Color Issue with Affinity Photo (HDR)

[mr_rnfr]

Hi all,

 

I have some color issue with AP on Windows (Desktop App, latest version) on my Surface Pro 7: When working with HDR-Composings, the export colors do not match what is shown before in the application (surprisingly, the navigator preview seems to match the output).

Basically it's comparable to this: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/96027-exporting-after-hdr/

Unfortunately, for me a factory reset mentioned in that thread did not do the trick for me, which means, that after composing the HDR and applying the tone-mapping I always will have to flatten the ICC from RGB/32 to RGB/16 to really see, how it looks, which is as well time consuming as unuseful.

 

To show more detailed, what I am talking about, please have a look at the attached pictures.

1) The HDR composition while doing the tone-mapping. Notice the dark large size picture, while the navigator view is much lighter:

 

2) The comparison after applying the tone-mapping with the real export - it's a huge mismatch between the two pictures:

3) The comparison after applying the tone-mapping, flattening to RGB/16 and then exporting - both pictures match:

 

I checked the same workflow with the same pictures on my desktop PC. The application settings are the same as on the Surface Pro 7 (as far as I can see), it's the same version of AP, the input pictures for the HDR composition are the same.
Surprisingly, I don NOT see that effect of mismatching colors on my desktop. Also attached pictures here:

4) The HDR composition while doing the tone-mapping. Tone-Mapping preview, workspace and navigator preview all match:

 

5) The comparison after applying the tone-mapping and just exporting - both pictures match:

 

As OS version, application version and application settings are the same on both systems, I do not think, that it is a software issue with AP. At least it seems so. But of course the hardware of the systems is different, especially the GPU (nVidia GTX2070 on the desktop vs. Intel Iris on the Surface 7 Pro) - so maybe it is realted to the hardware or to some kind of setting on the Surface.

However, I am not able to solve this problem on my own but as I can see, that that type of issue occured before for others as well, maybe you guys can help to figure out, how to solve this without that workaround of apllying the tone-mapping, flatteneing and then do this again and again and again until I get a usable result.
Otherwise I guess, I will have to do that that kind of work on my desktop only, because it's all fine on that machine.

Thanks all, stay safe and kind reagrds! 

[Callum]

Hi Mr_RNFR

Welcome to the forums

If possible could you provide a copy of the file in question so I can try this at my end?

Thanks

C

[mr_rnfr]

Hi @Callum,

Thx for your reply and the wlecome.

I can surely upload the original files later on, yes. However, I am pretty sure, that it is not related to the files itself:

1. It tested this with other files and formats as well (the original RAWs, 8bit TIFF, 16bit Tiff, PNG, JPG) and it always happens, when trying to do a HDR merge (File-Menuy -> New HDR combination) on the Surface - it's reproducable with any picture and/or file
2. It happens just on the Surface, it always works perfectly on the desktop machine - regardless of files or format (also tested all of the formats above)

I will upload the original files for the picture in the screenshots above later. They are on a drive at home, so I can't do immediately. For the case shown above, it's 5 pictures in total (which might be too much in total size), guess 3 will do the trick as well, but I will upload them all asap.

Kind reagrds!

Edited March 30, 2020 by mr_rnfr

[mr_rnfr]

So, here we go: attached a ZIP with the original 5 pictures for the HDR merge: Original RAW data.zip

 

And one more update: By accident, I found a workaround, that makes the HDR merge possible on the Surface as well...

 

Normally (and it's working fine like that on the desktop machine) I would do:

1. File -> New HDR composition
2. Choose pictures
3. Choose options, especially checking the last one, which automatically brings me to the tone-mapping persona after importing and merging
4. Doing the tone-mapping editing

 

As described, that does not really work on the Surface.

 

But what happens, if I just do the import without activating the last checkmark?

1. File -> New HDR composition
2. Choose pictures
3. Choose options, unchecking the last one
4. After doing the import, manually flatten the ICC profile from RGB/32 to RGB16:
5. Switch manually to the tone-mapping persona and and doing the edit

And in fact, it was working as expected: The editor looks like the preview and after applying the tone-mapping the exported file was looking as expected.

 

I am not sure, whether this is a bug or. Actually I would expect, that AP is working on the Surface the same way like on the desktop (and I think that would also be the way the developers would expect it), but at least I found a workaround, which is somehow usable - I just have to remember, that on the Surface I have to disable the checkmark for the automatic jump to the tone-mapping persona.

Not sure, what the reason is, but it looks like there is some kind of incompatibility with the Surface and HDR/32 ICC-Profile which is not the case on the desktop machine.

Edited March 30, 2020 by mr_rnfr

[lacerto]

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[mr_rnfr]

Thanks for the reply and the hints @Lagarto!

I will try out changing the default color profile on my Surface later as well - actually I am pretty sure that I already did and could not see a difference between the two profiles (standard sRGB and Enhanced) but maybe I will also have to restart the machine as well as the app after changing the profile. I will check.

Question: Do you have that "Intel Graphics Control Panel" App installed on your machine?

Calibaration like you did unfortunately is not an option for me as I don't have the required hardware for that. But as I seem to have found out a workaround right now, it's okay (though of course I would prefer the same workflow on both machines).

[lacerto]

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[mr_rnfr]

Hi all,

I finally had some time to check, whether I can solve this. Actually, I was able to do, based on the input from @Lagarto.

I did not take the color profile you provided, but actually the basic is somehow similar: Simply go to the Windows Color Management and tick the checkmark for using own profiles ("Use my setting for this device"). Afterwards I added the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 profile (which is provided by Windows out-of-the-box I think) and set it as standard. Launched AP, checked, and it worked.

[lacerto]

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[mr_rnfr]

20 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

The defaults that were there were the mentioned Surface Enhanced, and then something that is just titled as "sRGB" but which proves out to be "SurfacesRGB.icm", which obviously does not work equally well as the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 profile (filename of which is "sRGC Color Space Profile.icm"). How strange!  

Correct, by default on the Surface you can choose between "Enhanced" and "sRGB" and the default "sRGB" seems somehow to be calibrated differently.

Basically you did exactly the same like I did, when you set up an own calibrated color profile (as mentioned in your previous post). Only difference is: I did not pick an own profile but one of the profiles provided with the OS.

[lacerto]

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