Help me nail down my colors in PShop?
May 28, 2009 6:59 AM   Subscribe

Help me understand what's going on here, please. Sometimes, when I'm working in Photoshop (CS3 10.0.1), I get color weirdness, along the lines of the following examples.

1) Enter hex code in hex box in the color picker. Open Mac's DigitalColor Meter. Mouse over the colorpicker color box with the meter, and wtf, Adobe says it's #ec7f1d but the meter says it's #e06c1f.

2) Color fill rectangular image with #ec7f1d and save for Web as a GIF, being careful that it's a two color GIF and that the important color is still #ec7f1d. Insert said image in Web page with a background of #ec7f1d. Refresh page, and wtf, the image is noticeably lighter/darker (usually darker I think) than the background.

Once in a while, #2 may happen because I've forgotten to change the mode from indexed to RGB or something dumb like that, must most of the time I'm stumped.

I know nothing about color management, so use small words, and lots of 'em, please. Or just point me to resources that will explain it adequately for me to fix this problem (or problems).
posted by bricoleur to Computers & Internet (4 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
There really isn't enough space here to go into all the necessary color management issues here. Sorry.
The short version:
1) Calibrate your monitor. There is free software-based processes available, if you cannot afford a hardware tool. Then, make sure your PC/Mac is using that color profile on the monitor.

2) All web graphics should be sRGB. Not just "RGB". Additionally, there really isn't any need to use the .gif format anymore. Gif unnecessarily limits your color palette to that ancient 256 color "web safe" palette. This results in a color-shift that will be very obvious on a web page. If color accuracy is important (as in your trying to match the color of a graphic to the background of a web page) DO NOT use .gif unless the colors fall into the web-safe palette.

My standard working procedure in Photoshop is to work on graphics and images in the Adobe RGB color space untill I'm ready to save. Then I convert things to sRGB.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:17 AM on May 28, 2009


SuperCal is a pretty good software calibration solution, if you're so inclined. Not as good as a hardware-based tool, but it's free (well...shareware. If you like it, toss 'em a couple bucks.)
posted by Thorzdad at 7:22 AM on May 28, 2009 [1 favorite]


Your Photoshop document is probably using a different profile from your display. In other words, Photoshop is taking the color codes from your document and adjusting them before passing them to your video card, so that the document looks right on your display. If the document is in Macintosh RGB and you're using a Windows (sRGB) display, for example, Photoshop will adjust the midtones in the document to be lighter before sending them to your display to simulate the Mac's higher gamma.

If you want the numbers to match, make sure View > Proof Colors is turned off, or else use Edit > Convert to Profile to convert the image to the same profile as your monitor (or to sRGB if you haven't characterized or calibrated your monitor). If you want to adjust Photoshop's behavior so it always does this, go to Edit > Color Settings and choose the North America Web/Internet preset (if you want to work in sRGB) or Monitor Color preset (if you want to always have the numbers match).

Note, I have CS4 not CS3; some of the menu items may be different in CS3. Adjust as needed.
posted by kindall at 7:25 AM on May 28, 2009


Gif unnecessarily limits your color palette to that ancient 256 color "web safe" palette.

This is not true. You're limited to 256 colors for the most part, but they can be any color from the 24-bit RGB color space.
posted by FreezBoy at 8:14 AM on May 28, 2009 [1 favorite]


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