Colour Fidelity using Recolour Adjustment Layer

[Crokkie]

I'm trying to envisage how different Dulux paint colours will look in our lounge. Took a photo of it. Selected the majority of the walls (excluding curtains, hanging pictures etc.) in Affinity Photo (v 1.10.5.1342 on PC using Windows 10).  Colour picked a specific colour from Dulux's website. This colour looked visually identical in Affinity to what I expected. Noted down the displayed RGB and HSL values manually.

Created a recolour adjustment layer and input the identical HSL values into the recolour pane. The colour that appeared on the walls was a lot brighter than what was expected.

I've tried searching FAQs on here but to no avail. Can anyone direct me to a suitable answer or tell me what I'm doing wrong please?

[Lisbon]

Hi @Crokkie and welcome!

5 hours ago, Crokkie said:

Can anyone direct me to a suitable answer or tell me what I'm doing wrong please?

Hard to say. Maybe the recolor adjustment is not the best tool for the job. Maybe the image requires some work before recoloring.

Imagine a photograph of a dark room in which we intend to replace the color of the walls with a light blue.
Assuming we literally do that, can you imagine the result? Yes, a room with glowing walls.
Its an extreme example but i think you get the idea.

As for the Recolor Adjustment, if you keep the lightness at 0%, it will replace only color (Hue + Saturation). The lightness will be left untouched.
Pure black/white will also be left untouched.

So if I use the recolor adjustment, i just have to set the Hue and Saturation to a specific value and manually adjust the lightness?
No. Not that simple.
Colors tend to be more desaturated towards black/white. So if you make a strong adjustment to lightness, you will probably have to readjust the saturation as well.

There is an interesting video from PixImperfect where he tries to steal the colors from one image and apply to another.
He´s first step was... to match brightness and contrast. Matching the actual colors came at the end.

[Crokkie]

Thanks Lisbon. I've tries to take your advice and tried various values to obtain a colour that I'm happy with in terms of how it matches existing furniture, curtains etc.  I'm left with the problem of how best to map this back on to Dulux's colour range. I've got an exact match on hue 23 to "malt chocolate" but again it doesn't quite match by eye.

I couldn't find anything better than the recolour adjustment when trying this concept out - any further suggestions welcome. Thought that major paint manufacturers would already have this idea covered, but can't find any.

 

[Lisbon]

Hi @Crokkie

On 1/12/2023 at 5:31 PM, Crokkie said:

I've got an exact match on hue 23 to "malt chocolate" but again it doesn't quite match by eye.

Matching a colour, in some cases, can be very hard. Personally i always struggle with the Lightness component.

On 1/12/2023 at 5:31 PM, Crokkie said:

...any further suggestions welcome.

Try adding a recolor adjustment and set the Hue and Saturation according to the color you desire. Leave Lightness at 0% and dont change it.
Control Lightness by adding a Brightness & Contrast Adjustment below the recolor adjustment.
Start by adjusting Brightness & Contrast. Next readjust saturation if required. Most of the times you dont have to change the Hue.
Another thing you can do is to fill a rectantange with the desired color above all layers just for guidance.

Something like this:

 

This topic may also give you some good ideas: Why Recolor value doesn't fit my HSL value?

Notice that some suggestions on the topic above involve combining curves or levels with the recolor adjustment.

Sometimes, just the Recolor Adjustment isn't enough.

Hope this helps.