trying out color management profiles with ufraw/gimp

[todd]

This thread got me thinking, and experimenting, and so far all I can say is I don't know quite what to make of it all.. Which isn't surprising since I am poking into things I have no background in...

Here is an example:
(1) The first shot (see first picture below) is a screenshot of the raw image file taken with my K100D (and FA50mm)... It's tweaked to my best ability in UFraw (latest version), with the Phase One (Capture One) K100D generic color profile (set to .45 gamma and .05 linearity). It looks pretty realistic/expected to me. The color on her face is expected due to the point and shoot LCD...

(2) The next screenshot (see below) is the interpretation from UFRaw sent to the GIMP and then just saved with no color profile used in the GIMP and no adjustments, then opened in Irfanview for the screenshot.

(3) The third screenshot is the same as the above, but while it's still in the GIMP. (slight difference between GIMP's interpretation and Irfanviews).

(4) The fourth screenshot is the same image copy in the GIMP but now using the Phase One (Capture One) K100D Generic color profile.

(5) The fifth screenshot is the same image copy in the GIMP, but now using the Bibble Pro "Pentax 3" color profile.

(6) The sixth screenshot (had to link to here because of the 5 file attachment limit) is my original edited copy of this shot, where I was just messing around and edited levels etc using the GIMP with the Phase One color profile and it was looking kind of weird on my main monitor (especially the face), and this got me thinking to investigate it further with no profile and then the Bibble profile when I found out about it.

The key thing I am wondering is that since I used the Phase One profile in the beginning with UFRaw, maybe I shouldn't be using a color profile in the GIMP after that? It seems to me that if I am using the same color profile, then it should give the same interpretation, but that sure doesn't appear to jive based on these screenshots. I suppose I need to go through the test again and not use the color profile in UFraw and see what happens when it gets to the GIMP and screenshot the color profiles there... I will do that soon..

I really wish I could calibrate my LCD monitors. Even the differences in appearance between my two LCD's is pretty large and really makes me wonder what other people see when I share photos..

Any feedback? Which version looks best to you?

[todd]

I went ahead and loaded the pef back into UFraw for some quick screenshots.. I figured it was easiest to do while I still had the levels tweaked in UFraw for no over or underexposure with this particular image... Interesting that the "Color Matrix" profile overexposed it a tad compared to the others. Not sure what that is all about yet..

In comparing these, on one of my LCD monitors I'd go with the Bibble's color profile and on my other monitor I'd choose the Phase One profile... How about you?

[todd]

ok here's the last test for now.. No profile used in UFraw, just the same settings so no under or overexposure... Sent to the GIMP and screenshots taken using no profile, then the Phase One K100D profile, then the Bibble Pro pentax3 profile.

Again, on my main monitor, I prefer the result from the Phase One profile, and on my secondary monitor, I prefer the result of the Bibble Pro profile.

[Indianadinos]

Hello,

I have never used color profiles with UFRaw, but i have discovered that, when using the calibration profile for my laptop, i got my best results without using color profiles in GIMP ... It seems to me that the profiles act in an "additive" way, so, if you use a color profile in UFraw, you shouldn't use one in Gimp ...
I noticed this while doing some PP on an "RGB" pic, where the blue become purple because of multiple color profiles (i managed to use the same profile used to calibrate my laptop LCD with the Gimp) ... To get back a real blue, i had to deselect the color profile in Gimp, so i got this:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3248/...d59853748e.jpg

Actually, with the calibration profile activated, the pic that i prefer from your third post, is the one with (ufraw no profile / gimp + bibble icm) ...

[todd]

Thanks for the feedback... Those are cool shots and your blog and photostream are very nice as well.. Sounds like I probably shouldn't worry about this stuff too much until I can calibrate my LCD's. I think from your preference of the bibble result, I should also make sure to check my results with my secondary monitor as that's where I liked the bibble result more as well. I think it's set brighter than my main monitor so maybe I will at least try to get it to match that one until I can calibrate it..