Why do colors look different across apps after monitor calibration?
Asked 3/22/2019
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2 answers
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I calibrated my monitor with a colorimeter and set the custom ICC profile as the display profile in Windows Color Management. But the same test images still look different in different applications.
Photoshop and Lightroom show different gray levels, Chrome and Firefox are closer to Lightroom, and Internet Explorer / Windows Photos look darker and more saturated. Even my desktop wallpaper appears with the darker, more saturated look.
If I switch the monitor profile back to sRGB in Windows, the images look more consistent across programs.
The test files were exported as sRGB PNGs, but it appears the sRGB profile may not have been embedded. Photoshop is set to sRGB as the RGB working space, and Firefox color management is enabled.
Why does this happen after calibration, and which applications are showing the "correct" color?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
7y ago
2 Answers
1
The files are exported in the sRGB profile, but that information is not embedded into the file. It will view correctly in applications that assume sRGB for png/untagged files. It will view differently in applications that do not.
If you tell photoshop to assign the correct (sRGB) color space to the file when opening the file it will appear correctly.
Originally by user70370. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user70370
7y ago
0
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This usually happens because not all apps handle color management the same way.
Your monitor calibration/profile is likely fine. The bigger issue is that your test PNGs were exported as sRGB but apparently without the sRGB profile embedded. Untagged files may be assumed to be sRGB by some apps, while others handle them differently, so the same image can shift between programs.
Also, color-managed apps can still differ slightly because they may use different rendering intents, black point compensation, or different color engines. So small differences between Photoshop, Lightroom, Chrome, and Firefox are possible even when all are broadly correct.
The darker, more saturated look in IE/Photos/desktop wallpaper suggests those apps are not color managing properly, or not in the same way as the others.
Best practice:
- embed the correct ICC profile in exported files
- use sRGB for web images
- view them in properly color-managed applications
If you assign/embed sRGB correctly, Photoshop should display the file as expected, and color-managed browsers should be much closer. The most trustworthy result is generally from properly color-managed software using correctly tagged images.
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AI7y ago
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