Photos Look Different in ACR & PS

[dmerger]

I’m experiencing two problems: (1) photos look different in ACR and PS and (2) photos shown in Bridge as untagged, open in PS with profiles imbedded.  Maybe these problems are unrelated, but I’m not sure, so I’m addressing both of them in this thread.   

As background info, I’m using Vista 64 bit, CS4 64 bit and my main monitor is an NEC PA271 with SpectraView.  Also, I just installed a new graphics card, an EVGA GeForce GT430, so maybe that has something to do with my problem.  I’ve left my Open GL settings at the default settings: Enable OpenGL Drawing is checked, Vertical Sync and Advanced Drawing are checked, and under “Debugging” “Compositing” is set to “Gamma Corrected” and “Color Matching” is checked.

1. Photos Look Different in ACR & PS.

I’ve made copies of some photos (film scans now in tiff, jpeg or psd format, and digital camera jpeg's).  I opened the original photos in PS and the copies in ACR.  All the photos have profiles imbedded (aRGB, sRGB or ProPhoto).  All adjustments in ACR are off.  The ACR versions are less saturated.  The difference is very obvious.  It doesn’t matter how I have ACR set in “Workflow Options”.  When I open the photos from ACR, they open in PS more saturated and look exactly like the photos originally opened in PS. 

I realize that what I describe sounds crazy, but I’ve tried it many times and double and triple checked all my settings.  I must be missing something.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

2.  Photos Shown in Bridge as Untagged, Open in PS with Profiles Imbedded

I know that some photos had profiles imbedded, but now are shown in Bridge as untagged, yet open in PS with the embedded profiles.  Any idea of what’s going on? 

[Schewe]

As background info, I’m using Vista 64 bit, CS4 64 bit and my main monitor is an NEC PA271 with SpectraView.  Also, I just installed a new graphics card, an EVGA GeForce GT430, so maybe that has something to do with my problem.

That's part of the problem yes...did you re-profile after installing the card? Are you running multiple displays off the card? I'm not familiar with the card and the way it may interact with Vista color management of displays but multiple displays on Windows is a lot more difficult to configure than Mac.

[dmerger]

Yes, I re-profiled, and have the latest drivers for my graphics card.  Yes, I'm running two displays. The card uses an NVIDIA GT 430 and the NVIDIA Control Panel. I think it's a pretty standard card: PCI Express 2.0, 1GB of memory and OpenGL 4.0 support. 

I think you're correct about my card being part of the problem, at least as far as the photos looking different in PS and ACR.  I've done a lot of testing and noticed a very strange behavior.  I use an Acer display for my main display, then drag my photos from PS to my NEC.  So, PS and my tools are on my Acer, and just my photo on my NEC.  Often, when I would drag a photo to my NEC, it would appear over saturated, whereas if I drag the ARC window over to my NEC it looks fine. Hence, the difference in the look of the two photos.  For some unknown reason, I when I did another test with the same photo, and I dragged it to my NEC, it looked normal.  But, if I click and hold on the photo window to move it around on my NEC, it reverts to over saturated until I release the mouse.  Very strange!

As far as the profiles problem, I think it's a Bridge cache problem.  As a test, on a couple of occasions I purged and rebuilt the cache for a folder, and after a rather long wait Bridge eventually showed the imbedded profiles. I guess I could use some advice on how best to set up the cache in Bridge.  One potential problem I see is that my computer is set up for two accounts, and photos are sometimes edited, at different times, using both accounts.  I noticed that Bridge, and ACR, caches are by default saved in different folders depending on which account is used.   Instead of the default location for the caches, should I set them under each computer account to the same location?  In the Bridge cache option, should I select "Build 100% Previews" and "Export Cache To Folders"?

[tived]

Hi Dean,

I don;t know what model your Acer monitor is, but I am pretty sure that the two monitors are not alike and that the NEC is able to produce much greater range of colors then the ACER, which is what is cause you to see a difference between the two monitors. eg. on the Acer you are seeing something that is extended a bit beyond the sRGB color space and on the NEC you are seeing what is close or beyond the aRGB colorspace.

Personally i have my NEC as my main screen, and a Dell as my second screen - and I do accept that there is going to be a difference. I am even willing to accept that on most non-highend screens it is almost impossible to get two of them to look the same. I only rely on my NEC to judge the colors on.

However the tagging of the images is a different issue but interesting on. I don't know the answer - but I am finding it hard to believe that it is a hardware issue. The monitor profile function is only to translate how an images looks on this particular device... based on e.g. aRGB or sRGB or ProPhotoRGB, each of the monitors will display this different despite being calibrated to the same specs, because of the difference in the displays abilities. However, they are probably closer then if you had not profiled them ;-)

The tagging / untagging is a software issue, if it is a windows or an Adobe or some other one is a good question. Is Photoshop setup to warn you of missing profile? or is it set to apply its profile e.g. aRGB/ProPhotoRGB ? I have to admit I am really puzzled. In particular given you have had Jeff answering your question and still not a resolution as few people know more about PS and he does.

can you try to replicat the problem? if it from scanned images which have not had their profile attached to them - i haven't had a untagged tiff file for so long that I can't remembe how it reacts

Henrik

[dmerger]

The different look of the photos is when they are both displayed on my NEC.  I realize that my Acer and NEC won't match and that my NEC is the much better monitor, which is why I drag my photos to it.  My Acer is just used for my PS tools (as well as web surfing and non-photo stuff).

Yes, PS is set to warn me of missing or mismatched profiles.  My problem is with tagged photos.

How should I set up "Color Management" under Vista to be sure SpectrtaView is controlling the color management of my NEC?  I'm particularly unsure about whether to check "Use my settings for this device", and what profile to set as default for my NEC, in the Vista Color Management window.  Each time I profile my NEC with SpectraView I believe it creates a new profile, so it seems odd that I would have to select any default profile in the Vista Color Management window.

[dmerger]

I think I discovered the cause of my color problem.  I had my NEC connected to the secondary DVI connection on my NVIDIA card and designated as my secondary display in the NVIDIA Control Panel. I suspect that Vista can't color manage secondary displays.  I started a new thread on this topic here: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=54932.msg447885#new