Looks different after export? Help prepping for print, color space related

[frank26080115]

I just started astrophotography and I want to print out a photo of the Veil Nebula to hang on my wall. I am happy with what I see in Affinity, but when I open up the file again in Windows Photo Viewer, it seems darker and has lost details in the darker regions. The uploaded screenshot is a side-by-side comparison to explain what I mean.

The FAQ of the print lab says 8 bit. I've tried exporting 8 bit TIFF and PNG and JPEG and no matter what, it looks "better" in Affinity.

I want the print to come out the way I see it in Affinity.

The Affinity file is sRGB IEC61966 color space. I know there's a color space convert feature, but there's like 20 options... I'm a bit lost here.

I'm pretty sure this is very easy to solve, how do I make sure I'm exporting a file that's going to look good when the photo store prints it for me?

(the FAQ of the photo store https://nationsphotolab.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015472328 , they want sRGB)

(edit: I'm 99% sure that Windows Photo just sucks, I can re-open my TIFF formatted export in Affinity and Photoshop and it looks fine, but MS Paint still makes it look darker, so my confidence isn't there)

Thanks

[stokerg]

Hi @frank26080115,

This down to Windows Photo not being colour managed, so it can't show the image correctly.  You should find the print shop you use won't have this issue but as always with print work, get them to do a proof copy 1st just so you can confirm everything is correct  

[kirkt]

You can also ask your print shop if they have an ICC profile of their printer-paper combination that you can use to soft proof your image in AP. 
 

kirk