When I load a screenshot taken on macOS, the brightness changes.

[minkwon]

When I load a screenshot taken with Command+Shift+4 on macOS, the brightness changes as shown in the attached image.

[NotMyFault]

This depends on a multitude of factors like SDR / EDR Display used, color profiles used for OS, which apps used for viewing, configuration of these apps etc.

in case you provide screenshots please always include the full application window, and at least note which app was used.

getting the actual files (or example files of same type / color depth / color profile etc) will help to Analyse and give support.

please give list of all edit steps, e.g. did you open the file of screenshot, or paste the screenshot into an existing file?

Do you use RGB/32 color format, or RGB/16 resp RGB/8?

[minkwon]

• macOS 15.3.2
• OS Color Profile: Display P3

I have attached the original image.

When I take a screenshot using the shortcut (Command + Shift + 4) on macOS, it is automatically saved as a PNG file on the desktop.

And I imported the file using the File > Open menu.

I am not a graphics professional. I use Affinity Photo for simple tasks such as copying, pasting, cropping, and erasing.

I had been using it without any issues for a long time, and then one day this symptom suddenly started occurring.

[GarryP]

8 minutes ago, minkwon said:

I have attached the original image.

The forum website often alters images uploaded directly: colour spaces, bit depths, etc.

Please ZIP the original image file and upload the ZIP so we can see the image file exactly as you have it.

[minkwon]

I have compressed the original image into a zip file and uploaded it.

origin.png.zip

[NotMyFault]

Thanks for the file.

it opens as RGB/32 with linear gamma. You normally don’t want to use this color format, unless special case like HDR workflows.

use RGB/16 instead.

 

 

[NotMyFault]

I assume you got this file from someone else, maybe in a different format? Affinity Photo silently converts certain formats like HEIF into RGB/32 depending on features used by those images (PQ tone curve, gain maps etc). The file does not show EDR lightness values, so converting to RGB/16 will be ok.

you might need to apply a one time gamma correction, using the levels adjustment.

add a levels adjustment, set gamma to 1.6.

duplicate adjustment.

this will result in 2.2 gamma (levels is limited to 2.0 max in one, so need to split).

[minkwon]

I am using a MacBook connected to an external monitor in clamshell mode. After seeing your response, an idea came to mind, so I tried taking a screenshot on the MacBook's built-in display and the brightness was normal. My issue only occurs when taking screenshots on the external monitor. I don't know the solution yet, but now that I know it's a problem with the external monitor, I will try to figure it out somehow. Thank you for your help.

[NathanC]

Hi @minkwon welcome to the forums,

This is an issue currently logged internally, Photo 2 shouldn't be importing these Display P3 Images with the RGB/32 bit depth as it causes all the colours to appear washed out. I've bumped the issue with your report.

[travisrogers]

It's funny how the quirks (UI, workflow, bugs) with Affinity apps make them either incredibly difficult to use because you can't for the life of you figure out how to do something that should be simple and logical, or there's weird bugs like this that don't let you paste in a screenshot from a Mac with a P3 display profile without it rendering it as a linear image. How do you even end up converting the image back to 8 bit without it applying a rendering intent that converts the washed out look into a different bit depth?? Converting the profile is not the solution. Do I need to create a procedural texture to convert from linear? Do I need to use an ACES OCIO adjustment layer to convert from Utility Curve sRGB to Utility Linear P3 D65? I'm happy that this has been acknowledged as a bug and hopefully it'll be solved sometime in the unknown future, but at least give us some 'Affinity recommended' hack work-around to dealing with this issue while we endlessly wait. I honestly can't stand Adobe, but I sure miss being able to jump into a graphics app to throw down an idea without constantly tripping over the software, wasting hours of my time and eventually giving up 🤯