Lightroom to CS5 colour shift

Auraomega · 1 Mar 2011 at 23:14

I finally figured out how to get my images exporting from Lightroom without a colour shift by setting up a monitor profile, but somehow in the process I've made it so I can no longer export images from Lightroom to Photoshop without getting a colour shift, I'm really at a total loss and the info I'm reading online is confusing me further, can anyone help a fella out?

Auraomega · 2 Mar 2011 at 00:16

Sorry I didn't explain myself very well there. I downloaded the colour profile for this monitor, installed it and then changed the export profile so it now exports all my photos with the correct colours (I.E. the colours I see in Lightroom rather than shifting like it used to). When I choose to edit in Photoshop is when I get all the problems, no matter what profile I select I get different colours in Photoshop than what I see in Lightroom.

I've uploaded an image here, the one on the right is the correct image, exported from Lightroom and then drag and dropped into Photoshop followed by selecting "Discard the embedded profile (don't color manage)". The image to the left is what I've got when choosing to edit from Lightroom.

To be completely honest I don't think I've actually understood what the image profiles thing is all about...

Auraomega · 2 Mar 2011 at 00:42

Bare in mind that I'm new to all of this

It all started for me when I was exporting photos and uploading them online only to find out they didn't appear online how they did in Lightroom, I found in the Acer download section the profile for my monitor, installed it and configured the export settings to use that profile, since then all my images have come out looking how they do in Lightroom, where as before they used to come out different colours.

I shoot in RAW, import to Lightroom, change white balance where required, change tone where required and then import into Photoshop to dodge and burn.

When I export an image to JPG my settings are all default except 'Color Space' which I've set to the profile downloaded from Acer. When I edit in Photoshop it's set to ProPhoto RGB 16bit.

'Color Settings' in Photoshop say 'Monitor Color'. Assuming I'm looking at the correct screen.

Auraomega · 2 Mar 2011 at 01:55

Adrianr said:
So in Lightroom go into Edit / Preferences / External Editing. You're given the output options for when you de-mosaic the RAW file into a rendered image format, tiff, jpeg, etc. Here you're given options for File Format, Color Space, Bit Depth, Resolution and Compression. For now just concentrate on the Color Space option.

If this is set to ProPhoto RGB, it will export how it looks within Lightroom. You will now however, have to go into Photoshops colour settings, and make sure your 'Working Spaces : RGB :' is also set to ProPhoto RGB. This now means that the image in LR and PS is being viewed in the same way. I would recommend at the output section in LR to set the file format to TIFF and bit depth to 8. Unless you're working with a particularly tricky or tonally fine file in which case choose 16bit instead.

Using those exact settings I get this.

I understood everything you said there which is nice, however it just doesn't work for me

Auraomega · 2 Mar 2011 at 11:09

Ok I've removed the profile from my PC. Completely gone now. Open up Lightroom and my images look the same as they did in Photoshop, all the colours look washed out and I hate most of them

Using Win7.

Auraomega · 2 Mar 2011 at 11:44

Switching to Adobe RGB rather than ProPhoto RGB gives much better colours.

This is what I get when using Adobe, this when using ProPhoto and this is sRGB.

Thing is it's going to be impossible for me to work on an image if it exports completely differently to what I see on screen.

Auraomega · 2 Mar 2011 at 13:32

Adrianr said:
Just to double check something as I don't think it was answered before. If your export settings from Lightroom are ProPhoto 8bit TIFF, no compression. And your colour working space in Photoshop is ProPhoto, do the images look identical in both programs now? Because they should. If the image in PS looks desaturated slightly when in Color settings click 'Advanced Options' and make sure 'Desaturate Monitor colours by:" option isn't checked.

They are the same now when exporting.

Adrianr said:
Now taking that same image in PS, go to Edit / Convert to profile. Source space should say ProPhoto RGB, and in Destination space select sRGB IEC61966. Is there a visible difference when doing this?

There is, some of the colours appear to merge together, I guess due to the colour clipping, it's mostly the blues in the background instead of being a gradual change appears to be more of a solid blue from top to bottom.

Adrianr said:
Also, taking the same image in Lightroom, go to File, Export, and in File settings set the format to jpeg and the Color Space to sRGB. Is this just knocking the vibrancy out of the image? (It should look exactly the same as what I told you to do above in PS).

Yes it's the same as Photoshop now.

Thanks Adrian, that seems to have sorted it for me

One last question, I'm looking at buying a new monitor as I want something larger and I've read IPS screens are the best for colour representation, however I really can't justify the cost, how do VA monitors do in comparison to IPS and TN? Any recommendations for me in the £250 price range for a 24"? My only requirements are it needs to connect via HDMI and be relatively fast for some gaming.