Why Are My Photos Washed Out

[Presbeuo]

Hello,
I have recently spent several hours editing my first picture in Photoshop Elements 4.0. Everything looks perfect! However, whenever I send the picture via email, open it up in another program, or even print it, the colors appear washed out. They are not rich and vibrant as when it is opened in Photoshop Elements. I feel rather discouraged after spending all that time adjusting the colors so they looked just right. Is there something I am doing wrong, or do pictures appear different when opened in Photoshop Elements?
Thanks for any advice.

[William Allen]

Sounds like you must be working in Full Color Management (Adobe RGB). I don't have Elements 4, but, on 3.0 you can go to Edit->Color Settings and check to see if it is set to full color management. If it is you need to change it to NO Color Management or sRGB.

Work on your photos for email/web in those color spaces, not Adobe RGB. You many have to rework it although there is a way to convert it if need be.

[Presbeuo]

You are right William. I changed the color settings to no color management, and the photo now looks like the situation I was describing. Since I have already spent several hours editing this photo, is there anything I can do to convert it to get the rich colors on my picture that appear when I choose an optimized Adobe RBG color setting?

[William Allen]

http://tinyurl.com/coeop

http://tinyurl.com/8p4q4

Try those posts if see if they don't answer your question....well, wait a second, you can actually do the conversion in PSE 4.0....check your menus...I know it's there...they added that to PSE 4.0. It may be under the Edit menu or the Enhance menu, not sure, but there is an option for it so you don't have to do it the way described in the threads I posted.