Requested Handling of color profiles

[fpasseto]

Irfan View doesn't clearly tell whether the file has a color profile or not, and doesn't properly hadle color profiles.

I have used a test image and found that it does preserve profiles for .jpg images but only if you choose to display color profiles. (this is odd)

But for .tiff images (what is the kind of file a more serious photographer uses) it does not preserve the color profile and it also looses al EXIF information.

This is really disappointing as I was trying to do a more serious job with images and will have to look for another software now.

[Mij]

So what settings are you using under Enable color management in Options >Properties >Viewing ?

[fpasseto]

Well, I did some tests concerning how IView is handling color profiles and it just seems not right:

First I go on Options >Properties >Viewing and enable Color Management, monitor profiling. Exit IView and re-load it so the setting will take effect.

With this option turned on, the image is displayed by using its embedded color profile. Then if I save it as .TIFF file - no compression, the displayed colors are saved and the embedded profile is simply discarded or substituted by a standard color profile. Samething happens for .jpg images.

With the option to color management turned off, the embedded color profile is ignored and if I save as .tiff or .jpg image, the displayed colors are saved and the embedded profile is discarded.

Another issue, when I save as .TIFF the EXIF information is simply discarded.

[fpasseto]

Test files

I have added two test files, one is self-explanatory.

The other says:

If the motorcycle looks BLUE, the embedded profile is being completely ignored.

If the motorcycle looks GREEN, the embedded ICC profile is being used. This indicates correct ICC profile support.

If the motorcycle looks RED, then the WCS profile embedded in the ICC profile is being used, and you are probably running on Windows Vista. This indicates correct profile handling on Windows Vista.

[Mij]

Please ignore... "Well, I am running in Windows Vista but I cannot find any viewer either from Microsoft or anyone else that makes your motorbike or the top left square of your color profile look anything but Blue".. end.

Sorry, some finger trouble with the download. OK. Now if I Enable Color management (Current monitor profile) in Irfanview I see the Browser color test with all the correct colors and the motorbike is Green.
In Vista Windows Explorer the Browser color test is the same but the motorbike turns Red.

This is not an area that I know much about, so hopefully someone else may be able to help.

[fpasseto]

You need to actually save the full image on your computer and open the saved file because the thumbnails have lost their embedded color profiles.

Taking the example of the motor bike for instance, if I open it with IView with the monitor profile option On, it will show green. Then I save it... It will be green forever.

If I open in IView with the monitor profile option Off, it will show blue. Than I save it. It will be blue always. So the embedded profile was substituted by something else.

ICC Color profiling assures consistency of the colors throught different devices (scans, monitors and printers). And to make the transition from one device profile to the other the image has to have a defined color profile as well. If an image doesn't have the ICC profile information it is considered sRGB by default.

There are more sophisticated programs that deal well with ICC profiles like Adobe Photoshop but I like the batch capabilities and easy to use of IView.

I just wanted to crop some scanned images, did the crop and saved the files. Then I look at the colors they are all look un-natural, over saturated.

So even if I did nothing to modify the image colors, they were affected because IView messes up with the ICC profile.

I hope it is more clear now.

[Irfanfan142]

So the embedded profile was substituted by something else.
ICC Color profiling assures consistency of the colors throught different devices (scans, monitors and printers). And to make the transition from one device profile to the other the image has to have a defined color profile as well. If an image doesn't have the ICC profile information it is considered sRGB by default.

I tried your impressive examples as you explained, and I understand exactly what you mean.
To duplicate your problem with the scanned images I tried the following:
With color management in IView enabled (also for images without embedded profile), I opened the same image several times, saved it and opened it again.
With each time certain colors got more and more saturated.

When opening an image and color management is enabled, IView applies both the embedded profile (if available) and the monitor profile, thus the image appears correct. But then the image is saved as it is after these operations (i.e. including the changes which are caused by the profiles), but without any color profile. When opening the same image again, the monitor profile is applied again, thus it has now been applied twice.

@fpasseto: I had not yet been aware of this problem, so I thank you a lot for your valuable contribution.

[fpasseto]

Great! I am glad you see the problem. Handling of color profiles seems somehow fuzzy but it is important to keep the quality of the image.

I hope this will be fixed on the next update of IView. Until then I will be working my scanned negatives with other imaging software.