I managed my own web pages since 1998, but now have a mysterious
problem that I have never seen before. My photos, edited in Photoshop
CS appear fine when I do them in photoshop, but when they are
published to the web they appear very dark on some computers, but
still look OK on others. Have tried many variables in file size. The
problem seems to be worse if the image was color corrected. Any
ideas?
Stephen Walker
My photos, edited in Photoshop CS appear fine when I do them in photoshop, but when they are published to the web they appear very dark on some computers, but still look OK on others.
Dear Stephen
Each platform, Windows and Macintosh, has a default set of 256
colors, called the system palette, that is representing 24-bit
images. Web browsers such as Netscape and Microsoft Explorer will
force an image - dithering it as necessary into their own 8-bit
palettes, which are different from the host palettes. Also Windows
and Mac browser palettes are different - they share only 216 out of
256 colors…
The 216 colors that are shared between the browser palettes won’t
dither from platform to platform. Therefore, you should use these
colors for your Web graphics
you can find on the net and download this nondithering palette for
Mac or Windows, load it into the Photoshop Swatches palette to use
in your work.
hth
Hanuman
I use Arcsoft photostudio and must say it has worked the best for me
for years since my copy says it’s from 2000 I dislike photoshop
intensely 
Part of my former job was all about graphics and the
internet so check it out.
Teri
An American Cameo Artist
www.cameoartist.com
I ran into this when I first set up my website - exact same problem.
And it’s really bad if you use a lot of black on your site. You need
to make sure that your computer monitor is calibrated correctly. What
seems light to you may be because your monitor isn’t properly
calibrated - same problem on other computers. I’ve also been told to
do most of the website work with very little other light sources in
the office/studio and when I’ve visited photographers who are
working on digital images, I’ve noticed they do the same thing… work
in the dark.
There are a lot of websites that can walk you through calibrating
your monitor. If you “google” monitor calibration you will find a ton
of links.
Catherine
This most likely has more to do with the monitors on those computers
than with your files. When processing photos for printing, the
monitor you use should be calibrated to your printer so you know
what you see is what you will get (there are software kits that can
be used to calibrate monitors). Unless someone is doing some
printing, their monitor is either not calibrated at all or is
adjusted so they can read text or do other tasks on their computer.
Elizabeth
www.borntobeworn.com
Some of that you can’t do anything about … images look lighter on
macs than they do on a PC - [unless I’ve got it backwards, lol] - you
can try to compensate for it to some degree, but after that, you just
have accept that you can’t produce on image to look right on all
computers…
~Alysia in So. CA
Stephen,
Is your editing done in CMYK Colour or RGB Colour? This does make a
difference, the later being a ‘web friendly’ format - CMYK is ‘Print
Friendly’. I’m sure you’re aware but file formats such as .JPEG .GIF
.BMP .PSD .PDF all affect resolutions in their own way (and affect
file size).
Also, you should also have your monitor calibrated to your software
when editing photos/designing ~ cheap monitors or poor settings (or
both) are your worst enemy when attempting any computer aided
design.
In short simply check out the Adobe Help file it has a section on
settings and how-to, their tech support is also fantastic.
Cheers,
Taylor in Toronto
Did you also change by mistake your monitor or change its parameters
at the same time you installed the new release of Photoshop? It could
explain a lot. In order to have the best result with ANY image
editor, you must calibrate your monitor
http://epaperpress.com/psphoto/inxCalibration.html
This is an important step. Nevertheless you will never prevent people
with “bad/old” or uncalibrated monitors from having a poor result.
What you also be careful of is the color space
http://epaperpress.com/psphoto/inxColorSpace.html
you are saving your pictures in. Do not use Adobe RGB, since it is
not installed on most computers and prefer sRGB which is standard
color space for the Internet. If your pictures still appear too dark,
don’t use the “Contrast” (Layer/Adjustment/Brightness-Contrast menu
in Photoshop) command of Photoshop since it would add some white or
black to your picture and damage your picture. Prefer the "Levels"
command (Layer/Adjustment/Level), click and slide the little
triangles on each sides (black on the left and white ont the right)
to the outside borders of the curve and then play with the (grey)
triangle in the middle to adjust the contrast (medium grey point).
Hope this will help,
Good luck,
Armelle
Hi Stephen,
You are using Photoshop’s ‘Save for web’ option aren’t you?? This
cuts down file sizes drastically and, I presume, limits the number
of colours to the web-preferred set. Pictures still look the same.
You’ll find the command half way down the ‘file’ menu.
Best Wishes
Ian
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK
Did you also change by mistake your monitor or change its parameters at the same time you installed the new release of Photoshop?
Actually we started with a new computer so that we could handle all
the requirements of the latest Photoshop and Frontpage. I think you
have hit it on the head. The new moniter seems to have been out of
adjustment.
Yes Ian, we are using “save to the web” but have also tried other
settings.
I thank you all for your input on this. We have not had much time in
the past few days to work on this since, my daughter was graduating
from High School yesterday, so it has been all about her for a week.
Stephen Walker