About monitors and color work

Although the RGB color model used by computer monitors can display much of the visible spectrum, the video system sending data to a given monitor often limits how many colors can be displayed at once. By understanding how color data is measured in digital files and on-screen, you can better adjust color display settings to offset the limitations of your video system. For critical work, your monitor should be calibrated and characterized for use in a color management system. At the very least, your monitor should be calibrated to display colors as accurately as possible.

To speed up previews by adjusting the monitor display

The Use Pixel Doubling preference option speeds up the preview of a tool or command’s effects by temporarily doubling the size of the pixels (halving the resolution) in the preview. This option has no effect on the pixels in the file; it simply provides faster previews with the tools and commands.
Do one of the following:
• In Windows, choose Edit > Preferences > Display & Cursors.
• In Mac OS, choose Photoshop > Preferences > Display & Cursors. 2 Select Use Pixel Doubling, and click OK.

Adjusting color display for cross-platform variations

RGB color display on a computer monitor varies with the operating system used by the computer. For example, an image appears darker on a Windows system than on a Mac OS computer (because the standard RGB color space is darker in Windows than in Mac OS). The Preview commands in ImageReady let you compensate for cross-platform differences in RGB color display during image preview. In Photoshop, you can simulate cross-platform differences by using the Macintosh RGB, Windows RGB, and Monitor RGB commands in the View > Proof Setup menu.
RGB color display can also vary between Photoshop and ImageReady. In Photoshop, you can select from several RGB color spaces when editing images. As a result, images created in Photoshop may use an RGB color space that differs from themonitor RGBcolor spaceusedbyImageReady. Youcan adjust theRGB colordisplay during imagepreview to compensate for differences between Photoshop and ImageReady.

To adjust RGB color display for cross-platform variations (ImageReady)

Choose View > Preview and choose an option for adjusting the color display:
 – Uncompensated Color Displays the image with the monitor gamma uncorrected.
 – Standard Macintosh Color Displays the image with a gamma value of 1.8.
 – Standard Windows Color Displays the image with a gamma value of 2.2.
 – Use Embedded Color Profile Uses the embedded profile to display the image.
These options adjust color display only. No changes are made to pixels in the image. You can edit your image in one window and view the same image with a different gamma value in a second window.
Choose Window > Arrange > New Window For [File Name]. With the new window active, choose View > Preview and then choose a different gamma than the one used in the first window.

To adjust RGB color display to match Photoshop color display (ImageReady)

Choose View > Preview > Use Embedded Color Profile.
Note: To use the Use Embedded Color Profile command in ImageReady, you must first save the original image, with the color profile embedded, in Photoshop. Keep in mind that ImageReady does not use profiles in PNG or TIFF files.