Suggested revisions to Gimp color management UI

logo Color Management

Be sure to read GIMP help before using color management!

Mode of operation:

In color managed display and print softproofing modes:

RGB Workspace:

How is your monitor calibrated?

Display rendering intent:

When opening a file
with attached profile:

In softproofing mode:

Print simulation profile:

Print rendering intent:

Mark out of gamut colors?  

mark color: 

DEVELOPER NOTES (not part of UI):

Any time the user is in "no color management" mode, the other settings are gray-out and disabled.

What is missing

Gimp does not offer the ability to attach a color tag to an image, when the image is exported to a compatible format (jpeg or tiff). Even Adobe Photoshop Essentials offers that capability, and so does a program such as Krita.

I hope this feature becomes part of Gimp 2.10. Normally, the attached tag will be either sRGB or AdobeRGB, rarely anything else. The color profile is that of the RGB Workspace, not the monitor profile. Choosing to attach a tag is per-image and depends on exported format, so the proper place to ask about it is in the Export dialog box, not the color management preferences.

The Help file would say this:

The jpeg and tiff formats permit an image to embed a color profile tag, specifying the RGB Workspace in which the image was created. Other file formats do not permit an embedded profile tag.

Most images inded for routine screen display, such as on the Internet, do not have this tag embedded, and sRGB Workspace is assumed. Some images intended for high-end exhibition or printing will be tagged AdobeRGB. Other Workspaces are rare.

If a jpeg or tiff image with embedded tag is opened in GIMP, the program must choose between using the tag's specified Workspace (no matter GIMP's Workspace) or using GIMP's Workspace (no matter the tag). The default will ask you to choose on a per-image basis. Only select always-tag or always-GIMP if you are in a workflow with many similar images that must be treated the same way.

GIMP does not currently permit you to embed a Workspace color profile tag to exported jpeg or tiff images. It is possible to add the tag by post-processing in programs such as ImageMagick or GraphicsMagick. However, adding the tag is only of value if the image will subsequently be viewed or printed by someone using software with color management. Routine addition of the tag should be avoided.

 
Robert Allgeyer, Aptos California USA
anyttwo@gmail.com
20-May-2016