Colour difference when viewed on Photoshop

[crustacea]

Hi all, I'm having a bit of problem with my new moniter. When I view my pics on Photoshop, it shows a more washed-out pic as compared to opening it in the default windows viewer.

As a result, the pics I edited come out with too high a contrast level. I compared both the original and edited pics on a different monitor and believe that the monitor's colour is more accurate.

Is there some sort of setting on Photoshop that I should set so that what I see is more accurate?

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[crustacea]

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I'm using Photoshop CS3

 

[ziploc]

If your pic is in sRGB space, that is most likely because your monitor is not well calibrated. If your pic is in AdobeRGB space, it is because of color space mismatch. Photoshop is a color managed application, so for the 1st case mentioned, the color will be different between color managed and non color managed application if your monitor is not well calibrated. Btw, Internet Explorer is not color managed while Firefox is.

 

[crustacea]

Hi ziploc, does that mean that if I view e pics on firefox and they look washed-out as well, it's a definite indication that my monitor needs calibrating? Pics look fine so far on firefox... Think my Photoshop is set at sRGB..but I'll confirm when I get home

 

[Octarine]

Hi ziploc, does that mean that if I view e pics on firefox and they look washed-out as well, it's a definite indication that my monitor needs calibrating? Pics look fine so far on firefox... Think my Photoshop is set at sRGB..but I'll confirm when I get home

It is compulsory to profile (calibrate) your monitor, period. Your system must reproduce exactly those colours that are digitally described in the image file. If not, then what sense does it make to edit pictures if you don't see on screen what is there in the file?
Secondly, you need to get some basic understanding about colour space and colour management on computer systems and in applications. I have summarized some basics here.

1) Profile your system.
2) Set your camera to sRGB (mostly default).
3) Set Firefox to use colour management (see here for details)
4) When saving images, always include the ICC profile.
Photoshop does not need any adjustments, it's colour managed right from start.