Another Calibration Question (?)

[rg121985]

When I view inside of PSE4, the richness and saturation of the colors are different from when I view the photo in Windows Explorer on the same monitor. For example, an orange shirt in PSE4 appears almost 'reddish-orange' in PSE4, while Explorer renders it a less-saturated orange.

Is this a calibration issue?

[Carbone]

Photoshop is a colour managed application where Windows is not (probably). Have you calibrated your monitor with Adobe Gamma? That would be the first step.

Also, what colour management are you using in PSE? Edit / Colour setting (I think, for Windows..)

Ray

[Codebreaker]

In WinXP, which you must have to run PSE4, Windows Explorer is Colour Managed - Internet Explorer is not.

In order for the Colour Management to work properly your source images must have an embeded profile in them or tagged with a profile. Do you know if this is the case? Check Properties in Elements Organiser (Alt+Enter).

Also Elements Colour Settings should be set to anything but No Colour Management.

Colin

[rg121985]

I have not changed any Color Management settings within PSE4 yet. I have not used Adobe Gamma either. How would I calibrate using Adobe Gamma? Is this an additional product that I need to get?

[Codebreaker]

The Adobe Gamma Wizard comes with Elements and should be located in the Control Panel. Take a look here for instructions on how to use.

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps7_colour/ps7_2.htm

Note though that it does not always work well for LCD displays.

Colin

[Carbone]

Colin,

Thanks for the heads up. However, I do remember (or perhaps I am in error here) that Windows Explorer has not always been colour managed.. Is this something new with SP2? I left the Windows world prior to SP2.

Ray

[Codebreaker]

I don't know at what point Windows Explorer became Colour Managed. I'd been looking at the MS Colour Applet and it mentioned Windows Explorer, Pic/Fax Viewer and Office 2003 products were Colour Managed. I checked and they are - although Outlook appears not to be.

I don't think they are Print Colour Managed though.

Colin

[Carbone]

Colin,

What is this MS Colour Applet? The colour thing I remember was in the Properties, (Right-click desktop, then properties, the advanced) and you could only choose an ICC colour profile for the screen.

Could this be something MS released last year? They were all excited about a new colour management tool, if I remember correctly.

Ray

[Codebreaker]

It's an applet you can download from MS that allows you to view and compare different profiles. You can also select a profile to be the default for Windows.

I don't see it has a lot of use for me but I like to compare the different profiles I come across.

Colin

[Carbone]

Haaa... that explains it now. Thanks!

Because in my Windows days, there was a distinct difference between PSE and Windows Explorer (or any other Windows application). I remember this because we got sooo many complaints about "Why do my colours look brilliant in PSE and washed out in Windows".

Thanks again :)

Ray