Colour Profiles In Affinity Designer And Photo

[emmrecs01]

This is the sort of question to which I feel I ought to know the answer but...

 

My monitor is an LG E2551, which is colour-profiled using an X-rite ColorMunki Display, permanently connected via USB, obviously, which monitors ambient light as well as requiring/requesting me to re-profile the colour output of said monitor once per month, which I do.  So, I think the colours seen on screen should be "correct"?

 

Using both AD and AP on Windows 10 I'm very uncertain about which colour profile I should choose in Edit>Preferences>Colour.  Should I select for the 16-bit and 32-bit Colour Profiles the latest one created for the monitor, or should I simply use the defaults, or even, one of the several available created for my Epson Stylus Photo P50 printer?  I'm simply attempting to be able to produce print-outs from both AD and AP that are as "close as possible" in colour to what I see on screen.

 

Yes, I do understand the screen is RGB and any print-out is CMYK and hence "exact" colour matching is impossible, but I would like to get the two to be as close as possible!

 

Many thanks for any advice offered.

 

Jeff

[Fixx]

Someone should write a FAQ about this as it is asked so often.

[pruus]

Here you can find a lot about color and colormanagement: http://www.color-management-guide.com/introduction-color-management.html

[emmrecs01]

Sorry for the delay in replying, and thanks to both respondents.

 

Unfortunately, I don't think I yet have a definitive answer to my question, although Lee D's response in https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/32087-picture-not-having-the-same-appearance-inside-and-outside-affinity/?p=157337 does seem to imply I should be setting my calibrated monitor profile as the "RGB Colour Profile" and the "32 Bit RGB Colour Profile" in Preferences>Colour for both AP and AD.

[Fotero]

I don't know is my answer matches your question.  I think the display calibration is for you to see the "real" color, brightness and contrast of the file you are processing. So, you are watching the file as it really is.  Formerly when I was processing a photo but it was too dark, I just increased the brightness of the monitor.  Basically I was faking because the monitor brightness and the real brightness of the file are two different things.

 

The printer calibration is to adjust for the variations in the paper, ink combination particular to a given printer.  You need both.

 

As far as the edit -> preferences. It is NOT refereeing  to the display profile but to the color space. If you are using Windows 10, the Operating system is already taking care of that.  If you go to Display Setting in Windows 10, find Display Setting ->Advance->color management. Once there find and select the flavor (in this case, your custom color profile). Windows 10 will use this for all programs, not only for Photo. When you turn-off the computer, Windows 10 will automatically select this profile.

 

I was using, up to 3 days ago, a Dell U2410 which is pre-calibrated monitor.  Very inexpensive,  but it is a real photo monitor which is 98% compliant with the sRGB specs.  This is an old monitor that I bought about 5 years ago. Superb and does not need the x-rite munki. Alas, it dies as I was installing a new computer. I need to shell out 286.00 dollars for the new model. This new version is cheaper that the U2410 but more modern.  Also, this time around, I am going to connect it to the computer using and HDMI cable for the sake of clarity and fine detail.

 

You don't say what computer or OS are you using.  If you are using Windows 8.1.  This is a mess. Windows 10 is more in line with color management.  If you are using Windows 7, it worked for me.  Unfortunately is too old.

 

Finally, If I insulted you with this simple answer, please, forgive me. And, if you have any other question, do not hesitate to post it.

[emmrecs01]

Fotero, thank you for taking the time to respond so fully to my question.  I am certainly NOT insulted by being given information about this topic, on which my previous understanding was very much lacking.

 

My computer, as per the spec in my signature, is self-built, running Windows 10 Professional.  

 

I currently have all the settings as you state under Display Setting>Advance>Color Management, my monitor's x rite profile is selected as the default.  What I am still not completely clear about is, in Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer, should I set the profiles there also to my monitor's x-rite profile or should I leave them at the default, i.e. "sRGB" etc..

 

Once again, my sincere thanks for your help.

 

Jeff

[mac_heibu]

Never set a document to your monitor profile!

The monitor profile compensates the divergences of your individual monitor’s colours from the expected colours. Baking this profile into your document means, that no other monitor can display your document correctly, and – more crucial – every colour conversion, for example for printing purposes will be wrong!

That means:

• Your image has a sRGB profile

• Colormanagement exactly knows the numerical divergences of the sRGB colours to your monitor’s colours and corrects the actual colour rendering according to your monitor’s shortcomings. The image itself remains untouched, as it should be.

[anon1]

Never set a document to your monitor profile!

The monitor profile compensates the divergences of your individual monitor’s colours from the expected colours. Baking this profile into your document means, that no other monitor can display your document correctly, and – more crucial – every colour conversion, for example for printing purposes will be wrong!

That means:

• Your image has a sRGB profile

• Colormanagement exactly knows the numerical divergences of the sRGB colours to your monitor’s colours and corrects the actual colour rendering according to your monitor’s shortcomings. The image itself remains untouched, as it should be.

well

all other conversions are not actually wrong 

they are still as accurate as possible 

 

you may just loose data because your monitor color space is most likely smaller than the one you came from and smaller than the one you convert into afterwards 

 

still - your point is correct after all 

 

cheers 

[mac_heibu]

It is not only a problem of "smaller color space"! Most monitors have individual and inevitable color aberrations due to manufacturing tolerances, which should be corrected by the use of monitor profiles. If you transfer these individual aberrations into your image – have fun!

Just think, your individual monitor shows white yellowish (what your monitor profile compensates)  and you force the image itself to adapt these corrections …

[emmrecs01]

@mac_heibu and MBd.  MANY THANKS.  That's exactly the information I needed to know.  Have now reset Preferences>Colour in both APW and ADW to defaults.

 

Jeff

[anon1]

It is not only a problem of "smaller color space"! Most monitors have individual and inevitable color aberrations due to manufacturing tolerances, which should be corrected by the use of monitor profiles. If you transfer these individual aberrations into your image – have fun!

Just think, your individual monitor shows white yellowish (what your monitor profile compensates)  and you force the image itself to adapt these corrections …

as long as it is a 1:1 mapping between whites(greys) and yellowish tones there is no issue (just map them back)

 

 

 

but if you project multiple white tones onto the same yellow tone then there is information getting lost and can not be recovered 

 

probably a good choice emmrecs01

maybe take a look at soft proof as a next step

[anon1]

Someone should write a FAQ about this as it is asked so often.

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/33820-color-profiles-management/?p=165094

 

I did it

 

cheers