Problems with Elements

I recently acquired a desktop PC from a cousin. I installed Photoshop Elements 3.0 and Paintshop Pro X, among other programs. I decided I'd start using this PC for editing my photos, instead of my laptop. I even bought a monitor calibrator for it. This weekend, I shot a few pics of my grandson, with my Panny P & S. I copied them to my PC and opened them in Elements. The colors looked good, but everything was blotchy, especially the face. I figured it was my camera, since I hadn't used it for awhile. I them opened the photos in PSP, and they looked fine. I tried a couple other photos I had on the PC, and the same thing happened. They look lousy in Elements and great in PSP. I then compared the photos on my laptop. They look fine in both programs. I proceeded to uninstall and reinstall Elements, and it didn't make any difference. I compared the settings between the 2 computers and couldn't find any difference. My first thought was that maybe I had the program set to index color instead of RGB. It was almost the same affect. The photos print out fine, just look crappy. I'm perplexed.

The only thing I can think of is to make sure that Elements isn't setting the monitor's resolution to a lower setting as a preference. Doesn't seem likely, but it would account for the difference.

- Joe U.

That wasn't the problem, but at least it prompted me to recheck my settings. The monitor was set at 16 bit color. Once I changed it to 32 bit, it looked great. However, I still find it strange that it looked good in PSP at 16 bit. Thanks for the nudge.