adobe rgb

[ifurlong]

what is color space and what should I use, sRGB or Adobe RGB, thanks, Ian.

[robertwgross]

Choice of color space depends on what camera you use.

---Bob Gross---

[scottbergerphoto]

ifurlong wrote:
what is color space and what should I use, sRGB or Adobe RGB, thanks, Ian.
sRGB and Adobe RGB are color spaces. There are others. Adobe RGB has a larger gamut then sRGB. It allows you to capture a wider range of colors. Digital devices convert colors to numbers. Each color is broken down into- Red, Green, and Blue. Each of those is assigned a number between 0 and 255. So each pixel will be identified by three numbers between 0 and 255. The color space dictates the translation between colors and numbers. The same numbers will look different in different color spaces.You have the most flexibility and greatest amount of color information when you shoot Raw, Adobe RGB. To get the most out of this, you need to first calibrate your monitor. You can use Adobe Gamma, or a hardware/software calibrator like Colorvision's Spyder with Optical. You also need to use a photo editor that is able to recognize color spaces, like Photoshop or Photoshop Elements 2.0. To learn more, do a search above on "color management".

[ifurlong]

10d, sorry

[ifurlong]

thanks Scott

[robertwgross]

I didn't really understand color space until I saw a graphical comparison of several. Then read the text definition again and it makes sense.

Some of us have cameras with no choice of color space, so we don't have to get too deeply into it.

---Bob Gross---

[vsolanoy]

I'm not sure where I read it, but I saw that which color space you use will also depend on what your final output will be. I'm not sure how true what I read was, but the basis was that sRGB is used if you will be bringing your digital files to consumer print shops/kiosks since the sRGB is the defacto color space used by today's digital cameras... or using consumer graphics software that does not recognized the wider gamut that Adobe RGB supports (I'm not sure if it includes Photoshop Elements or Album).

Adobe RGB provides a wider gamut, but is not taken into account with consumer print shops/kiosks as well as certain consumer level graphics software and may result in unmatched colors. Adobe RGB should be used in conjection with photo tools and print processes that recognize Adobe RGB, otherwise you may not be getting what you may expect.

One thing I'm not sure of is whether photo printers need to support the ability to pring the gamut of colors that Adobe RGB supports as well. My understanding is that most consumer printers and photo printers are tuned to work with sRGB, particularly with Windows since sRGB is a standard that Microsoft and HP threw together for color matching.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Victor

[slin100]

We can be thankful that sRGB exists as a lowest-common denominator that all modern cameras and printers can understand.

On the other hand, sRGB is not really a photographer's colorspace. It has the smallest gamut of the well-known colorspaces. You'll be robbing yourself of a rich set of greens and blues by using sRGB. This would be particularly important to a landscape photographer.

I believe most printers have a gamut wider than sRGB. Provided you can properly color-manage your workflow, it makes sense to me to use the gamut when you can.

Using Adobe RGB does add a factor of complexity to your workflow. The 10D with 1.X firmware does not tag its JPG images when working in Adobe RGB. You will have to assign the profile when opening them in Photoshop. 2.0 firmware properly tags Adobe RGB images. Photoshop Elements also recognizes Adobe RGB.

When working in Adobe RGB, you will have to convert to sRGB for the web. It's a bit ironic that even though Microsoft helped develop the standard, Internet Explorer has no color management whatsoever. Depending on your application, sRGB may just be simpler to deal with.

It's true that many print shops only work with sRGB, so in those cases you have no choice.

I don't know much about the ridiculously expensive Frontier or Noritsu printers used by photolabs, but I would expect that they have a wider gamut than sRGB. Many labs will print images with no color conversions/corrections. If you have the profile for the lab's printer, you can convert your image using that profile before having it printed. drycreekphoto.com (http://wwwdrycreekphoto.com) has free profiles for many Frontier and Noritsu printers around the country.

[fwhitesides]

slin100 wrote:
The 10D with 1.X firmware does not tag its JPG images when working in Adobe RGB. You will have to assign the profile when opening them in Photoshop. 2.0 firmware properly tags Adobe RGB images. Photoshop Elements also recognizes Adobe RGB.

I have a DRebel with the 1.1.1 firmware. The manual says that the camera will not export ICC profiles, but when I open camera images in Photoshop, it prompts me to convert the image's color profile to the working space or vice versa. I have since adjusted PS's working space to match my camera, but the above experience would seem to indicate that the camera is indeed embedding the color profile. Can anyone confirm this?