Dull colours Affinity Photo 2

[DebSki]

Hi

Today the colour that I see in Affinity Photo 2 is very dull compared to all other programmes. I have 2 monitors (identical) & it makes no difference which monitor I have the images on.

I have this morning had to update my graphics card drivers in order for Topaz PhotoAI to not crash all the time

Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 - now running NVIDIA Studio Driver Versiuon 546.01 release date 11/01/2023. I believe that I was on the gaming driver previously (don't do gaming, do do editing of photos)

The colour difference is marked. To the extent that I'm not sure I can sensibly edit photos now. I've tried Affinity Photo 1 & have the same issues

The below (left) image is Affinity, the other is Windows Photo

Surely for photo editing, the best driver is Studio. Why does Affinity not render in same was as other programs on my PC? I've looked at this picture in Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Photo (both washed out colours), Topaz PhotoAI, XnView MP, PhotoScape X & Windows Photo

Thanks

[walt.farrell]

What kind of files are you seeing this with? JPG, or something else? 

When you Open a file in Photo, what does the Context Toolbar show for the color format and bit-depth?

What monitor profile do you have set in your Windows Display settings?

[smadell]

Good. or ing @DebSki. To expand on @walt.farrell’s questions…

If you are opening a raw file into the Develop persona, open the Assistant and specify in the Develop Persona preferences to “Apply a Tone Curve.” This will automatically get you a brighter, more contrasted render.

If you are opening a file into the Photo persona, check your Settings to see if AP is automatically applying a specific color profile. For instance, if you open a JPG that was meant to be seen as sRGB but you open it as an Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB image, you will see darker and duller colors.

[DebSki]

.orf & .dng - both doing the same thing. Have just tried same image as .jpg & that seems to be fine.

Can't see context toolbar in Windows Photos, so don't know

Monitor colour profile is BenQ GL2760 - which is what my monitors are

Colour profile in Affinity Photo2 is as below

[smadell]

@DebSki - could you post s screenshot of your Assistant’s Develop Persona prefs?

[DebSki]

Applying a tone curve has definitely improved things

[smadell]

Good. AP, by default, does not apply a tone curve when opening a raw file. It gives you more latitude, but also makes you work harder. It’s analagous to developing a raw file using a “linear profile.” I find it great when I’m on the verge of blown out highlights. Otherwise, I tend to avoid it.

[DebSki]

I've never had it selected before & don't understand why changing the driver (assuming that's what's caused this) has made such a difference to AP2 - & not affected jpgs

But, I guess like so many computer related things, there comes a time when you just have to accept that "that's the way it is"

Thanks

[smadell]

Two otherthings, @DebSki. First, if you have a BenQ monitor, why are you limiting your editing to sRGB? Surely, that monitor could handle at least Adobe RGB. You might get better results if you set AP to a working space that was wider )such as Adobe RGB). Second, you can reveal the Context Toolbar with a menu choice (I think it’s in the View or Window menu - not at my desktop right now). You’ll find a menu choice called “Show Context Toolbar” - choose that.

[DebSki]

When I enter photos into PDI competitions, they have to be entered in sRGB mode & I've just never thought about changing it! Would changing the profile on my pc/AP make a big difference to what I see & if so, when I export to .jpg what should I select?

Having just gone to AP2 & selected export, I noticed that the ICC profile box was empty, which was strange. I've now selected sRGB IEC6966-2.1 which may or may not be what I had it on before! Is that the best option? The club rules for PDI state

"Our projector assumes that images are in the sRGB colour space. Ideally, if you use a different colour space for working, such as AdobeRGB, your images will project closer to your expectations if you convert them to sRGB during the resampling process. Do not worry if you don’t understand colour management – most images will not be affected significantly by this, so ignore it if you’re not sure. The PhotoEntry site will confirm if you have used the correct colour space and can convert it to sRGB is required."

So I've always just done sRGB, which I think AP must have just done to that format. Just opened AP1 & that had colour profile empty too, but both have embed ICC profiles ticked

Windows Photos has been updated & so far as I can see there's no window or view menu. I've tried alt V, alt w etc. Nothing - but I could download "Photos Legacy", which may be what you're thinking of

 

 

[DebSki]

How obvious is it that I don't really understand the whole colour profile thing?😀

[stuck]

18 minutes ago, smadell said:

if you have a BenQ monitor, why are you limiting your editing to sRGB?

A quick search for the specs of the OP's monitor suggests it is a basic model, with only a TN not and IPS panel.  Given that it seems unlikely that it could handle the Adobe RGB colour space.

[smadell]

Most folks I've read or heard tend to recommend editing in a wider color space (AdobeRGB or ProPhoto) which supports wider color gamuts, even if the ultimate goal is to export the result in sRGB. I've found this to have modest benefits, at best, but it is considered "best practice." I have set up some presets in the Export dialog for this purpose. Specifically, the preset I use often is set up to Resample - Lanczos 3 (non-separable); Quality - 95%; ICC Profile - sRGB (embedded). This lets me work in a wide color space (I use ProPhoto) and convert on export to sRGB. This has gotten me good results. Would it matter if I did my editing in sRGB start to finish? Probably not too much, but I've heard that it helps when dealing with very bright and very saturated colors, even if they get "dulled down" by the final conversion down to sRGB.

By the way, "Show Context Toolbar" is toward the bottom of the View menu.

Here's a link to an old (version 1) video that might help a bit:

 

[DebSki]

Thanks. Very interesting. I'll have to have a play