Originally Posted by
Tannin
What's more, I can upload that image to the web or email it to my granny, and what she sees is the same as what I see, subject only to:
(a) any miscallibration of her screen. There is nothing I can do about that. I just have to hope that it isn't too far out. Thankfully, she is (of course) used to her own screen and thinks it is "normal". If I could somehow guess what is wrong with her display (too blue, bet your boots on that) and send her an image "corrected" to account for that .... well, it would come up in the right colours, and Granny - being used to her own system - would most likely think it was murky and reddish. (If she noticed the difference at all, of course.)
(b) Any changes her system introduces on a per-image basis - e.g., changes introduced by a colour-managed browser if she has one. We have no way of knowing whether she will be using colour-managed or unmanaged software. So what we need to do is provide the image with a colour profile that says "don't change anything, just show this image in the standard way you display everything else on this system, same as a non-managed viewer".
^ That is my understanding of how the system works, and as a natural consequence of that understanding, the simplest, most reliable way to work within its limitations given the aim of having pictures look as right as possible both to my imaginary granny and to people using colour-aware applications. Have I misunderstood something vital? If so, what?