need help with colour profiles

[P_A_N_I_C]

**too long dont want to read? what's your default colour profile for windows and colour settings in photoshop?**


became familiar with colour profiles in windows when i was fed up with how bad images looked in Windows Preview. after i saw some other ppl posts the same issue i looked into it and saw that it was worth setting the default profile in windows to sRGB. yay all good.

(also had issues with Photoshop colour before also, where the image looked different in PS than in windows or on the web).

now a few months ago the colours seemed bad again (hadn't changed anything) and noticed the profile had changed to [24 inch lcd for pc] hmm ok so i checked for sRGB again and there is more than one but picked one that looked most likely but it's name is [sRGB IEC61966-2.1] which is different that i remembered but that seemed to work ok.

again i havent changed anything and was importing pictures from my CF card 2 days ago and they seemed dull/desaturated especially after seeing them on my parent's pc. checking all other images from Bridge and they were all messed up aswell.

changed photoshop default colours to Adobe RGB 1998, that sorted that out but also changed windows colour to Adobe RGB 1998 to match

things were looking great until i was saving for web, in the JPEG option there is a box [convert to sRGB] which makes things very saturated / vibrant which would tie into the sRGB problems someway. but i don;t know what it will look like on other ppl's computers.

anyway i'm getting all confused with it so if you could share your windows and photoshop colour profile names then i'll try some options.

thanks

/edit, using vista x64

 

[glitch]

For ease of use and consistency across the large majority of outputs - be that screens, printers, etc - I'd stick with sRGB.

If you know what you're doing and have worked out a thorough colour-controlled workflow, I'd generally go with the widest gamut my monitor could faithfully reproduce and then soft-proof with the appropriate gamut for my chosen output.

I think I used to start in Lightroom to do my editing, output as a 16-bit TIFF in ProPhoto RGB and then load that up into Photoshop for soft-proofing with the gamut of my chosen output source, usually Adobe RGB or sRGB, depending on the final destination.

If I were you though, I'd stick with sRGB throughout and see how you get on for now.

 

[glitch]

Reading this again in the harsh light of the morning, there's some stuff I missed.

[24 inch lcd for pc]

This sounds like the profile attributed to your monitor. Assuming it is accurate, this is the Display Profile you should be using in Windows.

However, you could do a lot worse than buy/borrow a colour calibrator and create yourself a custom profile for your monitor.

[sRGB IEC61966-2.1]

This is the gamut you should be working in.

Adobe RGB 1998

And this is something you should leave alone, at least for now.

Set Photoshop's Color Settings up as follows:

Working Spaces:

RGB: sRGB IEC61966-2.1
CMYK: U.S Web Coated (SWOP) v2
Gray: Dot Gain 20%
Spot: Dot Gain 20%

Color Management Policies:

RGB: Preserve Embedded Profiles
CMYK: Preserve Embedded Profiles
Gray: Preserve Embedded Profiles

Profile Mismatches:

Ask When Opening: Yes
Ask When Pasting: Yes

Missing Profiles:

Ask When Opening: Yes

That ought to make life a little easier for you and get you started down the route of a fairly decent, albeit basic, colour workflow.

 

[P_A_N_I_C]

thanks a lot ditch i set them both back to sRGB and things look good.

i'm puzzled as to why the colours get screwed up intermittently, but heyho i wouldnt want things too simple eh?