Interesting thing happens when exporting to CS3

[dougsturgess]

I'm using Lightroom 2.3, CS3 on an Windows XP Professional computer. I noticed that if I export images from Lightroom to CS3 to make png images for my website, the colors are muted & overall brightness diminished. If I export the images from Lightroom & save them as tiffs or jpegs, then open them from CS3 & then convert them to png, the color is fantastic & lighting is great, just like it should be.

There must be some settings in the Lightroom export I'm unaware of that is causing this. Does anyone have an explanation?

Thanks.

 

[Brad Snyder]

Check the Edit > Preferences > External Editing tab, and make sure the settings there match your color space settings in CS3. Generally, you want ProPhoto 16 bit in both.

Edit: Wait, on re-reading, I'm not sure, are you talking about the 'Edit in CS3' function having a problem, or actually exporting?

 

[PatrickC]

You probably need to look at your colour settings in Photoshop. You should have the RGB Color Management Policy preference set to 'Preserve embedded profiles', and the Profile Mismatches and Missing Profiles 'Ask When Opening' boxes checked.

What is your Photoshop default colour working space?

Come to think of it, why doesn't LR have a png option in export? A good idea to put in to Adobe as a feature request.

Patrick Cunningham

 

[Brad Snyder]

Come to think of it, why doesn't LR have a png option in export? A good idea to put in to Adobe as a feature request.

The discussion/rationale I've seen concerning this is:
a) png isn't truly a photographer's file format,
b) therefore, supporting it would be the thin end of the wedge, eventuallY leading to 'Why doesn't Lightroom support my (insert obscure reference here) format?'
c) Therefore, we'll stick with engineering the product, and let others pick up the conversion slack.

As you say, if you don't agree, the best way to register your opinion is a feature request.

 

[dougsturgess]

Check the Edit > Preferences > External Editing tab, and make sure the settings there match your color space settings in CS3. Generally, you want ProPhoto 16 bit in both.

Edit: Wait, on re-reading, I'm not sure, are you talking about the 'Edit in CS3' function having a problem, or actually exporting?

Thanks for your help, Brad. I checked & had ProPhoto RGB in Lightroom and had sRGB set in Photoshop. When I changed Photoshop to ProPhoto, the images exported from Lightroom into Photoshop looked exactly alike. Thanks.

My next question is this: I do not print at home. I send all my images off to a professional lab. Now that the color workspace in Photoshop & Lightroom are ProPhoto, when I export images to send off to print do I have to change the color space? Is this something I have to ask the lab? Do most labs use sRBG (that's what I read in Kelby's book is that you should have sRBG only if not printing at home. If I remember correctly, you're supposed to set your home printer & Photoshop to Adobe RGB profile).

Looking forward to your reply.

 

[Denis Pagé]

Send one ProPhoto to the professional lab and see. If it come back looking dull, they are not professional at all! Then, send the others sRGB...

I joined Lightroom Forums in oct 2''7 with such a problem. Here is the original post that can help you with a non pro lab: Profiling for consumer's print websites

EDIT: Don't Minimize embedded metadata otherwise it will strip the color profile from your exports.

 

[Brad Snyder]

As Denis says, Pro labs can handle what you send them, or will have a FAQ with their preferred space/format, etc. Many Pro labs will furnish their actual profile, and you can print to JPG from Lr to embed that, and use it in CS3 to soft-proof.

Consumer labs generally expect sRGB.