Softproof - Lightroom vs. Photoshop

[Guest]

Hi,

When I enable softproofing in Lightroom, I get a completely different result than when I am doing the softproof in Photoshop (see below). The profile that I am using for soft proofing is the following: http://www.saal-digital.at/fileadmin/downloads/softproof/SaalDigital_SoftProof_Fuji.zip

When soft proofing is disabled, the image looks exactly the same in Photoshop and Lightroom.

The hardproof is very close to the Photoshop softproof (i.e., far darker than the Lightroom softproof). I am using Lightroom 2015.9 and Photoshop 2017.0.1 on Windows 10 (CPU: Intel Core i7, GPU: Intel 4000 & Nvidia 650m). Does anyone have an idea what might cause this difference?

Thanks,
Christian

[D Fosse]

You have "simulate black ink" turned on in Lightroom, but not Photoshop.

These simulate paper / ink options are really useless and should be kept permanently off. The proper way to deal with paper white and max ink density, is to set your calibration parameters accordingly. This is much more controllable and realistic.

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply, I get it that it is not a good idea to rely on this simulation feature.

"Simulate black ink" is grayed out in Photoshop because the profile does not support black ink simulation. So, I would expect that Lightroom does not use black ink simulation neither (how could it, if the profile does not support it). So, I would still expect that both applications show the same results.

[D Fosse]

AFAIK simulate is a generic option, it's not in the profile. Don't know why it's grayed out.

Since it can't be individually adapted, you're just as much in the dark as you are without it. Hence useless.

[Guest]

Out of curiosity, I tested a different color profile (http://www.fujifilm.eu/fileadmin/products/support/Photofinishing/2012_ICC/Fuji_Frontier5-sRGB_CA-HD_...) that supports black ink simulation and I still get a major color difference between Photoshop and Lightroom. Any other ideas what can cause the color difference?

[D Fosse]

I don't know - but again: How can it "know" what the monitor's black and white points are? It's just misleading.

Do this in calibration. Having calibration targets for specific papers is standard procedure.

[Jao vdL]

Agree with D Fosse, you really want the "tiefenkompensierung" to be turned off.

[Todd Shaner]

There is a known bug with PS Soft Proof. Try setting PS Preferences> Performance> Advanced Settings to Drawing Mode Basic as shown below. You will need to close and then reopen PS for the change to take affect.

[D Fosse]

What bug is that, Todd?

I know of the ProPhoto shadow color banding issue (which is why I already have it at Basic) - but this one I haven't heard of. What happens?

[Todd Shaner]

See this post: Re: Wrong RGB values when soft proofing

It discusses both the LR Soft Proof Histogram values issue (fixed in LR 6.4 CC 2015.4) and the PS Soft Proof bug. The latest version of PS still exhibits the issue (Version: 2017.0.1 20161130.r.29).

[D Fosse]

OK, thanks, I'll take a look at that. Apparently I missed it.

[Guest]

Thanks for your advice, but neither changing "black point compensation" (Tiefenkompensation) nor adjusting "PS Preferences> Performance> Advanced Settings to Drawing Mode" did have any effect so far.

In the meantime, I tested the same sooftproof on another machine (same Photoshop and Lightroom version, just different hardware) and there everything works as expected (i.e., both softproofs look the same). So I guess it must somehow be connected to my machine's hardware.

[Jao vdL]

The fact that it works 'correctly' on another machine indicates that your monitor profile perhaps has issues. You should try recalibrating it.

[D Fosse]

Why would you change back point compensation? That really needs to be on at all times.

My advice is still to redirect your current line of thinking, and start looking at your calibration parameters.

The main objective of soft proof is to check for gamut clipping. It's not to compensate for paper color or maximum ink density - for the simple reason that this depends on the monitor's actual black and white points. If they are already a good match, any further compensation will just throw everything off.