It's recommended that all three be the same. Obviously as long as the profile created is the appropriate one.

Important: you are seeing the final result in a FastStone Image Viewer application that I don't know if it has the ICC profile applied or if it has its own profile options. In general, these applications do not reproduce the exact colors of the images, although I personally do not know how they work. Bridge is the Adobe application that allows managing profiles in all the Adobe applications and preview images with custom ICC profiles.

\$\endgroup\$
3
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ Never use the display profile as part of a Photoshop workflow, nor ever assign it arbitrarily to an image. You need to check it's present in the Ps list, but don't set to it. Leave it as sRGB. You set the display profile to the OS to use as default, not in any application, otherwise you get double translation. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tetsujin
    Nov 28, 2021 at 11:19
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @Tetsujin, while I agree in general, doing something along these lines (bar step 2) once to a test image can help to diagnose the problem. If an image with the attached monitor profile (saved/exported as such, without conversion!) looks identical between Photoshop and the viewer (FS in this case), this proves that the viewer is not doing colour management. \$\endgroup\$
    – Zeus
    Nov 29, 2021 at 3:07
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @Zeus - maybe so; though as it's written it doesn't tell the OP that. If the viewing app fails to compensate for the display profile, then they would consider 'oh, that works', & be forever outputting images with the wrong profile. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tetsujin
    Nov 29, 2021 at 7:15

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.