help with colour management in PS...


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phantasia

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Nov 9, 2003
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Encountering some problems with colour management using the d5d and photoshop...anyone with any experience or knowledge can help?

Basically i use the natural colour space, with +1 saturation, +1 sharpening in the d5d. Photos appear nicely saturated when i view them normally, however, once i open them in photoshop, they seem to lose the added saturation that i set in camera.

I experimented abit and find that when i use "monitor rgb" in photoshop, the photos are nicely saturated, but once i use "srgb", they lose their saturation. I think the default colour space used in the d5d is srgb...so how come using "srgb" colour space in PS doesnt give me the colours that i c on camera? Erm...am abit confused...would appreciate any advice or feedback...thanks! ;)
 

phantasia said:
Encountering some problems with colour management using the d5d and photoshop...anyone with any experience or knowledge can help?

Basically i use the natural colour space, with +1 saturation, +1 sharpening in the d5d. Photos appear nicely saturated when i view them normally, however, once i open them in photoshop, they seem to lose the added saturation that i set in camera.

I experimented abit and find that when i use "monitor rgb" in photoshop, the photos are nicely saturated, but once i use "srgb", they lose their saturation. I think the default colour space used in the d5d is srgb...so how come using "srgb" colour space in PS doesnt give me the colours that i c on camera? Erm...am abit confused...would appreciate any advice or feedback...thanks! ;)

You should leave the working RGB in PS to sRGB unless you know what you want from working with bigger gamut colourspaces. The differences in colours is probably just the calibration of your monitor.

If you hasn't done so, get your monitor calibrated, either by using monitor calibration peripherals or your own judgement by using software such as Adobe Gamma or QuickGamma. And make sure the correct monitor profile is loaded in the OS.

There are also some advanced controls in PS which you probably shouldn't touch. If you did, then try to undo them.
 

Actually is there any difference between "monitor rgb" and "windows rgb"? I mean if i send the photos to a photo lab...which set of rgb will i get from the prints? Cos actually i think both sets uses srgb colour space...but apparently "monitor rgb" gives more vibrant colours as i can see from the screen. This leaves me abit confused as to actually which is the "correct" or actual colours of the photos.

UY79 said:
You should leave the working RGB in PS to sRGB unless you know what you want from working with bigger gamut colourspaces. The differences in colours is probably just the calibration of your monitor.

If you hasn't done so, get your monitor calibrated, either by using monitor calibration peripherals or your own judgement by using software such as Adobe Gamma or QuickGamma. And make sure the correct monitor profile is loaded in the OS.

There are also some advanced controls in PS which you probably shouldn't touch. If you did, then try to undo them.
 

phantasia said:
Actually is there any difference between "monitor rgb" and "windows rgb"? I mean if i send the photos to a photo lab...which set of rgb will i get from the prints? Cos actually i think both sets uses srgb colour space...but apparently "monitor rgb" gives more vibrant colours as i can see from the screen. This leaves me abit confused as to actually which is the "correct" or actual colours of the photos.

I think you are getting confused. This might help.
http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/color_management.htm

The LCD screens of cameras are not calibrated. Therefore, you should expect differences in colour when viewing and after loading them onto the PC.

Same goes for the PC, if not correctly calibrated and proper colour management set up, what you see might not be the actual colour.

Labs machines don't recognise any colourspace. Only 2 labs in SG have profiled their machines and can be found here: http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Frontier/Profiles/Singapore_frontier_profiles.htm#SG

Only by using their profile to proof your photos, you will get the same result as what you see, provided you have calibrated your monitor correctly and their profile has not expired.
 

phantasia said:
Encountering some problems with colour management using the d5d and photoshop...anyone with any experience or knowledge can help?

Basically i use the natural colour space, with +1 saturation, +1 sharpening in the d5d. Photos appear nicely saturated when i view them normally, however, once i open them in photoshop, they seem to lose the added saturation that i set in camera.

I experimented abit and find that when i use "monitor rgb" in photoshop, the photos are nicely saturated, but once i use "srgb", they lose their saturation. I think the default colour space used in the d5d is srgb...so how come using "srgb" colour space in PS doesnt give me the colours that i c on camera? Erm...am abit confused...would appreciate any advice or feedback...thanks! ;)



Hmmm..... I dun have this problem. Are u sure that your PS working colour space is sRGB?
 

BTW, where can I find Adobe Gamma once I install PS CS2? I calibrated my monitor once and I want to do it again but cannot remember where I accessed it... thanks!:embrass:
 

TME said:
BTW, where can I find Adobe Gamma once I install PS CS2? I calibrated my monitor once and I want to do it again but cannot remember where I accessed it... thanks!:embrass:

start -> control panel ;)
 

colour management is a very confusing area... and sometimes the more you read about it the more confusing it can get.

let's do it the simpler way lah:
1) yep, when the 5d is in "natural" mode, the space is srgb
2) keep your PS working space in sRGB (some people use other spaces, but this way is the easiest)
3) your monitor is not caliberated, so what you see is not accurate anyway. actually the easiest way is to just not think so much about it :) if you die die want to try, you can use adobe gamma or one of those free web methods to caliberate, but they aren't very accurate cos they rely too much on your eyeball. there are some hardware caliberation devices, i think one of the cheapest is the most basic colourvision that one you can get for around $219 in shops. i suggest you borrow from someone. cheaper.
4) if you do caliberate your monitor, DON'T change your PS working space to the monitor profile or anything like that. just keep it in sRGB

phantasia said:
Actually is there any difference between "monitor rgb" and "windows rgb"? I mean if i send the photos to a photo lab...which set of rgb will i get from the prints? Cos actually i think both sets uses srgb colour space...but apparently "monitor rgb" gives more vibrant colours as i can see from the screen. This leaves me abit confused as to actually which is the "correct" or actual colours of the photos.

hee, one more time: keep it in sRGB! all these other colour profiles are not meant to be used as your cs working space, nor should you convert your photo files to them.

start from there and let us know if you still have problems?
 

Hiee...

its good to know what is you final intended use of your pics...
i.e to just post on the web or just print....or just viewing on your PC.
If you gonna print it...use sRGB would be good.

I personally leave the color space on sRGB for my workflow to get consistencies
all the time. Anyway, since i started on 7D.....in only do minor sharpening nowadays...
hardly any spending like hrs on PC to tweak colors etc ...why ...becos the colors are consistent out form camera as how i want it to be...

SO my workflow basically

- take shot - download - *xxxx* - exposure balancing -sharpening - save/print

If i need to resize - i basically pre sharpened and resize then post sharpen.

(with *xxxx* representing color tweaks specifically for color shifts due to of-white balance once in awhile)

rgds,
sulhan
 

Yupe my work flow is similar to sulhan... no time to always tweak colour and so on... anyway with digital can always reshoot until colour correct... I tried tweaking colour once but it went haywire... now i just trust the camera... and the lab...;p
 

hey all!

Many thanks to all for the informative replies! Actually my problem now is this...

When i first upload the pics onto pc and open them using windows picture viewer, the colours appear vibrant and nicely saturated. However, once i open the pics using PS, the photos lose their saturation and appear dull without any adjustments made. This is in light that i'm using the srgb colour space for PS. ANyone else experience this? :think:

I can, however, get back the same colours in PS by setting view>proof setup>monitor rgb.
 

phantasia said:
hey all!

Many thanks to all for the informative replies! Actually my problem now is this...

When i first upload the pics onto pc and open them using windows picture viewer, the colours appear vibrant and nicely saturated. However, once i open the pics using PS, the photos lose their saturation and appear dull without any adjustments made. This is in light that i'm using the srgb colour space for PS. ANyone else experience this? :think:

I can, however, get back the same colours in PS by setting view>proof setup>monitor rgb.

Yup, same here, this is because your windows pic viewer is non-icc profile aware and hence uses the default Monitor profile set by your OS.
 

Castlesinthesky said:
Yup, same here, this is because your windows pic viewer is non-icc profile aware and hence uses the default Monitor profile set by your OS.

heehee, good answer, cuts right to the heart of the problem. :thumbsup:
 

I suppose this means that what u see in PS is the true appearence (or at least close to it) of your colour curves...
 

The reason, as far as I could see now, is that your monitor profile is more vibrant than normal. PS compensates it to show the actual colours by desaturating the colours.

Proofing just shows what you should see on the output device using the device's profile. So if you choose your monitor profile, you should see what you normally would see in a colourspace unaware software such as Windows Picture Viewer.
 

Hehe okie thanks all!

Think i understand whats happening now...but sad thing is i actually prefer the windows picture viewer colours as compared to the "true" colours that i c in PS. But guess i'll just leave things as they are. :) Thanks for all the help!
 

phantasia said:
Hehe okie thanks all!

Think i understand whats happening now...but sad thing is i actually prefer the windows picture viewer colours as compared to the "true" colours that i c in PS. But guess i'll just leave things as they are. :) Thanks for all the help!

Your photos will only look good on your PC. Everywhere else will be unpredictable and most likely end up dull as in PS.

I recommend that you calibrate your monitor if possible. It helps.
 

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