What Colour (Color) Space?

[dhsimmonds]

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I have entered a few competitions and exhibitions recently where images are projected digitally. Many different formats, compressions, file sizes and pixel dimensions are specified. Also so is colour space, with Srgb seeming to be the favourite.

 

Now my system is set up totally as Adobe (1998) RGB, that is camera, monitor and printers. However it's no big deal to convert from this to Srgb to satisfy the odd comp or exhibition.

 

The thought has occurred to me though, what colour space do forum members use when posting images to the Photo Forum? Does it really make much difference?

[Guest guy_mancuso]

Dave for the web you should always convert to SRGB.

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[stunsworth]

sRGB. Colours typically looked washed out when using Adobe 98 in a non-colour space enabled application like a web browser.

[dhsimmonds]

Thanks Guy and Steve................this would explain perhaps why I sometimes send members mad with some of my colour images!

[Guest WPalank]

Dave,

In Photoshop (at least CS2 and CS3), use "Convert to Profile" and NOT "Assign profile" to get the image into the sRGB working space. You will find it under Edit>Convert to Profile, then use the dropdown menu which has sRGB plus a bunch of numbers after it.

I beleive in CS1 you'll find it under the File Menu.

[ChrisC]

...... my system is set up totally as Adobe (1998) RGB, that is camera, monitor and printers.

 

This doesn't sound right to me.

 

The camera allocation of Adobe 98 [ARGB] will apply only to Jpeg files, not to RAW files which come into ARGB in RAW conversion only because you have ARGB selected as your preferred working space. Unless you have a wide gamut monitor, it's colour space will be sRGB. Your printer's print engine will be converting your ARGB file to the colour gamut of your printer, your inks, and the particular paper you have chosen to print on, pre-supposing correct profiles are being selected when you go to print. Changing one of these ingredients [e.g. different paper] changes the colour space available, which shows the printer is not working in ARGB as suggested.

 

As regards 'convert to profile' and 'assign profile', going from the larger ARGB to the smaller sRGB will lose some colours in a conversion, so do that on a duplicate file and retain the ARGB original file in it's larger colour space. Assigning will not lose the original file's larger gamut, but it will still enable the destined user [print,web, whatever] to recognise how you intended the file's colours to be used. I use many large colour spaces, assign changed colour spaces regularly to the same file, and never convert when sending a file to my Epson printer; that's the printer driver's job. A file with an assigned colour space, still carries that colour space assignation upon reopening.

 

If all this is nonsense someone far smarter than me will soon point it out, so lets see. If it isn't nonsense, I hope I have helped.

 

........................Chris