Really confused about color space

rhendricks wrote in post #7060371
If Adobe RGB, or even ProPhoto RGB is the color manager for print, why would the labs (which many pros seem to use) require an sRGB image?

Rebecca

Not all printing is the same. AdobeRGB was originally designed for use in preparing photos for offset printing presses, the sort of thing that magazines and brochures are printed on. It is only relatively recently, last five years or so, that high quality home inkjets have been improved to the point where they can print a gamut as wide as AdobeRGB.

The large commercial labs will print only sRGB for a simple reason, economics. The vast percentage of their business comes from simple point-and-shoot cameras that output only sRGB. Their workflow is based on handling large quantities quickly and the small number of images from advanced photographers doesn't justfy special handling. There are, however, more expensive labs who have a color managed workflow.

The book is titled, "The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers," by Scott Kelby. It is the text book for the digital image course at the college I'll be starting next week. I know I should be patient, but this rogue color hijacking has been causing me grief for a very long time.

Back to the book,........ well written, clear and concise with good illustrations. He adds just enough humor to keep it from reading like a (ugh,_) manual!

Rebecca