Adobe RGB and color management

[jens1204@earthlink.net]

I have been shooting digital eos cameras for three years now and I have been very happy with my color results until I recently quit using srgb and started using adobe rgb. The skin tones of my subjects became very muddy upon switching. This was suprising, I always do a custom white balance and I understand that adobe rgb has a wider range of color. I need some advice on what I am doing wrong. I always bring my files into photoshop and I work in adobe rgb while I'm in photoshop. The skin tones look muddy on the back of the camera, and on a mac computer screen in photoshop set to adobe rgb, and on a pc computer screen in photoshop set to adobe rgb, and on the final print which is coming off a nuritsu machine. I'm not sure what to do about this issue but I'm quite sure that my first mistake is happening at the camera. Is there anything I need to set with customized parameters or anything else to be able to use abobe rgb properly. I have heard that most printers can only handle srgb for the time being. Is this true? If so then even if I can get great looking adobe rgb files on screen, what will I get from a machine that only handles srgb? Also does anybody know a site or a book that explains ICC profiling in depth as well as general color management because I really need to get a more well rounded understanding of all this.

[clasami]

Did you assign adobeRGB as color space when opening the image in PS?

Regards,

Michael

[scottbergerphoto]

If you shoot Adobe RGB in the camera, convert the Raw file, if Raw to Adobe RGB in your conversion software, open in PS CS with the Adobe RGB profile Assigned, your images should look fine.
Scott

[ecobo]

Adobe RGB color space is a profile, developed for prepress needs. It realy has wider color range and the most important - wider dynamic range. It records very good details in highlights and shadow areas. But as it is a prepress-dedicated profile, it records the objects with a little bit decreased color saturation. So, to produce the same saturated colors as you obtain with the sRGB, you must increase the saturation with an amount of 10 to 15%.
Opening the file in PS, you must assign the AdobeRGB color profile.
Before you output the photos, I recommend you to convert the colors to sRGB, as there are some labs that have not support for AdobeRGB.
I always shoot AdobeRGB and achieve wonderful results.

[jens1204@earthlink.net]

I have set Photoshop to Adobe RGB and I have shot in RAW and set the files to open as Adobe RGB in Photoshop. Like I said they look muddy from start to finish. I have done the extra saturation in Photoshop to correct the problem and it works ok but when I use srgb there is no adjustment to be made colorwise. Thank you all for the information.

[maderito]

Adobe RGB and sRGB are color spaces, i.e. each are subsets of the universe of colors observable by humans. Each color space is defined in its respective ICC profile (which also contains other info). The Adobe RGB gamut is larger than sRGB and, importantly, contains all the colors of sRGB. Therefore, you can accurately specify any sRGB defined color within the Adobe RGB space (although the color numbers are not the same – see below).

Most decent CRT monitors can display the entire sRGB gamut but not the full Adobe RGB gamut. Many printers have a wider gamut than sRGB but smaller than Adobe RGB.

Given a perfect workflow from camera capture to image output on a monitor or printer, you should get good results from images in either sRGB or Adobe RGB. The problems arise when the workflow is not perfect.

If an image captured in one color space is output to another space, it won’t look right without conversion. Thus an Adobe RGB image displayed in sRGB space looks washed out unless it is first converted. For instance, sRGB pure green, R=0, G=255, B=0, if converted to the SAME color in Adobe RGB has the color numbers R=144, G=255 B=60. How, when, and who should perform these conversions is not always clear – thus the ongoing confusion and debate.

If working with Adobe RGB DSLR images, it’s probably safest to convert them to sRGB (image>mode>convert to profile) before submitting them to a printer (or to the web) unless you have full control of the workflow and associated ICC profiles from camera to image editing application to printer.

[clasami]

Which software do you use to convert your images?

Regards,

Michael

[maderito]

Which software do you use to convert your images?
Regards,
Michael
I know you can convert from one color space to another (e.g. sRGB to Adobe RGB and vice-versa) in Photoshop 6/7/CS: Image>Mode>Convert to Profile.

[clasami]

Misunderstanding. I was asking which program you use to convert raw. CS ARC, C1, Bibble, FVU?

Michael

[maderito]

Misunderstanding. I was asking which program you use to convert raw. CS ARC, C1, Bibble, FVU?
Michael
Photoshop Adobe Raw Converter (ARC).

I save the converted RAW image in Adobe RGB color space for printing and convert a copy to sRGB for web use.

[clasami]

Does the "muddy" appearance go away if you select "proof" "monitor rgb"?