question about colors

[mikemeister_admin]

Something I keep seeing that bothers me is when I work on an image in Photoshop (CS3) and get it to where it looks good, I will save it, then later open it in another program and the colors aren't the same.  If you adjust an image by the numbers, then it should be okay, but when you start using pins, then the final result won't be adjusted by the numbers anymore, so you have to go by what it looks like.

If for example you work on a portrait of someone, and you adjusted it by the numbers, then used a pin to set the flesh tones, then the original settings you used can't be used as a reference anymore.  By using a flesh tone pin, you move the pin around the subject until you get the desired results, so you end up going by how it looks.  How do you know the final result will look okay on the web....or in a different program?

I have my monitor calibrated, but what I don't know is if Photoshop is displaying accurate colors.  What do you use as a reference?  Since I am using CM in Photoshop, I have to adjust the colors based on how they look in Photoshop.  How do I know if Photoshop is displaying accurate colors?

[ggroess]

Something I keep seeing that bothers me is when I work on an image in Photoshop (CS3) and get it to where it looks good, I will save it, then later open it in another program and the colors aren't the same.  If you adjust an image by the numbers, then it should be okay, but when you start using pins, then the final result won't be adjusted by the numbers anymore, so you have to go by what it looks like.

This is related to the color space you are saving the image in.  If you are using Adobe and you have the ICC Profile check box selected as shown in Shot 1 this profile is getting tagged to the images.  It is "generally" the profile you want to use for most work.  If the program you are opening the image in after Adobe uses another Color space or interprets the sRGB space differently you will see a difference.  I sometimes run into this with images posted to the web...some people have different default color spaces set.

If for example you work on a portrait of someone, and you adjusted it by the numbers, then used a pin to set the flesh tones, then the original settings you used can't be used as a reference anymore.  By using a flesh tone pin, you move the pin around the subject until you get the desired results, so you end up going by how it looks.  How do you know the final result will look okay on the web....or in a different program?

A pin is going to effect the overall color balance yes...but you can make the effect smaller by getting a reasonable correction before you apply the pin.  You can also use the "skin" masking feature of CM to protect the rest of the image and just apply the changes to the skin.
This thread has examples of ding just that...

http://www.curvemeister.com/forum/index.php/topic,2635.0.html

I have my monitor calibrated, but what I don't know is if Photoshop is displaying accurate colors.  What do you use as a reference?  Since I am using CM in Photoshop, I have to adjust the colors based on how they look in Photoshop.  How do I know if Photoshop is displaying accurate colors?

I calibrate my monitor using an IOne 2 color calibration tool.  It rests on my monitor when I calibrate and I use it every 3 to 4 weeks.  When I did this by hand I used a known grey card and turned the room lights off at night and adjusted the monitor using a few monitor tools found on the web...I'd have to go see if they still exist out on the www I found this to be fairly accurate for my work but as I got better my demands on the accuracy got tougher...

Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

Thanks for reminding me of that Greg.  I had the ICC box checked and I used the sRGB profile, when I used Photoshop version 7, but I just started using version CS3 and forgot to check it.  :-[

[ggroess]

No Problem...
I use a plugin for retouching portraits and it used RGB rather than sRGB and It drove me nutz.  All my portraiture came back sallow looking...