Color discrepancies

[nater973]

Please let me begin by acknowledging that somewhere in all the past posts, this has been addressed specifically. If so, please point me there. Also, please read my entire post before sending me to a previous post that's about general color management.

Problem: In the attached photo, Affinity Photo displays the colors on my calibrated screen as I want them. However, after exporting in JPEG format, applications outside of AP display the photo differently (reds are to strong for my liking). I've found this to be the case in other photos as well.

Setup and background: I have a color calibrated monitor. My AP (v1.8.2.620) color management settings are all at the default (see attached screenshot). I took the hawk photo with a Nikon camera in RAW (NEF); the camera shoots in Adobe RGB. Opened the photo in AP and did processing. When I was finished processing, I selected File > Export > JPEG > More > ICC Profile and selected sRGB IEC61966-2.1. I closed it and then exported. On the same screen I'd done all the AP work, I opened the JPEG in Irfanview. Whoa-- too much red. I opened the JPEG in Windows Photos-- it looked identical to the Irfanview image-- too much red. Then I opened the image in ACDSee Photo Studio and it looked identical to the Irfanview and Windows Photos renderings. At that point I decided that something was awry in AP.

Conclusions: The problem is not my monitor. However, I'm guessing either I have a setting wrong in AP (I've already looked at the AP color management article and adjusted accordingly) or AP just renders different from everything else (seems unlikely) or all other programs read the image data differently than AP. I did take a look at the Soft Proofing to see if any of the options made it look like all other programs, but to no avail.

Help?

Thanks,

Nathaniel

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, nater973 said:

The problem is not my monitor.

No, problem is in ICC profile "for" monitor in OS.

1 hour ago, nater973 said:

At that point I decided that something was awry in AP.

Yes, because APhoto, unlike other image viewers, is a full-featured photo editor, and strictly uses ICC profiles for display.

Try this:

 

[nater973]

Thank you. If I change the monitor's color profile to SRGB, then I'm removing the calibration profile, which seems opposite of what I'd want to do.

I can also accept that APhoto is unlike other image viewers, but if that's the case, then there should be some soft-proofing option for OS-color-managed-viewers.

While I appreciate your reply, it doesn't really help understand a way to solve my problem. I'm not sure how changing my monitor to standard sRGB profile away from a calibrated profile would cause APhoto and basic/mid-range viewers to all display similarly

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[Pšenda]

52 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

The photo itself looks just fine.

Yes, this is supposed to be, because it is probably a screenshot of what the image looks on monitor after adjustments that compensate for an incorrect/corrupted ICC profile. The effect of the necessary adjustments/corrections (red saturation) would be seen in the source file, which is unfortunately not included.

[nater973]

I have a BenQ SW271, calibrated using Spyder5 Pro hardware. I'm game for re-calibrating to see if that corrects the problem. Note that with the current calibration and APhoto processing and exporting, my prints are color matched correctly. It's when I open images (and this hawk is the most noticeable so far) on screen in other applications that I see the difference. Psenda, if I understand you correctly, I'm stuck with one of two options: non-calibrated monitor (setting profile to generic sRGB) or having non-print images that don't color match with APhoto. I'm unwilling to accept these as the only two options because this isn't a universal problem that everyone experiences. Thus my post asking for assistance. Please correct me if I'm misunderstanding. Thanks.

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[nater973]

Thank you, Lagarto. As expected the colors on the top row do look brighter (more vivid) since my monitor supports a color gamut beyond sRGB. I did do a further test based on something you mentioned. I uploaded the same image to my Smugmug account online (color management turned off). When I open the hawk image in Smugmug in Firefox (color management turned off), the image matches APhoto (= good). When I open the hawk image in Smugmug in Microsoft Edge, the image has the overly-red hues.

What I'm inferring from this test is:

• settings in APhoto are fine
• monitor calibration is fine (though I'm going to re-calibrate to make sure)
• I'll just have to accept that how others see my images electronically will be largely dependent on both their screens and the applications they're viewing them in

Psenda, Lagarto, or anyone else-- please correct any of my inferences above.

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[nater973]

The hawk JPG had sRGB embedded, but here's an example that was taken with sRGB (Nikon RAW), processed in APhoto, and then exported to JPG with sRGB embedded. While the reds are not as pronounced in this one, when I open it in APhoto and then open it in Windows Photos and place them side by side, the Windows Photos has noticeably stronger red tones than APhoto. My preference is how APhoto renders it, but I'll be aware now that others may not see my photos with the exact same colors I intended.

[nater973]

Btw, Lagarto, I did open the TIFF files in the apps.

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[nater973]

Both of these are noticeably different to me between APhoto and Windows Photos. I'm curious if you're able to see any difference when you open in APhoto vs. something basic like Windows Photos.

0825_2029_01.tiff _20200323_181839.tiff

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[nater973]

Again, thanks Lagarto. Your demonstrations and explanations clarify this for me. I don't personally use Windows Photo or Irfanview for my photography workflow. However, I have a lot of family and friends who like to see my photographs. They're not photographers so they typically use the stock or popular apps to view photos. My whole question originated because I started investigating how they are seeing my photos. And now I think I have my answer-- many of the common photo viewing apps are not color managed and thus won't look identical to them.

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