RGB/8 mode with default install of CS3. digital monitors with standard brightness/contrast.

i open up the PSD given to me and the colors used are all tan'ish.

i then save as or save for web to jpg and the colors turn grey??


i.e. i save as jpg and then open up in windows viewer - colors are gray

i open the same jpg back up in photoshop and they're tan.


wtf is going on?


color that should look tan: R216 G213 B204







before you think it's grayscale, if i add text that is colored, that is output close to its color

[Edited on April 16, 2008 at 10:17 PM. Reason : pics]

[Edited on April 16, 2008 at 10:18 PM. Reason : ]

4/16/2008 9:55:37 PM

do you have some web-safe shenanigans enabled?

[Edited on April 16, 2008 at 10:19 PM. Reason : or some grayscale checkbox selected?]

4/16/2008 10:19:05 PM

no b/c if i add red text or a red block it will output that near to its color.

and it's any save as or save as web... default install of CS3





[Edited on April 16, 2008 at 10:33 PM. Reason : new photos]

4/16/2008 10:22:59 PM

your color settings aren't right. go to edit, convert to color profile, and use sRGB. If it's set to anything else you can and will get color problems. The web and windows viewer ignore embedded color profiles so if you have some odd color profile embedded, windows won't see it but photoshop will.

4/16/2008 10:33:47 PM

converted to sRGB and imbedded profile and also didn't...

still same issue.

4/16/2008 10:40:05 PM

you need to check the color profile of both your computer AND the document.

If you havent mucked with your CS3 install, it will be sRGB by default and you should be basically ok. But the document itself likely has it's own (incorrect) color profile.

use the Edit->Convert to Profile and run through the color space options with preview turned on until you start seeing the right colors.

4/17/2008 1:08:19 AM

Use a Mac.

It has a built in colorsync calibrator. It's not perfect, but it gets you way closer than a stock Windows set up.

And that tan you chose looks MUCH closer to the first one for me than the second picture (on a CRT in OS X using the software ColorSync calibrator).

[Edited on April 17, 2008 at 1:43 AM. Reason : ]

4/17/2008 1:43:20 AM

it doesnt matter what OS he uses. The problem isnt the monitor being out of sync, its the color profile of the document/application clashing. My work computer is color calibrated to and I occasionally run into the exact same problem he is describing.

4/17/2008 1:46:08 AM

That's true.

But if the monitor were calibrated properly, if he's doing stuff for web, it should look practically the same on sRGB or the default display setting. It only gets really goofy when you start to do stuff targeted for a specific printer or TV work (which may be his case).


Here's what I see though. From what I can infer from photoshop, my display calibrated is 1 decimal value in 8 bit RGB off from the sRGB profile.

4/17/2008 2:05:16 AM

it's not a monitor issue.

i can VNC into the computer that has it tan (original colors) and it will show tan on this computer. i will open up the same file on this computer in cs3 installed here and it will show gray.



this is making me crazy. i'll double check the color settings and profiles on each setup.



both computers set to NA web/internet in color settings (also tried different ones).

[Edited on April 17, 2008 at 9:53 AM. Reason : ]

4/17/2008 9:36:20 AM

check to see if "proof colors" is turned on under the "view" menu.

it should be off

[Edited on April 17, 2008 at 10:57 AM. Reason : ]

4/17/2008 10:57:48 AM

no change. it was off. tried it on as CMYK and sRGB. stayed tan on the screen.


i talked to person that created it and she said she created it rgb/8 and not cmyk.

4/17/2008 1:29:29 PM

View | Proof Setup | Monitor RGB

that makes the colors go from tan to gray!


Windows RGB shows it in the same tan colors. I'm afraid it's getting output as Monitor RGB?


now, how can i get it to NOT output as Monitor RGB?




also, this still is weird on another computer it is NEVER tan. weird

[Edited on April 17, 2008 at 2:06 PM. Reason : ]

4/17/2008 2:04:09 PM

^if you have profile drivers installed for the monitor, it will go from tan to white.

if you have no profile drivers installed (generic display) it wont no matter what you select, it'll always be white.

Most OEM machines (dell, lenovo) come with the shipped monitor profile drivers installed.

Most custom built machines, or if you tack on a 3rd party monitor, won't (unless you explicitly install them, which most people don't)

4/17/2008 4:14:56 PM

windows rgb on my machine shows tan.
windows rgb on other machine shos gray.

wtf!

4/17/2008 6:04:56 PM

Monitor/LCD discrepancies?

4/17/2008 6:12:54 PM

^^Did you even read my post? I just answered the question.

Your machine has a profile driver
Other machine does not.

4/17/2008 7:45:29 PM

so i assume the person that created this psd file for me used their monitor's rgb which is why i'm having compatibility issues?

and it opens up tan on only 1 of my computers because they're using a dell's monitor profile (auto from windows).

i believe the person creating the file also used a dell monitor and could have had their monitor profile in there.

4/18/2008 10:30:57 AM

What are the conversion options set to under the color settings menu.

[Edited on April 18, 2008 at 11:09 AM. Reason : ]

4/18/2008 11:06:41 AM

when i set it to use monitor rgb - dell's profile - i can now see the tan on all computers. if it's set to sRGB it will go to gray.

so i take it i need to tell the person that did this to re-do their colors on an sRGB profile so they don't see the wrong colors?

4/18/2008 12:35:26 PM

they should be able to use the "Convert to Profile" or "Assign to Profile" option on the document to make the tans stick on the standard sRGB space

4/18/2008 1:56:34 PM

Wow looks like I was right all along

4/18/2008 11:56:02 PM