Image differences between editor and desktop

[GCurrier]

Something I noticed right off: There is a distinct difference in contrast and/or exposure level between an unedited image opened in the Affinity Photo editor and the same unedited image opened in say, Windows Photo or Paint, Gimp, Canon Desktop Photo Editor, etc. and it is hindering my ability to edit the photo (JPEG or CR2/RAW) to how I want it. Is this a problem with my Graphics Card (Nvidia 1080) or some setting therein? Or is there a setting that I missed in the Photo Editor itself?

As an example, I have included screenshots of the same photo: one while open in the editor, and the other as an export of the photo, opened in the windows photo app.

Note: while this is a panorama that was stitched from JPEG files, the individual JPEG files produce the same result.

Have I done something incorrectly?

I appreciate any advice you may have.

[Dan C]

Hi GCurrier,

Welcome to the forums

Could you please open Edit>Preferences and upload a screenshot of your 'Colour' settings?

Do you have any colour profile set to your monitor through your OS settings?

 

[GCurrier]

I have taken screenshots of both the NVidia Color Managment tool and the Affinity Color Preferences.

I did not think to look at the color preferences, but it doesn't seem correct (though I wouldn't be sure what to choose).

I have a Philips 273V5L TFT monitor with backlight..I was unable to locate color profiles or monitor drivers associated with this 2013-era monitor (in truth, I DID find drivers to download, but not from a website that wants me to download their software, which I suspect would not be "healthy" for my system...).

Any advice you have would be welcome.

[Dan C]

Thanks for that

The settings within Affinity are no issue, and there should be no need to download further drivers for your monitors (especially from an unauthorised source!)

In Control Panel > Colour Management, do you have any colour profiles associated with your monitor? If not try adding sRGB IEC61966-2.1 as a default.

[GCurrier]

That was what was already there (and the default). I did manage to find the monitors original color profiles...after setting those to the default in "Color Management" and restarting Affinity, I changed the color preferences to that color profile and now there's a "pretty close" match, with the only difference being a very slight drop in brightness of the affinity photo compared against an exported image. That's fairly easy to compensate for. Maybe it's just time for some new displays...

Thanks for the tips and pointing me in the right direction!