# Photoshop Serious Black Issues: Why are they green?!



## llOriginll (Dec 27, 2008)

Really, really strange error here, and I can't find any solutions generically on the net. Namely because whenever you search photoshop all you get is like a billion tutorials; great but not that useful.

The last few weeks photoshop has been behaving itself (I own CS2, I've never really seen why I should shell out so much more for some tiny upgrades, it cost enough in the first place) but all of a sudden it's been doing the weirdest, most bizarre thing ever.

If I open a random picture like this:








That's fine, and what you see there is the original file. If I then open it in photoshop (Drag/drop or open manual doesn't matter) it comes out like this:










Which as you can see, has made the blacks into greens! This'd be fine, except I can't actually "re-do" these greens into blacks, and when I try to colour black on my screen it comes up green!

If I was to try and pick the bottom right "black" like so:










And then colour using it (ignore the degrading JPEG quality, conserving it wasn't an issue I could be bothered with:










Notice that weird blue tint? It'll stay around forever as well. Worse than this, look at this black background:










That's the direct link, but if I then import it into photoshop:










Might take some squinting, but there are lines in the black of a slightly green tint and the whole thing isn't true black! I have no idea why, and when it comes to a normal picture like so:










Why are the blacks green? 

Also if I then save this picture it'll be normal, fine and dandy. But I can't really effectively edit in photoshop with false colors.

This problem is driving me nuts, any help appreciated.

Notes:

- All pictures in RGB, but CYMK makes no difference except changes the black change.
- It's only been doing this since I left it alone for a week and then opened it up again.


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

Have you tried resetting your preferences ?

http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photoshop/ht/trashprefs.htm


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## llOriginll (Dec 27, 2008)

I can see all those instructions but being that I'm in CS2 (I'm guessing) I can't make any of those options work?


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## llOriginll (Dec 27, 2008)

Scratch that, made it work.

However, hasn't solved the problem.


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

Have you tried reinstalling the program ??


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

You might try resetting Photoshop back to it's defaults ..

Right after starting Photoshop (don&#8217;t wait for the the splash screen), press and hold Alt + Control + Shift


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

Leave this with you Noyb if i may 
thanks


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

*But I'm not a color profile wizard ...*



llOriginll said:


> ... why I should shell out so much more for some tiny upgrades, it cost enough in the first place) ..


From what I've seen .. the CS3 & 4 updates are mostly cosmetic and it looks to me like an attempt to get you to spend more money.
I'm staying with CS2 ..I didn't see any new tools in the upgrades that I need.


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## llOriginll (Dec 27, 2008)

I've tried resetting to defaults and re-installing; neither work and leave me with the same problem.

Anyone think of anything else?


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

Have you tried a system restore ?? Back to when it was working properly


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## ghosthacker (Dec 28, 2008)

What does the original look like if you open it in another viewer..

note. the first image you posted look fine opened in CS3


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

I'll PM you my Email address.
Email me a sample psd file.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Looks good here .. can you try these color settings ??


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## the-onciest (Jan 10, 2006)

Hey man,

I cannot see why it would be a direct photoshop issue? Seeing as why would they want to do this to their customers? 

This might be a video error conflicting with photoshop. I know nothing about technical issues, but it looks to me that your video card isn't making that perfect gradient. It goes directly to a light shade of grayish blue to a more tinted blue. Then it directly goes into a darker blue. This is no help at all for the colouring system. 

Cause every colour originally is supposed to have a direct name on there. Every pixel, every slightly different shade has a different name. 

This is just a theory that maybe the technical people could build upon. 

Hope this has been some use.


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## gyrgrls (Nov 22, 2004)

It's more than likely a profile mismatch.

Not only must the imbedded profile of the document match your
working space, but your monitor should be calibrated to 1.0, not 2.2.

I cheat: I use my monitor RGB as the working color space
for Photoshop, then, if I need to print the document,
I just assign the printer profile to the file before printing it.
In fact, with most Canon and Epson printers, you can pass the profile 
to the printer in the print dialog box, when printing with Photoshop,

But if you use color management, the profiles must match,
or the picture won't display properly.

You can also turn color management off altogether, and only turn it
on if you need it for say, a service bureau or third party printing outfit.

I have a page here with a couple of grayscale bars, to check if your
monitor is calibrated to view pictures properly on the web.
Your monitor *MUST *be calibrated to yield a display equivalent 
of gamma 1.0, even though its native gamma might be 2.2 for 
CRT or 1.8 for flat panels...

IHTH.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

I'm thinking this has to be a profile problem in Photoshop.

IIOringII said it looked OK when viewed with something other than PS ... this tests the monitor and Vid card.
The psd file he Emailed me looks OK in my CS2 .. this test the psd file.
The screen shot IIOringII posted is the output of PS going to the monitor .. and it's bad

IIOringII said he has removed and reinstalled CS2 .. this should have fixed a CS2 problem.

As I see it .. All that's left is a color profile problem in Photoshop.

*IIOringII* .. One question ... Have you been using the Bridge ???
According to my tutorials ... This can make changes in the color profile and may have caused your sudden problem.


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## gyrgrls (Nov 22, 2004)

I might add:

Assigning a profile to a file or changing 
the default working color space in Photoshop
does not alter the image one iota - the RGB values
remain the same, therefore, the color gamut is not 
affected - only the way they are displayed by the
application, if the application used to display the images
uses color management. Embedded profiles do not alter
color gamut of the image itself - they just tell the output 
rendering application or device how to render the colors
(tells the device what gamut to expect).

The only way you will alter the actual color gamut (change the 
pixel values within the file) is to convert profiles. Assigning a profile
just embeds metadata to be used by an output device, or an
application that employs color management, for display and
printing. A mismatched (or matched) profile is passed to Photoshop,
which converts colors on-the-fly, before they are loaded into
memory, but the original file is not touched, unless the profile 
is _converted_; not simply _applied_, and then the file is 
subsequently _saved_. If trhe file is not re-saved, it is not
altered.

You do work on _copies _of the original file, don't you?


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Glad to see someone who might understand profiles ... and that's not me.
If it helps .. here's the psd file he emailed me ..
http://2noyb.home.comcast.net/Gordon.psd

*EDIT* .. added his screen shot of how it looks to him ....
http://2noyb.home.comcast.net/Gordon.jpg


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