Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

[creativeretouch]

Hi guys,

I must admit I didn't do proper retouching for a while... But recently I discovered strange PS CC behaviour - I created B&W image in Lightroom and exported it with sRGB profile. In Photoshop, I see equal numbers for each channel, it means this image is OK. But I can see some color tones in shadows. if I open same image in Apple Preview or Affinity Designer I can see proper B&W image. (yes, I am on Mac). I re-calibrated my monitor one week ago.

My working space in PS is sRGB. So I assigned my monitor profile to this image and I can see proper B&W image as I see in other applications. But RGB numbers in channels are obviously not equal now.

Anyway, my monitor profile is listed as a very first among other profiles and it means PS should work correctly. But it looks like PS doesn't work with my monitor profile but with sRGB profile instead.

Any Ideas?

Regards, Filip

[skoobey]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

Photoshop is going to work in sRGB because the file is in sRGB, and that's how it should be. You shouldn't try to save files with the assigned profile being the one specific to your monitor. Whatever your monitor calibration is, it only happens on top of the information PS is putting out, so you can pretty much work in any profile you want, the preview should be correct. Are you sure that your file's profile is assigned? Because, it could be the case of all the other programs defaulting back to sRGB, while the PS reads it as something else?

EDIT: What happens when you convert a merged version of your file to sRGB in Photoshop, does it show equal values in all channels? Does it look right on the monitor?

[creativeretouch]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

If you are on Mac pls. follow these steps:

1. Open RAW image in Lightroom, convert it to B&W and export as sRGB
2. Open this new file in PS and other color managed applications
3. Check the numbers

Do you see proper B&W image without any color shifts in all applications?

Regards, Filip

[skoobey]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

Of course, if you check the embed color profile box when exporting.

[creativeretouch]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

Well, color profile is obviously included. Unfortunately I don't see proper B&W image in PS. In other applications - yes.

Regards, Filip

[Tony W]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

Hi Filip,
I do not use PS on Mac but am PC based so if what you are seeing is a Mac issue only I do not know. I also do not have a clue about Apple Preview or Affinity Designer. So of course that is a great deal of help so far

But in case it helps just to throw a few ideas into the arena:

If you are seeing equal numbers for each channel as you mouse over the image then as you say the image data itself must be OK and correctly registering a true greyscale image from the RGB channels.

For the moment ignoring Apple Preview and Affinity (colour management unknown), as you are seeing some colour tone in the shadows and the CC Info pallette shows equal RGB numbers then this sounds like a display problem.

Best case scenario is a faulty monitor profile. As PS uses the icc profile that describes the monitors conditon to give a true('ish) representation of your image data on screen it seems feasible that if the profile was a little wacked that it could be trying to apply a correction where none is needed to the lower densities. Hence you seeing the info showing equal RGB meaning neutral while the compensation applied has moved the shadows away from neutral.

I would be tempted to try again with a new monitor profile and making sure I used v2 not v4 as v4 can cause issues

What happens to the image if you leave it with the sRGB profile directly out of LR but in PS change mode to greyscale ?

I would also check if you are on the latest Mac OS (El Capitan?) to see if there are any reported issues with colour management - I think I recall seeing something

[John Wheeler]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

Hi Filip

I do have a MacBook Pro and use LR and PS. I followed your instructions exactly and see no difference between what I see in LR, PS, and Preview on my screen.

That does not solve your problem yet it does show that it is not a generic mac issue.

Note that the file exported from LR in B&W does have all values of RGB equal.

However, also note as expected that if you take a screen shot where the sRGB has been converted to the display profile, the RGB numbers will almost certainly not be the same so as to create a perfect grayscale viewing experience per the most recent calibration.

What device are you using to calibrate your monitor? I use Xrite i1 display pro.

[creativeretouch]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

Hi Tony & John,

You understand my troubles correctly. The grayscale image is almost identical with sRGB one.

I own two Macs now - Mac Mini late 2012 and I recently bought Mac Pro mid 2010. This issue is identical for both computers. Obviously I created independent profile for each one. I have PS 2017 on Mac Pro and latest version of PS 2015 on Mac Mini installed.

I use Xrite i1 DisplayPro and El Capitan and DisplayCal software. I use one monitor only. Perhaps I am doing something wrong while calibrating/profiling?

On Mac, you have ColorSync system app which manages all profiles. So the problem is with the profile itself or with Photoshop?

Regards, Filip

Edit: I successfully passed this test in Photoshop: http://www.color.org/version4html.xalter

[Tony W]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

Hi Filip

On the subject of monitor profiling I believe that by default i1 DisplayPro produces v4 profiles and while you may pass the v4 tests there have been more than a few reports about issue with v4 that have been solved with v2.

I would therefore suggest that you recalibrate using v2 with i1Display - it just may help and in any case you will not be losing anything

[creativeretouch]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

Hi Filip

On the subject of monitor profiling I believe that by default i1 DisplayPro produces v4 profiles and while you may pass the v4 tests there have been more than a few reports about issue with v4 that have been solved with v2.

I would therefore suggest that you recalibrate using v2 with i1Display - it just may help and in any case you will not be losing anything

Hi Tony,

thanks - I will try to recalibrate in few days time as I am pretty busy now =) and I will let you know...

Regards, Filip

[John Wheeler]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

Hi Filip
You can check if you monitor profile is V4 or not with the Colorsync Utility.

Just go to System Preferences, go to Displays, click on the Color Button, select the desired Profile from the list, and then click on Open Profile.

The tags in the profile are listed out and make sure you select the Header Tag (may already be selected as it is typially the first tag at the top)

In the listing for this tag (about third down) there is the version number. If it begins with a 2 it is version 2 and if it begins with a 4 it is version 4 ICC profile. Having that information in advance of re-profiling may be useful.

[klev]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

Hi Filip

On the subject of monitor profiling I believe that by default i1 DisplayPro produces v4 profiles and while you may pass the v4 tests there have been more than a few reports about issue with v4 that have been solved with v2.

I would therefore suggest that you recalibrate using v2 with i1Display - it just may help and in any case you will not be losing anything

You would check the software, not the device. i1 profiler, spectraview, colornavigator, and basicolor all support that device. Where did you get this idea?

[creativeretouch]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

Hi Filip
You can check if you monitor profile is V4 or not with the Colorsync Utility.

Just go to System Preferences, go to Displays, click on the Color Button, select the desired Profile from the list, and then click on Open Profile.

The tags in the profile are listed out and make sure you select the Header Tag (may already be selected as it is typially the first tag at the top)

In the listing for this tag (about third down) there is the version number. If it begins with a 2 it is version 2 and if it begins with a 4 it is version 4 ICC profile. Having that information in advance of re-profiling may be useful.

Hi John,

yes, you are right - Specification Version 2.2.0

Regards, Filip

[Tony W]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

You would check the software, not the device. i1 profiler, spectraview, colornavigator, and basicolor all support that device. Where did you get this idea?

It should be evident to any pedant that the device and the software are intrinsically linked and useless on their own. So why not to you?

Further it is not unreasonable to expect in this case that the X-rite software was being used to calibrate and profile and that there was a possibility that said software was set to produce v4 profiles.

As it now seems that the profile produced is v2 do you actually have any useful information that may be of some real help to Fillip?

[John Wheeler]

Re: Photoshop CC monitor profile bug?

Hi Filip
Attached is a link to help check out what is going on with your system. Fairly long and detailed yet the author knows what they are talking about.

I would suggest trying out all the suggestions to see if this helps.

Also, since you are only having troubles with PS, it may not be a bad idea to reset preferences as on occasion, PS can bet stuck in a bad place and this sometimes fixes problems.

Hope this helps

http://www.gballard.net/psd/colorlooksbad.html