PNG "Apply Gamma correction" in Import options does nothing?

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
June 20, 2024
2 replies
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I tried changing the default 1.0 value to any other number and it does not seem to make a difference in the overall appearance of the imported image. I wonder it this option actually "works".

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James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

I see you asked this a while back and got no answer.

I've just spent 20 minutes messing around, and came up with only one conclusion, which I'll reserve for the moment. The short answer is that no, this option and collateral setting seem to do nothing at all with any PNG graphic I have at hand (Win 11, v19.4).

Furthermore, I am mystified as to what it's supposed to do:

Adjust the mid-tone values? Okay. Import a gamma value from the PNG? Okay. It doesn't seem to do any of these, and I am unable to find any useful information on PNG gamma mucking-about, in Photoshop help or anywhere else. (I'm not the strongest color-technology mind in here, but I do grasp it at a photogrraphy and print-prep level... and I am fairly mystified by all of the above, especially the lack of explanation and the lack of any apparent effect.)

Hence that conclusion: PNG is a format I avoid at all costs except when I need web transparency with something too large for a GIF. 🙂

Roger BretonAuthor

Legend

Thanks James. I can't figure the gist of this option. Perhaps, I thought, as I read the same documentation you show that, perhaps, when a PNG is save with "some" gamma, other than the 'standard' value (whatever that is), InDesign picks up on it and allow the user to change the value on import? Totally hypothetic... although I find "interesting", from a color management viewpoint, the idea of being able to, say, import the same image multiple times and assign different gamma values each time? In principle, that would be a useful thing. But as you noted, something is amiss...
BTW, I find I'm pretty much saving most graphic files in PNG to import in InDesign or simply as a base storage format, these days. I still use JPEG on larger files though. I like the idea that PNG isn't "lossy" as JPEG.