"Working" Color Space - sRGB, Abobe RGB, and ProPhoto RGB

After getting Lightroom, I decided to make my working color space Pro Photo RGB per Light Rooms recommendations.

I understand that sRGB is pretty much the standard for web, and almost all printing labs that I go to.

I soon found out after sending a photo for print with a Pro Photo RGB color space that photo colors are not correct...

The last step prior to printing, I have been been taking the photo (in Photoshop) and then using the Convert to Profile feature in Photoshop to sRGB right before printing.

I just wanted to see what you guys like to use. I am obviously trying to achieve the max quality and color gamut during editing, but is the last step of converting the profile the correct process?

If not, what do YOU do?

I'm not very good at this, sorry! But thanks for the question - I'll be following the thread for advice

You might want to read this thread, and follow a few links from there...

I convert to sRGB for web / mail.
Mostly I use AdobeRGB (8bpc or 16bpc), occasionally ProPhoto or WideGamutRGB (16 bpc off course)

Read the color book I recommend, see link in sig below. If you use ProFoto RGB make sure the color space is embedded and your print shop supports that color space, otherwise it'll look crappy.

Shoot the color space that everyone uses - sRGB. AdobeRGB is a bigger color space and can cause banding and loss of gamut when converting to sRGB. I've seen people want to get "all the colors possible" by shooting color spaces larger than sRGB but it's not smart to do that for 99% of photographers out there. Here's why:

1) sRGB has more colors than your computer monitor or virtually any photographic printer can produce - you're already losing some range

2) your eyes could not distinguish the additional colors in a colorspace bigger than sRGB. You can't even SEE what a 16-bit color representation would show you!

3) Unless you're using a highly specific printing process like Hexachrome (six ink, highly expensive process), you'll always have to convert to sRGB anyway

Don't waste time shooting anything other than sRGB - you can't see the extra colors, you can't print the extra colors and you'll always have to convert to sRGB to show, display or print your work anyway.

Sorry, but 1) and 2) are not true.

René Damkot wrote in post #3033708
Sorry, but 1) and 2) are not true.

René, you are correct.

After shooting my images with camera defaults and converting the RAW images to Prophoto, I convert to sRGB for Web and print. And I can see the difference in images that I've sent through sRGB vs Adobe RGB or Prophoto. The differences may be subtle in most images but they do exist.

Oh Boy...here we go again.

StealthLude wrote in post #3033441
After getting Lightroom, I decided to make my working color space Pro Photo RGB per Light Rooms recommendations.

I understand that sRGB is pretty much the standard for web, and almost all printing labs that I go to.

I soon found out after sending a photo for print with a Pro Photo RGB color space that photo colors are not correct...

The last step prior to printing, I have been been taking the photo (in Photoshop) and then using the Convert to Profile feature in Photoshop to sRGB right before printing.

I just wanted to see what you guys like to use. I am obviously trying to achieve the max quality and color gamut during editing, but is the last step of converting the profile the correct process?

If not, what do YOU do?

You didn't mention what you were doing in Photoshop after adjustng in LR but if you are just using PS for converting you can do that in LR during export. I think all the rest of your questions have been answered by others more qualified than I.

Sure they are. Check the color space diagrams - every one I have ever seen shows the printer color space smaller than the sRGB color space, and the monitor color space even smaller.

As for printers, I have personally called all the labs I use to verify this and they have told me PERSONALLY that they would be lucky to even APPROACH the sRGB color space in accurate reproduction.

René Damkot wrote in post #3033708
Sorry, but 1) and 2) are not true.

removed

RVsForFun wrote in post #3034609
Check the color space diagrams

Not sure what you have been looking at... Click here, scroll down to 'in print', and have a look at the gamut of a High end inkjet printer... It's bigger then AdobeRGB in some colors.

Quote: "We see a big difference in how each printer uses the additional colors provided by Adobe RGB 1998: The Fuji Frontier only uses a small patch of yellow in the highlights, whereas the high-end inkjet printer exceeds sRGB for colors in shadows, midtones, and highlights. The high-end inkjet even exceeds the gamut of Adobe RGB 1998 for cyan-green midtones and yellow highlights."


sRGB originated as the 'average' monitor, so most monitors color spaces would be about as big as SRGB. Some can display the entire AdobeRGB gamut nowadays. (Big $$$ though)

Here is another link.

Hi Stealth - I posted this in another thread and apologize to those who have to suffer through it a second time (TOO BAD!! ) but it may help you out a little...

Basically, most of use should be shooting sRGB for the general type of work we do, unless we are making certain unique specialty images. A couple of weeks ago I attended one of Will Crockett's Shootsmarter seminars and he did a nice job of explaining which color space is best for a particular situation.

sRGB - This is the best choice if you are doing Wedding, Portrait, Senior and a lot of "general purpose" photography. This is what the commercial pro labs usually want to receive, and it will give you accurate screen to print matching. It's color space is "smaller" than what is contained in an aRGB profile, but printers are typically set up to deliver excellent results with those files.

Adobe RGB (aRGB) - this profile has the larger color space of the two, and is suitable for fine art prints, offset lithography printing, commercial product and architectural photography. Typically you may see ad prints with more vibrant greens, yellows, etc. that seem to jump off the page. These were likely done in aRGB, not the sort of thing you necessarily want for bridal gowns and wedding day photography.

You will get images from using either of these, but some results will be poor if you make the wrong choice. For example if you send an aRGB profiled print to a an output machine - Walmart Fuji Fronier, your printer or some other device - likely the colors will be somewhat muddied, or just not as vibrant since that type of printer was expecting an sRGB file.

Another suggestion which I've stated before is to have your lab provide you with a test print and disk with that file on it. Using the "stare and compare" method of cheap and dirty calibration can often get you quite close in the ballpark. - Stu
- Stu

Can someone shed some light on this for me...

If your printer can print colors that the monitor cannot display, and you use a colour space that allows it to take advantage of those colours, how are you suppose to know what your print will look like and how can you account for what your output will looks like when you do certain things in photoshop like increasing saturation? Just print up a 4x6 and see if it looks ok and then go from there?