Saturation problem

[VJHooker]

I just upgraded from 3.0 to 4.0 (yes, about 4-5 days before 5.0 was announced). Anyway, something strange happens with every picture I view in 4.0, either in the organizer or in the editor.

All of my photos appear to have reduced color saturation -- they look washed out or sort of brownish. What is just as strange, is that as I scroll through pictures in the organizer or try to re-size them, the color comes back in for a second as the pictures are moving around in the organizer. When I let go of my mouse, however, the brown tint (sort of a warm temperature tone) comes back.

I have tried repairing the program with the repair feature on the application CD, and have also deleted the program and re-installed it. No luck.

This happens on my desktop. I installed it on my laptop also, but it works fine there.

Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks.

[William Allen]

Check your color settings. In the Organizer you can do Ctrl+Alt+G or look under the Edit menu for Color Settings. From there you can choose the appropriate setting. You probably need to change it to Optimize for Computer Screens if your photos are in sRGB. Give it a try and see if that helps.

[VJHooker]

Thanks William. No, that didn't do anything. (In fact, that is the setting it was already on.) Remember, this problem was present both before and after I re-installed Elements. And it sort of goes away while I am dragging the re-sizing bar at the bottom of the organizer window (but comes back when I release the mouse button).

Because this doesn't happen on my laptop, I'm thinking it must be a problem with my desktop computer. I did have a major crash recently, about the time this started.

I you or anyone else have some other thoughts I may try them, but it sounds as if my computer may need a professional check up.

[Wendy]

Hi ...

It maybe worth deleting the prefs (an uninstall followed by a re-install doesn't delete them).

Not sure if you know how to do that so here are the instructions:

Close down Elements then click on the Editor start up icon and quickly hold down the Control, Alt and Shift keys (Mac users Apple, Alt and Shift). Continue to hold down all three keys until you get a screen asking if you want to delete Settings ... just say Yes.

Corrupt prefs do cause strange problems so its worth trying ... let us know how you go on and I will keep my fingers crossed that its the prefs and not the computer that is causing the problem :)

Wendy

[VJHooker]

Thanks Wendy. I will try that. It makes sense, because I also was fooling around with the preferences right before this started, and I have not touched the preferences on my laptop.

[VJHooker]

Worked like a charm. After I did it, I went back in and checked the color settings. It is now set for No Color Management. Just to test it, I changed that setting to the others available, and the problem comes back. So I will just leave it at No Color Management, which seems to "manage" the color just fine, thank you.

Thanks a lot.

[Wendy]

Hi ..

Oh that is great news, I'm so pleased that it sorted it out ... when the prefs file gets corrupt it causes all sorts of strange things to happen so its usually worth deleting it if you have odd things happening.

Wndy