Adobe Photoshop Training with Dan Margulis

I still can't get my head around this issue and it's driving me insane.

I'm on a Mac, creating web graphics in Photoshop 7.01. I'm working in millions of colors with 72ppi RGB layered files.

After much tweaking and editing, I see perfect color for the images on my monitor. They're exactly what I want.

I choose Save for Web and bam, they wash out and/or lighten up and/or desaturate significantly.

Please tell me what I need to do in order for my "saved for web" max-quality jpegs look *exactly* like they do in my layered Photoshop file (assume no text is involved).

I've flailed endlessly with various combinations of the following, and only once did I "hit it" but since then I can't reproduce what I did! argh.

-- Color Settings (Web Graphics Defaults, Custom ones with various combos of Working spaces)

-- Profiles assigned to/converted to the images I'm working on, and when to do so.

-- View/Proof Setup (Mac RGB, Windows RGB, Monitor RGB)

My complete gratitude to anyone who could help me out with this.

AM

________________________________________________________________________

Hi, Anne-Marie,

Since the only browser that honors embedded profiles is IE for the Mac (and it's not enabled by default), they don't make it easy to get what you want on all systems. Using sRGB as your working space for your images will essentially match what you see with your when proofing to Windows RGB; that's probably the best option for most web-related circumstances. Using Apple RGB as your working space for your images will essentially match what you see with your when proofing to Macintosh RGB; that's probably the best option if you are targeting a predominately Mac-based audience.

Generally, what I would suggest is to convert your images to sRGB once you have tweaked them as you like, embedding the profile, and informing Mac users to enable the "Use ColorSync" option in Preferences (under Web Content).To retain this after having used Save for Web, make sure that ICC Profile is enabled in that dialog also.

Using PS 7.0.1, your Color Settings are inconsequential to your results as long as you follow the rest of this. I leave mine set to a press-based workflow, as I suspect you (from what I know) would probably prefer to do also.

I'm unsure of how Safari handles embedded color profiles. I've heard people say they're honored, but there is no preference setting (a huge oversight for a Mac-based browser, I think), and my sense in looking at images is that they're NOT honored.

Rick Gordon

-

___________________________________________________

RICK GORDON

EMERALD VALLEY GRAPHICS AND CONSULTING

___________________________________________________

WWW: http://www.shelterpub.com

________________________________________________________________________

Try clicking on the small arrow at the top right edge of

the preview window for Save for Web. Choose "Use Document

Color Profile". That usually does it for me.

________________________________________________________________________

Try this. First, set view>Proof setup to monitor RGB. Now do the color adjustment to your image. When it is just the way you want it, flatten it, and save for web.

good luck!

________________________________________________________________________

Anne-Marie writes,

In all likelihood you have Adobe RGB chosen as your RGB workspace, or somebody has assigned Adobe RGB as the profile for these particular images. When you Save for Web, Photoshop ignores this and assumes that the file is in sRGB. Adobe RGB numbers mean much more intense colors than sRGB ones do, so making this assumption means that the picture will end up flat and lifeless just as you are describing.

The solution is Image: Mode>Convert to Profile>sRGB. This holds the appearance while changing the numbers to what's appropriate for sRGB. Once the file is correctly in sRGB, you can Save for Web and won't run into the same problem.

This is yet another example of how to make color management hard for the average user. The Photoshop team was apparently too busy putting in warnings against saving layered files that aren't compatible with other Adobe products to have time to put the warning here that is so obviously needed.

Dan Margulis