Colour management

[stevemoorevale]

I’ve done a search but I’m still a little unclear.
My finished tiff files look slightly nicer (I’d say slightly more contrast and deeper blacks) when the colour management icon is switched off.
I have a calibrated Eizo monitor. The profile I have set within the photo mechanic preferences for icc profile if undetermined is set to the monitor profile that was created when I calibrated. All my files are edited and saved in srgb. So my question is should I have the colour management profile set to srgb or my monitor profile and also why have it on if it’s there for an ‘undetermined’ situation.  all of mine wouldn’t be undetermined because they have the srgb profile baked in. I guess that would be more for a raw file which is undetermined by design.

[Kirk Baker]

Steve,

I’ve done a search but I’m still a little unclear.
My finished tiff files look slightly nicer (I’d say slightly more contrast and deeper blacks) when the colour management icon is switched off.
I have a calibrated Eizo monitor. The profile I have set within the photo mechanic preferences for icc profile if undetermined is set to the monitor profile that was created when I calibrated. All my files are edited and saved in srgb. So my question is should I have the colour management profile set to srgb or my monitor profile and also why have it on if it’s there for an ‘undetermined’ situation.  all of mine wouldn’t be undetermined because they have the srgb profile baked in. I guess that would be more for a raw file which is undetermined by design.

RAW files can have a profile.  Most image types can also not specify a profile.

Which version/build of Photo Mechanic Plus are you running and on what operating system are you using on your computer?

-Kirk

[stevemoorevale]

PM Plus build 7102. Windows 10.

[Kirk Baker]

Steve,

I have a calibrated Eizo monitor. The profile I have set within the photo mechanic preferences for icc profile if undetermined is set to the monitor profile that was created when I calibrated.

You should choose the profile you want assigned to images when they have no profile specified.  In your case, sRGB would be a good choice, but for most, Adobe RGB would be the preferred choice.  If you choose the profile that your monitor is currently using, then when an image has no specified profile (embedded or otherwise), color management will do nothing.  The image will already be considered to be in the same color space as the output display and there will be nothing to do (from a color management perspective).  Turning on or off color management will result in no visual difference for that image, both will look the same.

If your images have specified a profile then PM will perform color management from the profile specified by the image to your display's color profile when color management is turned on.  When it is off, the image is not modified at all and the pixels are just drawn to the screen.

-Kirk

[stevemoorevale]

Thanks Kirk. That makes sense. One thing that annoys me but is normal by the sound of it is that if I click colour management on and off I think it looks better off. The black are deeper when switched off and then when I click the icon back on again I can see the blacks lighten up and the photo looks a little bit more washed out. I’d have thought if I have the monitor calibrated to srgb then the difference between clicking the management icon on and off would be negligible. Perhaps it has something to do with the minimum black level achieved when calibrating. Mine I think managed 0.17cd/m during calibration so not quite completely zero.