Save for Web in Photoshop

This post is an addendum to my previous post about removing the profile from the display adapter.

In short - don't :-)

The reason is this: Photoshop uses the full profile for the display (if it's associated with the adapter) and does its best to get accurate colour. However, when you use "Save for Web", Photoshop turns off this profile-awareness to show you how it will look in the browser.

Now, if the LCD has been calibrated to the sRGB specification, then there will be absolutely no difference between an sRGB image in Photoshop and the Save-For-Web. But, if the LCD is not sRGB - maybe something narrower, or wider in colour gamut - then there will be a difference when you save for web.

If Photoshop has a good profile (say created by a Spyder or Spyder 2), then the image view is the one to go for, and you can trust that. What is viewed on the web is entirely down to the display characteristics - note that even if you have calibrated the monitor you may still see a colour shift as you are displaying in two different gamuts (a bit like when you display an AdobeRGB without a profile on an sRGB display).

For more info, check out the posts here and here. (They may shed a little more light on the subject.)

Some others say that for an accurate Save For Web you should do the following:

• Convert to sRGB
• Save the file (probably as a TIFF)
• Close and reopen the file
• Then use Save For Web.

However, I haven't yet found this necessary. What I do find useful is the soft-proof in Photoshop CS2. So, here is my procedure:

• Flatten the image
• Convert to sRGB
• Use Soft Proof to check at gamma 2.2, Trinitron display (preserve color numbers)
  
• Tweak as needed with curves etc
• Then Save for Web

The gamma 2.2 Trintron display is a reasonable average PC configuration just to get an idea of how it may look on others' computers. It's all guesswork, or course!