Photo's appear over saturated when viewed in iPhoto!

Hi there,

I can't really say what might be wrong, it could be iPhoto, but also could be what you're doing in PS.

The one picture is defintely way over saturated but the one from PS, to me, looks slightly over saturated also, just not as much. I wish I had more for you but that's it. I guess what I would do is manipulate the orginal image in iPhoto, then import into PS and see what happens, good luck...

Rick

iMac G5 iSight 20" - 30G iPOD in Slimming Black - Mac OS X (10.4.7) - HP Pav 15" WS and Toshiba Sat 17" WS LP's - Canon 20D & A620

Tc7:

The servers were having problems yesterday. Try the link today. Check iPhoto's Advanced preferences section to see what's checked in relation to the Add ColorSync profile. If it's checked, uncheck it and import a new file. See if that makes any difference. The camera's profile, as mentioned in the thread I linked to may be the cause and you don't want to use it if it is.

True, viewing with PE is fine, but there's a color profile issue at work here. PE may be using a different color profile other than the camera RGB profile to present the images and iPhoto may be using the camera's profile. You need to check to see if iPhoto's advanced preferences is set to add the ColorSync profile or not and adjust it accordingly. Also set PE's color management to add the color profile you want (I use sRGB as that's what Apple uses for books, prints, etc.) and work with the color management.

I'm having the exact same problem. Photos are oversaturated in iPhoto. It is most noticable in skin tones and pinks and reds. I spent over an hour at the genius bar at my local Apple store last night and they couldn't figure it out. I doubt the problem has to do with my camera (Canon) because the same thing happens if I import an image that wasn't taken on my camera into iPhoto. All images appear just fine in PhotoShop and Preview.

I import directly from my Canon PowerShot A95 via USB. It doesn't seem to matter if I import an image from my camera or from a CD or an image emailed to me. Any JPG file gets over saturated. I tested importing a TIFF file into iPhoto and it looks fine. So, maybe it has something to do with iPhoto mis-interpreting the color profiles embedded into JPGs. Although, even if you remove the profile (using scripts) and reimport into iPhoto, the color is still saturated.

I'm working on a PowerBook G4. Are you using a LCD monitor? Maybe my LCD profile doesn't work correctly in iPhoto.

Do you remember when this problem started? Maybe it's my imagination but, I seem to recall that iPhoto used to be ok. Maybe with the last update to 6.0.4 something went wrong.

I also recently installed some scanner software for my Canon CanoScan 9950F. I thought that might have been the problem. Who knows?

I'm sure this is happening to a lot more people who don't even realize there's a problem. I'm a graphic designer. So, I notice when colors are even slightly off. I bet people who don't work in photography or design won't even notice the color problem in iPhoto. They probably think it's normal.

Kat

I thought perhaps when I installed my scanner software, it messed up (corrupted) some profiles. But, that would have caused problems system wide. Since that's not the case, it must be iPhoto.

My photos are showing a similar oversaturated look as your pics. I find it most apparent in pinks and reds (and some skintones).

Since you are working on an iBook, is your system preference for displays set to "color LCD?" It is the only recommended option on the list when I go to that menu.

Hi

I'm having the same problem too! At first I though it was other apps that were wrong but the common ground is definately iphoto:

1- lovely natural colours matching my camera in photoshop
2- lovely natural colours in preview
3- lovely natural colours in imovie (imported the same over saturated photos FROM iphoto yet natural in here!)
4- lovely natural colours in idvd (imported the same over saturated photos FROM iphoto!)

BUT if you have edited in iphoto to make the colours look natural in iphoto - then they will look pale in photoshop/preview/imovie/idvd..and they can't ALL be wrong!

I have seen other posts where people are complianing that idvd/imovie/photobooks are making their photos look pale - they are not. iphoto is not showing you how they 'really' look to start with.

I did find a post where people were compalining that iphoto5 made their pics look pale - could apple have adjusted iphoto6 to correct this, but gone too far?

You will only know if this problem is affecting you, if you are comparing a photo in all the other applications.....

Fezz

I've just run a test on my husband's desktop Power Mac G5 computer with a Formac TFT display running the same system software OS 10.4.7. I've come up with different results. With all things being equal to my PowerBook G4 (except for the display preferences for his display are set to Formac TFT2010 and mine are set to Color LCD). The image tested is a JPG with a Camera RGB profile. Here are the results:

Photoshop CS2 (with color management off): image looks fine
Photoshop CS2 (keeping embedded profile): image appears slightly saturated
Preview: image appears slightly saturated
iPhoto 6.0.4: image appears slightly saturated
Safari: image appears slightly saturated

So, now I'm even more confused than before. On my PowerBook, only iPhoto images appear saturated. On the G5, the image appears slightly saturated in other programs as well. Overall, the photo looks better on the G5 and the saturation issue isn't as apparent as it is on my PowerBook. I'm sure many people wouldn't even notice there was a problem.

Just curious what profiles are embedded in your photos, what color settings are you using in PhotoShop and what is your display profile set to?

Kat