What ICC profiles and Color Space Workflow do you use?

[mamarazzi_hrd]

So I have read many conflicting things on different forums, so I thought I would ask here and see what the consensus is.......

 

[*Mike*]

I'll generally shoot in RAW, which is independent of color space. Then I'll typically maintain an sRGB workflow, since it simplifies online use and is preferred by my lab (Millers.)

Of course, Lightroom operates entirely in ProPhoto until exported. So, I guess in reality, I'm typically going from RAW to ProPhoto to sRGB for tweaking and final use.

There's definitely a place for the wider gamuts, but unless I start to see a breakdown in the image I keep things as simple as possible. If I start to see artifacts, I can always reprocess the RAW file entirely in ProPhoto or Adobe RGB. In reality though, it's rare that it's going to make a visible difference in the final print.

 

[royalWITHcheese2]

I shoot in RAW as well, and like Mike said when using Lightroom it uses ProPhoto, depending on what I use the image for it usually gets exported as sRGB.

 

[andrew99]

I like to keep it simple - sRGB from start to finish. It just works, the images look the same in Photoshop, on the web and printed. I have experimented with Adobe RGB 1998, but if you're not careful you can get weird results. Although this is most likely more about my lack of understanding than a problem with Adobe RGB 1998!

 

[manaheim]

I shoot in RAW and usually process in sRGB to simplify issues with web browsers since I usually work with and display my stuff online.

However, I recently had a real "talking to" by someone who I have an enormous amount of respect for, both in photography and in general, and he basically went off on me for working in sRGB.

He acknowledges that sRGB is the best option for creating an image for displaying online, but strongly suggests that I work in AdobeRGB and convert to sRGB when making a copy for the web. His take is that the AdobeRGB space is simply far broader and (as someone put in a recent conversation about 8 bit vs. 12/14/16bit) more "sturdy" when making adjustments or corrections.

I didn't follow his advice quite literally, but I do now make a point to convert from RAW to AdobeRGB if I need to print or display my work in a non-webby way where I can be assured that I will be in control of the display and use of the image throughout.

EDIT: Btw, a slightly older but still good article explaining the reasons why you should use AdobeRGB is here. The graphic about midway down on the right is very telling.

 

[Garbz]

My opinion: Use the space you can work with. If you have a standard gamut monitor and you're working with PhotoPro, if your photo clips the gamut of your display device, which it often would when a polariser is used, you can't work with it because you can't see it. Mind you there are several tools like out of gamut warning areas which show how your image is actually clipping the sRGB gamut, and soft proofing to show how the image will look on its destination device.

There are a few things to take from that too. 1. Colour management is a headache compared to having everything in sRGB, 2. The vast majority of images fit nicely into sRGB., 3. The vast majority of software other people use doesn't support colour management properly., and finally even in sRGB mode the vast majority of printers, even the ICC profiles I've grabbed from a local pro lab bearly stick their toes out of the sRGB gamut, and only a lucky few would actually make prints to use the gamut.

Now for a bit of hypocrisy I use AdobeRGB for my workflow but only because that is the native colour gamut of my monitor. Although I think a whole 5 of my photos are actually archived in AdobeRGB, the rest I convert to sRGB when I finish editing unless I can visibly see that sRGB will be a noticeable quality hit, which only really happens when I bump up my saturation in post processing.

 

[manaheim]

Oooo... Wikipedia has an even better diagram. Of course, now I see ProPhoto is an even more robust color space, so now I'm trying to investigate why I wouldn't just use that.

Curse you, mamarazzi_hrd, for asking this question!

 

[mamarazzi_hrd]

Oooo... Wikipedia has an even better diagram. Of course, now I see ProPhoto is an even more robust color space, so now I'm trying to investigate why I wouldn't just use that.

Curse you, mamarazzi_hrd, for asking this question!

LOL, sorry!!!

Thanks for your response and insite!!!

 

[mamarazzi_hrd]

According to that Wikipedia graphic, the ProPhoto covers more than any of them and since that is the native color gamut for Lightroom.....the ideal way would probably be.....

Shoot RAW....edit in ProPhoto(LR) and covert to sRGB for web/lab printing....

Interesting!

 

[Helen B]

If you do work in ProPhoto or any of the larger colour spaces, you had better work in 16-bit.

The Wikipedia graphic is trying to show a three-dimensional space in a two-dimensional map - it doesn't show the full story of the differences between the colour spaces. If you want the whole picture, you should either examine 3-D shapes, or 2-D slices through the 3-D shape.

I use Adobe RGB because almost all of my work is destined for printing.

Here are two earlier threads about colour space: link, link.

Best,
Helen

 

[MACollum]

Of course, Lightroom operates entirely in ProPhoto until exported.

Could this be why Lightroom does funny stuff to my pictures? I asked a question on the forum once about Lightroom and how it always exports the pictures as different from how they looked in Lightroom. I also notice that the colors tend to be way off so I've pretty much stopped using Lightroom except for some of the effects. Is there any way to make it all match up? My monitor is calibrated and all of my programs are set to display sRGB, but still Lightroom does weird stuff.

 

[manaheim]

Could this be why Lightroom does funny stuff to my pictures? I asked a question on the forum once about Lightroom and how it always exports the pictures as different from how they looked in Lightroom. I also notice that the colors tend to be way off so I've pretty much stopped using Lightroom except for some of the effects. Is there any way to make it all match up? My monitor is calibrated and all of my programs are set to display sRGB, but still Lightroom does weird stuff.

I haven't used lightroom but have seen this kind of behavior when Photoshop isn't setup to manage colorspaces properly. Is there a color settings option somewhere in your menus?

 

[Garbz]

Definitely. Colour space is one of the drop down options in the export dialogue box. Make sure you export to sRGB and photos in lightroom should look identical to photos outside of lightroom.

If ever you are in doubt if colour space is an issue or not, open a photo in internet explorer (not colour managed) and then open the photo in Windows Picture and Fax viewer (source profile managed), and compare them.

If they are the same then the colour space is sRGB, if they are different then the file has an embedded ICC profile that's different from sRGB.