Lightroom to Photoshop Color Craziness

I was working with a client today who brought a laptop with a large LCD monitor plugged into it for LR and PS lessons. Now, I am by no means an expert at LR & PS, and I made that clear to the client, but she really just needed someone to get her started w/ both pieces of software.

At any rate, we found that when exporting an image to Photoshop CS4 from LR 2.5 the image got darker and more saturated every single time. We calibrated her LCD prior to beginning any digital darkroom work.

I assume it is a color space issue. We tried converting the image to the monitor profile and that didn't work. I had no answer for her but thought I'd pose the question here to see if any of our resident experts might offer a suggestion.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Bret,
Are you using the 'Export" function in Lightroom (saving a file to disk, then PS'ing it), or are you using the 'Edit" function in Lightroom to open the image directly in PS?

We were using the "Export" function in LR. I've never used the "Edit In" function as I prefer to finish all my LR work then export to PS for finishing touches. Is this a normal workflow or am I missing something?

Could it possibly be viewing the images in the dark interface of LR vs. the lighter interface in PS?

I'm sure Nat can nail this for you. But I'd bet a beer that the PS working color space was set to something other than ProPhoto RGB...

I had the same thought as Scott as far as this being a working color space issue. BTW, I never export to PS, I just use "Edit in". Your lightroom image will stay intact, but a new PSD will be created in PS, then re-imported right back into LR (as a psd) when you save. I love that feature.

Paul: What is the advantage of using "Edit In" as opposed to "Export"?

Scott: I'm sure it is a color space issue and I bet you're right on about PS not being set to ProPhoto. Thanks, dude!

'Export' - Lightroom loses all 'track' of the photo. 'Edit in' allows Lightroom to add the PS'd file to one's catalog easily (and then one can edit that rendered file in Lightroom if need be). See Paul's comments above

Also, in PS, 'Edit', Color Settings', check the 'Ask when opening' box under 'Profile Mismatches' and under 'Missing Profiles'. This will help you diagnose and fix your issue I think.

What is the advantage of using "Edit In" as opposed to "Export"?
Bret, for me it's a workflow issue. It's just a couple of clicks and a copy of my photo opens in PS. I tend to do most of my finishing work (cropping, resizing, sharpening) in PS, so those LR export features don't concern me, but if I processed a lot of images I'd probably look into it some more. As far as Lightroom losing track of exported photos, I think that's true, but I believe there's a way to have exported photos automatically re-imported. I don't use this, so I can't say for sure. I think LR is like PS in that there are multiple ways to accomplish the same tasks. Maybe Nat will see this and jump in.

Bret,

Nothing new but will chime in again with "Edit In" as opposed to "Export". Since you are probably using Lightroom as a DAM interface as well this keeps the image in the database without needing to import it at a later date.

I do everything I can in Lightroom, go "Edit In" it in Photoshop for layered corrections or soft-proofing and print sharpening, then "Save As" to bring the file into Lightroom with a name that matches my somewhat "anal" naming conventions. Usually as a PSD (non-flattened non-sharpened) or Tiff (for print or client).

I only export for web or burning to disk (mainly). I believe there is a check-box to import files to Lightroom once exported (or you can export them to a watched foldered if you want).

Bret,

I have noticed that if I shoot in sRGB and then Export with Lightroom in sRGB that there are always color issues. However if I shoot in AdobeRGB then have the export convert to sRGB everything seems to work fine. I think it is a LR issue trying to reconvert sRGB to sRGB.

I have mainly noticed this when I am exporting to put stuff on a website. If I am just opening the photo in Photoshop then I will choose Edit vs Export because I have never had any issues with that.

Nat may have a better answer to the problem.

There should be no color issues going between Lightroom and Photoshop.

As John pointed out, it could be simply a matter of perception.

If not, it's most certainly something to do with Photoshop's Color Settings. They can be set to override color profiles for files coming into PS.

Make sure that the color space set when exporting (or editing) from Lightroom is the same as the working space in PS. Or at least, make sure the Preserve Embedded Profiles option is enabled.

Also, make sure Desaturate Monitor Colors is NOT checked.

Exporting from Lightroom produces a saved file on disk. Edit in Photoshop simply renders the file with LR adjustments and opens it as a new document in Photoshop memory.

If your color settings and profile handling are consistent there will be no difference in the rendition of colors.

All of this presumes you're starting with raw (or DNG) captures. With raw capture, it doesn't matter what your camera color space is set to.

JPG or TIF may already have embedded profiles that need to be maintained throughout the pipeline.

Thanks for the tips. She had been shooting JPEG and all images we toyed with were JPEG's. I convinced her how supremely important it is to shoot RAW and she promised that from now on she would use the RAW format. Perhaps that alone will eliminate her color management issues. Again, I appreciate the knowledge ya'll shared here.