Weird Posterized Colors on Photo Prints (Affinity Photo v2)

[Edison]

I imported a camera photo (750kb JPG) into AP, did some color correction and minor retouching. I set the color profile to Adobe RGB with Black Point Compensation, flattened the image, exported as JPG at highest quality.

When I send the file to print at my local drugstore on their Kodak printer, the prints come out blown out and posterized. I've tried printing different sizes because those are printed on different printers at my drugstore, and the result is the same. My best guess is that I've got an incorrect setting, but I'm stumped. Any ideas?

I've attached the .afphoto file, the exported image, and snapshot of the print as it comes out. The photo was taken in a nightclub with colored lights, so it has a pink/purple cast overall, which is fine. But the skin tones should look natural, and there shouldn't be the deep blue posterization in the shadows and the exaggerated contrast.

Charlotte and Ed - Idle Hands - Valentines 2025.afphoto

[Edison]

Can anyone take a moment to load the .afphoto file I attached and see if there are any obvious errors in the setup?

[Old Bruce]

@Edison,

The channels panel show that there is a real lack of exposure in the Green channel. I did a Channels mixer and added a bit of Red and Blue to the Green channel.

[AffinityMakesMeWonder]

Maybe you also should sharpen this pictures?

Like this?

 

 

[Ldina]

The file opens okay for me with the embedded Adobe RGB profile and RGBA/8. The blue channel is rather blown-out and too light, so that is probably contributing to the poor print. All the channels are out of balance, largely due to the lighting. 

What specs does your photo lab expect to receive? Most labs do well with sRGB (usually the safest bet) and print using Perceptual Rendering Intent, which scales the tonal values to fit the dynamic range of the processor and paper, at the expense of some contrast and saturation. I'll attach an sRGB version with a little tweaking. 

[Edison]

@Old Bruce @AffinityMakesMeWonder @Ldina

Thank you all for taking the time to review my file and offer suggestions. I don't know anything about using the Channels mixer, so I'll dive in there, and the sharpening looks nice, too.

However, it seems like all of your suggestions are focused on improving/changing the look of my photo (which I appreciate). But the real question is why do my prints not look like my retouched image, and differ dramatically? That's really what I'm trying to solve; I'm okay with the pink/purple cast of the photo (because that was the lighting in the space).

I don't know what specs are expected; it's not a photo lab, it's just the local drugstore chain. The staff there know nothing about the photo printer or the pre-processing software that it runs. That's why I went with the basic Adobe RGB profile.

 

[Ldina]

@Edison I'll try to answer, but with limited info, these are just "likely" scenarios.

First, you have a TON of clipped values in this image. 

Second, inkjet printers or standard dye processors cannot reproduce many of the colors you see in your RGB image on your monitor. This is especially true when you have a lot of clipped values, which is the case here. All printer/paper/ink combinations have a limited "color gamut" they can reproduce. Any colors or tones in your original that cannot be reproduced in print have to be brought into the gamut of the printing device so something can be printed, even if those colors aren't accurate. There are 4 common strategies to "remap" these out of gamut colors in your file and cram them into the limited printer color gamut. Two are the most often used...Perceptual and Relative Colorimetric. They will give you different renditions and make some different compromises that aren't always attractive.

Third, you may be dealing with a company that does a lousy job printing, or their devices are out of calibration, etc. The paper/chemicals/ink used make a big difference on what tones can be reproduced. I'd be able to help more if I had the actual ICC profile for the printer and what rendering Intents they are using, etc. 

On the left is a screenshot of your original image after I brought it into AfPhoto. On the right is an image that I converted from sRGB to a photo lab ICC profile I happened to have handy (using Relative Colorimetric rendering and black point compensation...who knows what your printer uses?). This approximates what your image would look like when printed. Of course, this profile is not the same as what your photo lab is using and they may have a smaller color gamut than the one I used, in which case, the conversion will look worse. There are a lot of artifacts in the image on the right, though it isn't as bad as what you posted. 

So, some of the problem is a file with way too many blown out colors in various channels. Some is due to limited dynamic range and color gamut of the printing device. And perhaps some is due to a lousy photo lab, an operator who doesn't care, equipment that is out of calibration, or whatever. 

I hope that sheds a bit of light on the subject. If I had ALL the necessary information, I could answer your question definitively.

 

[Ldina]

Here's another "conversion" from sRGB to the same exact photo lab profile, but I used Absolute Colorimetric Rendering when converting (to bring colors into the printer's color gamut). This is even worse than the Relative Colorimetric version in my previous post, and the banding and artifacts are worse. Most photo labs tend to use Perceptual Rendering Intent, which is safest and results in smoother tones, but often results in a loss of contrast and saturation. 

All my examples are what you could reasonably expect in a printed version IF if was printed correctly (on the device I chose and happened to have an ICC profile for). Operator error or a device that isn't properly calibrated will only make things look worse. 

[Oufti]

2 hours ago, Edison said:

The staff there know nothing about the photo printer or the pre-processing software that it runs. That's why I went with the basic Adobe RGB profile.

Adobe RGB profile is a large gamut profile, used by pros; you should probably better use a sRGB profile – which is more prone to be what's expected from lambda customers of your local drugstore.

 

P.S. Sorry, I had not noticed @Ldina last two answers…

[Edison]

@Ldina This is incredibly helpful. Thank you for putting so much time and care into your replies. I don't want to be greedy with my need for knowledge, but you emphasized the many clipped values in my photo. Could you point me to an online resource where I could learn more about this AND what to do about (channel mixer? something else?). I can do some searching, too, but you seem to have a deep and detailed grasp on these concepts, so I suspect you might have a favorite YouTube channel that I could immerse myself in.

@Oufti Thank you for the additional context around Adobe RBG vs sRGB. I'll definitely try switching that setting to see if I can get better results.

[Ldina]

@Edison I'm glad that was helpful. Yeah, I've been doing this a long time.

What is clipping? When working in 8-bit RGB, we are limited to 256 levels of brightness (0 to 255) in each channel (i.e., red, green and blue channels, which when combined, give us a color image). Pure white would be 255R, 255G, 255B, with all 3 channels maxed out. Pure Black would be 0R, 0G, 0B, all three channels at their minimum. These are the extremes to which we are limited in RGB/8. Of course, we WANT pure white to be 255/255/255 and pure black to be 0/0/0. But sometimes we push tones too far toward one end or the other. For example, a photo of a bright red or yellow rose photographed on a very bright, sunny, contrasty day may have some clipping in one or more channels in areas that are meant to retain color (i.e., those channels are pushing up against these extremes), which will result in loss of color and harsh transitions between tones. That is unwanted clipping. 

This Clipping can be seen in Affinity Photo using the Histogram or the Scopes Panels. In the Histogram, one or more colors will "climb the wall" on the left or right side of the histogram, indicating clipping. If we have a huge spike along the wall, we have a LOT of tones being clipped. If the spike is colored, we are clipping one or two channels, indicated by the color. If the spike is White, all three channels are being clipped, which means they are pure white or pure black and have no detail.

In the Scopes panel, clipping will be shown at the top and the bottom of the graph. The Scopes panel has 4 or 5 different views, each showing different things. The Scope and Histogram panels both display tonal distribution, just in slightly different ways, both of which are useful. Both of these panels can help us visualize where we are doing unwanted clipping. (Sometimes, we WANT to clip tones, for example, in bright specular highlights or reflections, but generally, we try to avoid 'unwanted' clipping), especially in those areas where we want to retain detail, color and smooth transitions. 

Some of the tools we use to control the tonal distribution (i.e., the shaping of tones from black to white) are Levels, Curves, Brightness/Contrast, Exposure, and Shadows/Highlights. With Levels or Curves, you can adjust the "composite RGB" image (all three RGB channels simultaneously), or you can target individual red, green and blue channels and adjust one at a time. By the way, you can look at the individual red, green and blue channels in the Channels Panel to see a B&W representation of the tones in each individual channel. 

I'd recommend a YouTube Search about using Curves, Levels, Histograms and Scopes (preferably using Affinity Photo, but the same principles apply to Photoshop, GIMP, etc). Some good, clear tutorials are provided by Affinity Revolution, Robin Whalley, and Technically Trent, among others. They have dozens of good tutorials on all things related to Affinity Photo. And don't overlook James Ritson's Affinity Photo Tutorials on this Forum (Browse > Tutorials > Affinity Photo). James' tutorials are sometimes a bit too advanced for people new to photo editing and Affinity, so perhaps the others I mentioned would be a great place to start. 

Below is a tutorial by James Ritson (Affinity Photo Product Expert) discussing the Scopes Panel. (The Histogram Panel is probably an easier place to start). If you look at the image you posted inside of Affinity Photo, and view the Scope or Histogram Panel, you will see how "blown out" some of RGB channels are in your image. You can also see this in the channels panel by looking at the individual red, green and blue channels. Another great tool is to look at the RGBA readouts in the Info Panel as you run your cursor over different parts of the image...you'll see clearly where various channels are clipped (i.e., 0 or 255). Excessive clipping will result in a lot of harshness and lost color. It's tough to get it looking great on a RGB monitor, let alone when printing, since printed images have a much smaller dynamic range and color gamut. So, the goal is to make reasonable edits to recover some of those areas (if recoverable). The original camera exposure may often limit us due to blown highlights when the shot was taken (RAW images provide more flexibility for recovering these bright or dark tones). Your shot was taken under difficult lighting conditions and is largely responsible for the problems you've encountered, but can be corrected a fair amount with some knowledge and care.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[Edison]

@Ldina Yes, this is incredibly helpful (and generous). I appreciate the tutorial and the recommendation of YouTube resources. I'll dive in and do some studying!

[Ldina]

53 minutes ago, Edison said:

I'll dive in and do some studying!

Fantastic. I watched a LOT of video tutorials, (some many times), and very often I worked through exercises in Photo, Designer and Publisher to cement the learning, even if I didn't always recreate the entire piece in the tutorial. Gotta learn the fundamentals. It's probably the fastest way to learn and become proficient. Best of success! 👍

EDIT: By the way, I forgot to mention one cool thing about clipping. When you add a Levels Adjustment Layer, you can get a Live clipping preview when you slide the White Level and Black Level sliders IF YOU HOLD DOWN THE Option Key on Mac, (Alt key on Windows) when moving those sliders. If you are just clipping one or two of the RGB Channels, you will see colors of the channels being clipped. If you see white or black, that means all 3 channels are being clipped to pure white or pure black. Play with it a little and you'll learn to use it often. Great tool.

[NotMyFault]

On 2/28/2025 at 1:22 AM, Edison said:

When I send the file to print at my local drugstore on their Kodak printer, the prints come out blown out and posterized. I've tried printing different sizes because those are printed on different printers at my drugstore, and the result is the same. My best guess is that I've got an incorrect setting, but I'm stumped. Any ideas?

I have used those drugstore printers a few times (mostly on vacations) and their quality was bad every single time. Ok for holiday postcards, unusable for anything requiring quality. Most have forced optimizations you can’t deactivate, destroying images.

Your image with strong colors is a perfect example for what will go wrong.

I now only use online print services which offer actual photo paper instead of printers. A bit more expensive and it takes about 3-5 days for delivery, but quality was excellent and I could deactivate all unwanted auto-optimizations.