Color all Screwed up, ps7, osX

[Robert]

I found the "nightmare" post with replies and was hopeful that I'd found a solution. I tried the calibration thing but it didn't work for me.

I'm having a similar problem. One day color was working fine and the next all the colors are off. Don't know what I did to cause this. I had recently installed acrobat standard v5.5. The color window has the color rainbow but it doesn't have the smooth transistions. It's choppy and harsh in appearance.

I deleted the preferences. [command][option][shift] at application launch.

I reinstalled photoshop.

The pictures look good in the finder and preview but not photoshop. Anything I edit becomes hopelessly out of sync with every other application. I'm hosed. \:] - Robert

 

[Welles]

Hi Robert,

Welcome to the forums. Although it seems hopeless the issue almost surely lies in your color settings. If I were to have such a problem, I'd start with the basic issue and look at the Displays Pref Pane. There I'd just double check that I had the proper number of Colors chosen in the Display Tab. Then in the Color Tab I'd check and see what profile is chosen for the your display currently. More than likely, those will be OK but note which profile your monitor is currently using.

Next up is checking your color settings (Photoshop > Color Settings...). I've added a screenshot of a good generic set of Color Settings for someone who works in RGB. For example, Adobe RGB (1998) is probably the best working space to use if your images are shared with anyone else (service bureau etc.). The other important setting for your working environment is only available by clicking on the Advanced check box. That is to use the Apple ColorSync conversion engine and most likely the most useful Intent is Perceptual.

See if checking your settings works...

 

[Robert]

Thanks for the reply. I tried the suggestion and had to add it to the list of things that didn't work.

It would appear that photoshop has created its own defective color profile and is going to keep using it regardless. Getting rid of the photoshop preferences should have fixed this. Things I've tried:
- (menu) Photoshop/Color Settings...
- removing photoshop preferences [command][option][shift] at launch
- (system settings) Displays/Color/Calibrate
- re-install Photoshop 7
- used Welles exact Color Settings...

still hosed \:]

 

[Welles]

Damn! Are you upgrading to PS 7.0.1?

At that point I would go and check out the ColorSync profiles. They are located in /Library/ColorSync/Profiles and there is a similar file in your User/Library/ColorSync/Profiles. That's where the profiles you have made are stored. I'd remove any in your User/Library/CS/P and place them on the dekstop. Restart.

I'm guessing that some profile is hosed so... Go to BergDesign and download SuperCal. http://www.bergdesign.com/supercal/ It is absolutely the best software calibration for Mac displays...much better than either Apple's or Abobe Gamma. You can use it without purchase but it is a shareware program. Create a totally new profile and make sure it is active. Then, instead of using the key combination to trash the PS preferences, physically go into your User/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Settings and trash the file 'Color Settings.' Set up your Color Settings again and hope. That's all I can think of... It doesn't seem likely that is a sudden hardware problem but that can't be totally ruled out.

Good Luck!

 

[Robert]

\:]
It's a strange problem in several ways that make me think I clicked the wrong button some where. When I find it I'll probably go Doh!

Here's what I mean. If I open the file in image ready it looks correct. Isn't photoshop and image ready connected at the hip? Don't they use the same preference files? Even in photoshop if I do a save for web it looks correct in the final view window. Only in photoshop edit are the colors off. It looks like a millions of color file has been reduced to 32 colors.

I attached the color windows of each application to see if anyone has seen the symptom. Photoshop first then ImageReady

 

[Welles]

Well, I'm stumped. \:]

I do have one final suggestion. Launch PS 7 in Classic and see if the issue persists. I use PS 7 in Classic mode fairly often to avail myself of 'legacy' plugins. It works just fine.

 

[Rantin Al]

Here's my snaps of trying to replicate the problem.
OSX 10.3.6, PS 701.
I use the Adobe (ACE) engine rather than ColourSync as there is a glitch in the black. Monitor default profile. Relative Colourmetric

I suspected the RGB / sRGB gamuts but I can't get the extremes which are shown.

First column: PS RGB -> IR RGB, PS sRGB -> IR sRGB.

Second column is a snap of the comped images opened in IR and saved for web via PS.

The jumps are not too bad although not perfect.
I hardly touch IR or web stuff so it hasn't really been an issue for me.

Cheers, Al

 

[Rantin Al]

GIVE ME THE COCONUT! :B

Simple is always the best. Check the palette options.

Cheers, Al.

 

[Welles]

I sure hope you're right there, Al. I looked at that too but didn't think it looked quite like Robert's sample images. \:]

 

[Rantin Al]

I'm pretty sure Welles. Compare the swatch in my last post with Robert's sample. The colour jump at the red/ yellow section is close.
I tried altering the profiles, prefs, cache settings etc. and nothing really spectacular happened.

Cheers, Al.