AP: colour profile Coated GRACoL 2006 (newbie)

[manu schwendener]

Hi

I've been using moo.co.uk for making postcards from my photos for many years. They allow me to have as many different photos on the front as I have cards in a pack. I haven't seen any other company offer that, or I would probably just switch now.

They recently removed the option "picture enhancement", which worked really well for my photos.
The first batch of cards that arrived now has less contrast and less shadow correction than the earlier versions. I have not reached out to their support yet, but will of course.

https://support.moo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360035605391-Dull-or-dark-print
"We recommend previewing and editing your files in CMYK with the assigned colour profile Coated GRACoL 2006 in an outside design editing software. From here, you may choose to adjust your brightness (for photos), or CMYK colour values (for vector/text-based designs)."

I googled and I found a lot of documentation
https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/color-space-conversion.htm
https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Clr/ClrProfiles.html?title=Color management
https://affinityspotlight.com/article/designing-for-professional-printing/
but I'm still completely lost.

I like how my MacBook screen looks, I don't want to calibrate it to look any different.
I also don't really know how to use layers in AP yet. I do the adjustments I usually do directly on the background layer.

Things I've tried so far with the Coated GRACoL 2006 icc profile:

• I'm in Affinity Photo, in the Photo Persona, and have one of my photos open
• I make a screenshot as the "before" picture
• In the 'Colour' tab, I change RGB to CMYK
• In the 'Adjustment' tab, I open 'Softproof'
• I choose 'Coated GRACoL 2006', which is there because I imported it to the correct folder on the Mac before
• There is a minuscule change in color. No change in contrast or shadows (which is where the problem with my latest moo cards is)
• When I use 'Document' – 'Assign ICC Profile' or ''Convert Format / ICC Profile', there is zero difference between the 'Softproof' layer being checked or unchecked. And there is no difference to the original photo.

What I expected to happen

• When choosing the profile in 'Softproof' I would have expected the photo to switch to a much duller version on screen, which I then would try to make better in Affinity Photo and export in the corrected version. Which would look over the top in RGB (= on screen), but would work for print.

Maybe somebody who's reading this has been in a similar situation and can list the steps needed to get from my photos to the CMYK version for moo's printer?
Or maybe somebody can point me to a tutorial that's already covering that.

Thank you
Manu

 

Edited October 4, 2020 by manu schwendener

[walt.farrell]

15 minutes ago, manu schwendener said:

In the 'Colour' tab, I change RGB to CMYK

I'm not sure what you mean by that, Manu. In Affinity Photo, to change the color format and profile you would use Document > Convert Format/ICC Profile... and there's no "Color" tab. It looks like this:

If you were in Designer you would do that using File > Document Setup... where there is a Color tab. Or, in either application, if you're creating a new document you have a Color tab, but you haven't said anything about creating a new document.

In any case, when you change the color format from RGB to CMYK you should also be specifying an ICC profile from that list. What profile did you choose there?

[manu schwendener]

> one hand tied behind your back
Thank you BofG for your honesty. I'll look into calibration again, then..

> ther's no 'Colour' tab
Thank you, Walt. Yes, the Colour tab is to the right of the photo (the other tabs next to it are Histogram, Swatches and Brushes).
My problem is that I don't know where I need to apply the ICC profile.

[R C-R]

5 minutes ago, manu schwendener said:

My problem is that I don't know where I need to apply the ICC profile.

Walt explained where to do that, both for Affinity Photo & Affinity Designer. 

[manu schwendener]

Photo. And yes, I'll try that, thank you.

(What I meant was: do I _also_ use the Softproof? And under Document, do I use 'Assign ICC Profile' or ''Convert Format / ICC Profile' or both?)

 

Edited October 3, 2020 by manu schwendener

[walt.farrell]

20 minutes ago, manu schwendener said:

, the Colour tab is to the right of the photo (the other tabs next to it are Histogram, Swatches and Brushes).

That studio panel has no effect on the color space of the photo. You need to use the Document menu item as I indicated if you want to make a change from RGB to CMYK.

[walt.farrell]

3 hours ago, BofG said:

I don't have Photo, but is it not similar to Designer - can the source document not be left as RGB (with the necessary soft proof adjustment layer), and then on export be converted to CMYK with that ICC profile embedded?

Probably, but Manu indicated they were converting it to CMYK by using the Color studio panel. I was pointing out that that will not work.

But I was curious about your idea of Soft-Proofing an RGB using a CMYK color profile when you mentioned it above. I think of soft-proofing as applying a profile for the ink/paper to the existing document. And if that's all it does, then I don't understand how soft-proofing an RGB image using a CMYK printing profile will give the same results as exporting as CMYK and using the same profile. There's a conversion step to CMYK missing before the soft-proofing, isn't there? Or is that somehow built into the color profile?

 

[manu schwendener]

> Of course, with an uncalibrated screen what you'll end receiving from the printers will be a mystery until you open the box

Not a question, just to add:
I'm on a MacBook Pro 13-inch with retina display (early 2015), Intel Iris Graphics 6100 1536 MB
While there is a calibration menu (System preferences - Displays - Colour - Calibrate), all I can change is the Target White Point.

Edit: found out how to get to a few more options: https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/101176/how-can-i-best-calibrate-my-macbook-pro-display-using-built-in-free-or-inexpens

Edited October 5, 2020 by manu schwendener