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Photoshop changes color of picture when exported


stcyshn

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Hi all!
So I've encountered this problem with Photoshop CS6 whereas every time I export a JPEG file, the color of the picture changes ever so slightly. It's not noticeable unless you really look, but I do edit photos for their coloring and lighting so this is still an issue to me, especially since it affects the whole picture. A bigger issue, however, is the fact that when opening the same picture on my iPhone 6, the color changes once again, but a substantial amount more this time. The color overall looks a bit more "dead" or unsaturated, although it's not only that (sometimes there's a noticeable tinge of another color). Any help is greatly appreciated, it's been getting on my nerve for a while because all the work I do on Photoshop is not reflected once I export it onto my computer, and especially when I try to post a picture with my phone.
TLDR; what I see when I'm editing my pictures is not the same once it is exported, and especially when it is on my phone.
[FONT=&quot]
I already tried the "Save for Web" option but I don't know if I should check "Progressive", "Internet Standard RGB", etc. because I'm not very familiar with what those options mean.

Again, all help is appreciated! [/FONT]
 
This is usually because of a colour profile mismatch....different devices and different software can all have their own colour profile and if that isn't the same as the image you display on or in them then yes....there will be a noticeable difference.

As a 'GENERAL' guide most people will work in PS using the 'Adobe RGB 1998' colour profile but save out the image with the sRGB colour profile option.

Most devices / software will be able to display images using the sRGB profile....I couldn't speak for Apple products though....you'll have to check that.

Its a lengthy subject and very dependant on your specific requirements so its best to source the info yourself...but hopefully this will guide you as to what to look for.

Regards.
MrToM.
 
Thanks! I did some research; most people say to convert the color profile to sRGB and it should be fine, however, I tried that already and the color on my iPhone is still different (the brown tones get more yellow and the cyan tones get more purple). I can't find any other solutions, if there is any other advice I'll be more than happy to hear them!
 
Both MrToM and Gedstar have give you good general advice, but let me go a bit further ...

The out-of-the-box average colorimetric accuracy of new iPhones has been repeatedly measured and reported on the web. The 6 and 6s have better hue and saturation accuracy than many (most?) desktop monitors and laptop screens that are more than a couple of years old, or that are new but cheap.

BTW, if you want to read these reports yourself, just Google {iPhone color accuracy "delta E"}. "Delta-E" is a measure of the average colorimetric accuracy of (in this case) a display, averaged over a wide range of hues, saturation and luminance values. The luminance accuracy of iPhones can not be stated because people are always fiddling with the brightness or letting the OS adjust the brightness depending on the ambient light level. However, the problems you described are with hue and saturation, not luminance accuracy.

Since you did not state what type of monitor / screen you were using when you experienced these problems, and that fact that you are just getting into color management and haven't hardware calibrated your monitor, if your iPhone 6 isn't damaged, the chances are very, very good that your iPhone is giving you a better representation of the colors in your images than your monitor.

So, the obvious question is what to do to fix this problem. If you are using a relatively new IPS desktop monitor, then buy yourself a decent hardware calibration system (certainly not older or cheap new Spyder system), and use it to check (and tweak) the monitor's calibration every month or so, so that you don't make a fool of yourself (like I once did) and send out a month's worth of images to customers and the colors on all of these were completely screwed up because I pressed the wrong button on my monitor and was completely unaware of it. Arghhhh!!!!

If you are using an older or low end desktop monitor, buy yourself a new monitor and then do what I suggested in the previous paragraph. Finally, if you are attempting to use the screen on a laptop for color critical, pro level work, stop trying to get by with it and get yourself a decent desktop monitor and plug your laptop into it. Not only are laptop screens lower quality than stand alone desktop monitors, you will be tempted to make color decisions in a wide variety of lighting conditions. This is the kiss of death for consistency.

As an aside, with respect to laptop screens, they certainly have improved greatly over the years, but realize that if you buy a laptop for, say, $500, the screen / video components probably contribute less than 1/10th to the cost of the system, i.e., $50. This number should be compared to a mid-sized, decent, but certainly not top-end desktop monitor that can easily cost $500 PLUS another $200 for a good hardware calibrator system. This is a case where you definitely get something for your money. There is a reason that many pros go with even higher quality (i.e., more color accurate) gear in this area, thinking nothing about spending $1500 or more to be confident that what you see on your monitor is as close as possible to what everyone else sees and is what you are actually are sending out.

A couple of final points:

a) In none of the articles cited previously, did I see any mention of colorimetric accuracy. Instead, they seemed to focus on the various gamut spaces. This is certainly a good place to start for beginners in color management, but if you want to produce images with good color, as you discovered when you compared what you saw on your monitor to what you saw on your phone, getting the color spaces right is a necessary, but not sufficient condition.

b) I think that one of the articles mentioned that most people work in Addobe RGB. It is my experience that more working photographers, particularly, event and sports photographers who have to produce lots of images in a short time actually work in sRGB (or should be working in that space), versus knowledgable landscape and other fine art people who can spend hours on one image are much more likely to work in ProFoto, with many service bureaus working in Adobe RGB as a compromise. Of course, EVERYONE MUST PRODUCE AN sRGB VERSION for posting on-line or sending to most printing houses. This is not an option. It's (unfortunately), a fact of life. When just starting out in color management, to reduce the chances of making a grievous error like forgetting to convert to (i.e., not "assign to" ) sRGB as the last step, I recommend that such people just work in sRGB.

c) Many people will purchase a decent hardware calibration system to improve their product but won't upgrade a mediocre monitor. While a hardware calibrator system will always improve color accuracy to some degree, one can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, and often even after calibration, the delta-E values are still unacceptably high for pro quality work because the monitor simply can't be brought into good calibration.

HTH,

Tom M
 
PS - I just looked over some of the cited articles again. The "Photography Life" article mentions a old method of monitor calibration that does not use an external piece of hardware. It is a small piece of software called "Quick Gamma". It's a waste of time. Sure, go ahead play around with it (if you can still find it available), but it never comes even close to giving enough accuracy, or even as good as the lowest of low end hardware calibrator systems. I know because when I first was getting serious about color management, maybe 10 or more years ago, I fiddled around with this software, as well as similar ones, and never could get the results to be sufficiently accurate.

PPS - The guy who wrote the Petapixel article is surprised that the gamuts of several monitors that he measured are so close, but yet some are obviously better than others for color critical work. As the kids like to say, "well, DUH". This is because he is obviously blissfully unaware of the concept of colorimetric accuracy writhin any particular gamut.

PS #3 - The Gary Ballard article, particularly, the images he supplies to test various image viewing software for full color management compliance, are excellent. I have keep a set of his images on my computer since they first came out.

PS #4 - In case you are interested, this is the monitor and hardware calibrator that I've been using for the past 2 or so years:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1006644-REG .

In addition, I have a second high end hardware calibrator (a Color Munki) system that I use to double check the profiles and calibration produced by NEC's Spectraview system.
 

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