Color Managemnt

[TEcHNOpls]

Hi,

 

I'm trying to get the most of color management in Photo. I've spent quite some time in PhotoPlus X8 to make sure my workflow is fine and colors turn out how I see them in software.

 

My previous setup was:

1. Windows had all color profiles removed for my working display.

2. In File>Color Management I had my monitor profile set for my work display profile.

3. In File>Color Management I had internal RGB set to sRGB profile.

 

Now I can't seem to be able to get the same setup. I'm working in 16bpp with sRGB profile for my photos and I cant seem to find a place to setup my monitor profile in Affinity Photo.

 

How should I proceed?

[SrPx]

Hi,

Not completely sure about the exact workflow you need, but from what I understood of the question, you could :

 

(please, excuse that all menus in the screens are in Spanish)

 

Go to preferences (lol, excuse the typo in the screen, wanted to write "preferences", i do things too fast, lately.... ) :

 

Select Color Profiles :

 

There you have all sort of possible default settings related with the matter :

 

Also, you can, and you probably will, start your new documents in the color profile you want (File --> New takes yo to the below screen) :

 

And you can convert an existing document (I'm sure you are aware of the things to consider when doing a color profile conversion) in a very similar way than Adobe PS does, doing the following (and yes, I tend to prefer, in other applications, to use convert instead of assign, but depends on the case )  :

 

Was that what you were really asking ?

[TEcHNOpls]

Hi,

 

Thank you for the ideas, I'll try to test this soon.

 

In mean time I have a question: if I convert an image to my monitor profile should I:

a) add my monitor profile to my display in Windows (Control Panel > Display > Screen Resolution > Advanced Settings > Color Management)?

b) How should I export? Into sRGB ICC, into my photo(display) ICC? I'd rather not embed the profile since it's flaky from browser to browser and viewer to viewer.

[SrPx]

Maybe is a bit two lines of action we are talking about here, although both very needed. You should have your Windows setup and calibrated (I have my monitor calibrated with a hardware calibrator, i1 Display Pro, and the software for calibration it has, having made several profiles, and re-calibrating each month or so. Saved profile is indeed placed in the needed screen setting in Windows, too) . Yep, in that path I have set up my monitor color profile, although the calibration process is quite more involved than just having that there. But this is not actually a matter internal to Affinity Photo. The monitor must be calibrated for all its uses and applications. (as well as the printer, if you have one)

 

About how you export your TIFF, JPG (this format looses quality but supports profiles) , it depends. For a photo lab print, I'm guessing Adobe RGB color profile, ProPhoto, or your own customized profile, it depends on how your printing lab works, or how the print company (digital or offset) requires the stuff as ideal for their workflow and machines.

 

One way is to save in a format where you keep the maximum color information and range, like Adobe RGB or ProPhoto, and for the web, I would recommend sRGB, yep, toootally. But depending on your needs, as a lossing detail export-only format (as you would consider a JPG), or as your main and only format. It depends on what your work is/needs. Because while since quite some time Chrome (hmm, now not fully sure) and Firefox (this one for sure) do support well a color profile like Adobe RGB (in some cases you need to trigger advanced preferences and force it to support it) , while that is a reality in many cases, the www is ...very wild, all sort of browsers and configurations. Safe bet is sRGB, because well, all what is screen based tends to play pretty well with that. Even the iPhones and iPad what are actually using (the latest Ipad Pro 9,7 is adding a wider range profile) a form of the sRGB profile !

 

Just be aware that the spectrum, the tones sRGB support are different, I believe fewer,  or maybe just more in the "skin tones" range, but you will miss some very saturated color tones, like some greens, blues, etc.  For this reason, for very "spectacular", high quality photography or illustration , is better to stick to Adobe RGB.  IMO, though, most average consumer monitors don't cover even a 60% of Adobe RGB range, though some mid-advanced ones do cover 100% or 97% of sRGB. Your customers will see more a 1:1 of what you work with in sRGB. But again, it depends on your photographic style and needs. (I'm not a photographer, but an illustrator/graphic designer, but is what i can tell you about it. )

 

if you work in sRGB, or have converted to it for the web, you don't really need to embed the ICC for that very special case, IMHO.  I have a rule of always embedding the needed profile, but when I'm pretty sure of the  target, what the company is using. For web or multimedia, yep, 99% of the times, sRGB.

 

[TEcHNOpls]

Hi,

 

Thank you for this comprehensive explanation.

 

I'm doing stuff that mostly ends up in Web (Facebook, jpeg OR png) and in Print (rarely and in JPG since it's cheap auto-photo-labs).

I'm aiming for maximum reproducibility for end viewers, so when I upload a photo I'm aiming at sRGB since it's most compatible with screens and telephones (some displays have wide Gamut, but it's not that often I think).

 

I've had a calibration tool used on my display and I have a calibrated monitor profile for my display. I've now re-added that to my Windows Color Management functionality.

Now I'm not sure if I should also convert my images to my (calibrated) display profile OR should I leave them in sRGB as they are now?

I understand that when exporting I'm choosing the target ICC I want to fit in, right?

[SrPx]

If your monitor is good, meaning, average-good (not necessarily an Eizo, NECs are often, good enough, too, and even mid cost ones, and some even almost cheap, have decent quality, today)  will surely have a wider color range than sRGB. This is really very personal, and depends a lot on the each very specific task in every moment, but you might wish work and edit your images using your monitor profile when you are going to target such a rich/wide range, when for example you have a high quality printer at home, or when you can export as Adobe RGB or other wide range profile because a good photo lab is going to print them, or be sent to one of those expensive magazines that work in wide range rgb. In general is not a bad rule, as always in image editing, to work in the highest, wider profile possible, and leave the export formats just as export formats. But that said, you might win a lot of time -depending on if you need a lot of accuracy in your work or not- if you do know absolutely all exports of a project are going to be in sRGB, then I'd work directly in sRGB. Indeed, that's exactly what I do. Less headaches.  

 

Even if is going to be printed by some print company, I'd very much check deeply their specs and requirements previous to decide nothing. It's as varied as what I tend to find : Some will force you to give them a RGB in sRGB profile. Others in Adobe RGB 1998. Others in what I prefer for printing, just CMYK with a color profile, which tends to be US WEB SWOP 2, Gracol, ISO Coated, or in Europe a lot FOGRA39, and they even often require a maximum level of ink, and usually their bleed, safe zone, etc.

 

These are all things I first check when beginning a project. Maybe is not the thing to do, but in the end saves me time, but might be just me. Indeed, there's a long debate about if an illustrator (googled it quite in the past...), meaning a raster based one (not vector based) should work directly in CMYK or RGB and then convert and adjust tones at the end to compensate. I'm a bit of a control freak, and I know everything can be done with reduced palettes, with the needed skills.  So I work directly in CMYK, indeed in the profile to be used by the print company. The big issue is that many -not all, thankfully- digital companies take only RGB, just probably due to their machines workflows or that most of their clients aren't people trained or skilled, and send some worst case scenarios when dealing with cmyk. Summarizing: I do it per case, adapting totally to the target. I have a great big discussion about this with some friends in the profession, who say am wrong and should work in full Adobe RGB 1998, and let that be my master from where to export everything. It might be a very reasonable path, but I have tested that in my realistic painting is too much what I have to adjust and fast-change at the end, I dislike that. 

 

So, as you see fit.   :)

 

PD: Important...if you have them ALREADY as sRGB, the colors aren't going to get any better when converting to your profile or Adobe RGB. just leave them in sRGB for maximum compatibility. If you plan to edit them some more, well, then it depends.