Photoshop color settings - what is Photoshop doing?

Hello, I'm trying to understand how converting to different color profiles within Photoshop works.
What I'm trying to understand is why, when I have a document saved in with an embedded color profile of "Adobe RGB (1998)", when I *convert* the color profile to "Adobe RGB (1998)" (the same profile) the colors change dramatically. If I am converting to the same color profile, shouldn't the colors remain the same, and not change?
Please note, I'm not having any problems, just trying understand what Photoshop is doing. Thanks for any help!

This is what I'm seeing, the original image is on the left, the preview image is on the right. Once I click ok, I'm left with the original image. This happens consistently whenever I convert a color profile to itself. Thanks for all your help!

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Photoshop Color Settings for Wide Gamut Monitor

Hey guys,
I have a wide gamut monitor (HP LP2475w) which has already been calibrated. My question isn't so much about that, but the settings I should be using inside of Photoshop (CS5). As far as color settings (ctrl+shift+k) goes, what am I supposed to use? I have sRGB as the rgb working space right now. (never use CMYK), Gray % Spot = dot gain 20%, and preserve profiles are ticked on for all 3. Am I supposed to be using Adobe RGB in RGB working space to get the most out of my monitor? I'm asking because it would be embarrassing if I had a wide gamut monitor and am working within a sRGB color cap. Please enlighten me with the proper photoshop color settings, so that it works well across the board (browser compatibility, etc)
As a FYI, I am a professional digital artist who specialize in illustrations for print campaigns. So far from what I've seen, whatever's been printed out of what I produce from this monitor has come out pretty much looking the same, so I'm not worried about that. Again, I just want to make sure I'm not careless and am using settings which doesn't make use of a wide gamut monitor.
Thanks for your input in advance!

I think a lot of users believe that the Color Settings have much bigger role than what they actually do most of the time.
When working with images you have to be always aware about the color space the image is currently displayed in.
In Photoshop the displayed color space of an image is obtained in the following order of priority:
1. from the choice in View > Proof Setup menu when the View > Proof Colors is checked.
2. when the Proof Colors is off, from the embedded profile.
3. when the Proof Colors is off and when the image is without a color profile (untagged) from the Working Color space selected in the Color Settings.
This image shows how to check the color profile of an image - I keep it permanently on.
As you can see, the color spaces selected for working spaces in the Color settings affect the display of images only when they are untagged (without color profiles). The color settings also set the default choice of a color space when you create a new document but you can always select another color space form the Advance section of the dialog that appears when you choose File > New. You can also assign a color space to any image by using Edit > Assign Profile. So, if you never work with untagged images, you really don't need to care at all what your working spaces in your Color Settings are set to. You can use the Color Management Polices in the Color settings as a tool that will ask you what to do when you have profile mismatch when you paste. Personally I never use these because I'm always aware of the color space of the pasted content. Also the conversion method set in the Color Settings will be used when pasting. If you want different conversion method paste the content in a new document created with the color space of the clipboard content and then choose Edit > Convert to Profile and after that copy and paste in the desired document with the same color space.

MOnitor profile and Photoshop Color settings

I have performed the color calibration on my iMAC monitor with Eye One and the profile was loaded into the preferences of the system. The system ofcourse loads it on start up.
Do I have to enter this color profile in any of the Photoship CS4 preferences set ups, like color settings, or will Photoshop automatically assume the monitor profile at startup?
I mean: after calibrating the monitor, do I have to do further adjustments to PS CS4 color settings?
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No.

Photoshop Print Settings - what to use - photos look awful.

I don't know what I did but when I go to print a photo the Photoshop Print Settings pop up. Which is better - Printer manages color or Photoshop? I don't know how to change my Printer Profile. I have search HP for over 3 hours. I have an Officejet Pro 8600 and can't seem to find anywhere to change it. The photoshop print settings the Printer Profile is :sRGB IEC61966-2.1. Under Color Management - Please use Adobe Color Printer Utility if you need to print with No Color Management - also didn't work. The more I do the worse it gets. The prints for instance arms showed dark specks. Look awful. I have an iMac and am using the iMac settings in my color profile in preferences. Any ideas?

gener7 wrote:
I was never too sure, but when it comes to consumer inkjets, it's best to let the printer software worry about it.
Gene
I'll go along with that. Use the printer manufacture's software and paper, and you at least have a chance of things working out. I went through years of hassle with various Epson printers, even spending serious money having a custom profile made, but the results were never great, and the Internet showed I was not alone. Since switching to Canon with a Pixma 9000Pro, and using Canon's EasyPhotoPrintPro software, it just works first time every time, so I can thankfully circumvent all that printer profile mylarky. Incidentally, I do use other paper, principally Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl, which works as well as Canon paper. But I almost never enter competitions nowadays, so have not used the photo printer in over a year. I bet it cost $25 in ink just turning the thing on, and I can get a professionally printed A3 for that money, and I don't have a third of my desktop taken up by a rarely used printer.

Color Settings issue in Photoshop CS6

We are currently using G7 Workflow for our profile. I have a couple of questions concerning the color settings.
1.We are also not able to hold these settings even once we leave it as "Custom". It defaults back to U.S. Sheetfed Coated Profile.
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Where did you get that color settings file? How was it created?

Color Settings: What do they really do?

The Edit > Color Settings command has choices "No Color Management", "Optimize for Computer Screens", and "Optimize for Printing". The documentation states that the latter two choices select sRGB and AdobeRGB color spaces, respectively.
What's not so clear are the conditions under which this selected color space is imposed. I once imagined that it specifies the working color space that the Editor uses. But if that were true, then I would expect that the image, once brought into the Editor, would be converted to the selected color space. What actually happens is that the image remains in its original color space unless an explicit Image > Convert Color Profile command is issued. (This is evident in the image properties dialog or the print dialog.)
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It seems to me that it might be desirable to convert sRGB images to AdobeRGB prior to editing them. Then color adjustments or other editing operations could take advantage of the wider gamut of AdobeRGB compared to sRGB. The adjusted results might then include colors that are out-of-gamut for sRGB and that can improve the appearance of the printed output. But perhaps I am mistaken about whether this is really useful in practice.
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Ed.....
The settings in Edit > Colour Settings have, in my opinion, misleading titles. You need to read carefully the small print that appears at the bottom of the Window which describes what each does.
b No Colour Management......
this is the obvious one. Elements performs no colour management and so you'll see your images just as if you where using any other Non-Colour Managed program...for example IE7. It also means that new documents you create from scratch will have your Monitor Profile associated with them which is not very useful.
b Optimise for Screen and Optimise for Print......
these turn on Colour Management but neither has any effect if the image you are opening already has a profile associated with it. The embedded profile gets honoured and thats what your working space will be.
If your image does not have a profile associated with it then Elements assigns sRGB if you set the 'Screen' option or AdobeRGB if you set the 'Print' option. This may or may not be the right choice for the image, depending on how it was created.
If you create a New Document from scratch then each setting decides the choice of working space - 'Screen' > sRGB, 'Print' > AdobeRGB
In v4 there is also a 'Allow me to Choose' option which checks that the image has a profile and uses that but if not then allows you to choose sRGB or AdobeRGB.
Converting from sRGB to AdobeRGB has no real advantage since the sRGB colour space is smaller. If the image source doesn't have the colours then converting wont produce them. The reverse is different. The conversion process has to decide how to map colours on the edge of the AdobeRGB space into a smaller space and still keep the general perception of colours the same. Typically they are just thrown away in Elements but on full Photoshop you have more control over this process.
RAW images as you say are different but still effected by the Colour Settings. If you have the 'Screen' option set then once you process the RAW image the result is in the sRGB space. Likewise if you choose 'Print' then the image is in AdobeRGB.
RAW images are in a very much wider space than AdobeRGB so you're possibily throwing away more colours. However, keep in mind that your display is probably close to sRGB and your printer may be totally different in its capability of re-producing colours.
Colin

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When using Edit With -> Photoshop with my 12 and 14-bit NEF files, the resulting file (after editing in PS) has a color shift. Same happens when I export a Version as 16-bit TIFF or PSD and then re-import it into Aperture.
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Ah, thanks for the tip. I've changed my Photoshop color settings to warn me when opening files with embedded color profiles. I simply choose to work in the embedded profile and upon saving and returning to Aperture, no longer notice any color shift. Thanks again!

Why doesn't PS CS6 accept color settings profile?

I've seen this question asked here and elsewhere, but without any resolution, and can't find any mention in the documentation.....
I customized Illustrator's color settings thusly:
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Sounds like Illustrator is saving some color settings data that Photoshop can't read. (normally it's the other way: Photoshop saves lots of settings that other apps don't use)
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Hi imagecollection, that was kind of true in 2010, color mode was possible to be changed via Actions and vbs or as
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This question has come up numerous times, but I still haven't seen a satisfying, final answer. I would like to make sure that what I'm designing in Photoshop in regards to colors, saturation and brightness will be as close as possible as what I'm going to see in my Safari browser once that same page has been developed.
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i didn't read your link
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Not sure if anyone can help - I'm still working with CS2 but perhaps my problem has a simple answer.
I did a lot of printing several years ago but had to leave it behind for a period. I'm trying to get bak into it but i'm having trouble with my color settings. My prints are coming out with rather garish or exagerated. My brain is somewhat disconnected of what I need to be paying attenion to. Anybody with advice on where to start again?

Hi Petyer-2, welcome to the forum.
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Are you printing yourself or sending the images out?
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If the latter, what color profile are you saving the images in that you're sending out for printing? What does the lab want?
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-Noel

Photoshop color settings - what is Photoshop doing?

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