Color Management

ICC - International Color Consortium Color Spaces (88, 249, 17) Adobe RGB (88, 249, 17) sRGB ICC - International Color Consortium www.color.org http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/color_management.htm

Color Spaces LAB color space consists of the range of colors that the human eye can see and has a very large gamut. L – Luminosity A – Green / Red B – Blue / Yellow

Color Spaces

Color Spaces Of Inkjet Printers

Color Management Workflow Input Devices Camera Scanner Display Devices Monitor Projectors Web Output Devices Printers Photo Labs

Input Devices Get it right in the camera first. Exposure White Balance Color Space Setting Camera Calibration

Camera Color Space Settings

Camera Profiling Take a RAW picture in the same light you are photographing in. Save it for setting profiles in Photoshop,Lightroom or Aperture.

Monitor Calibration Datacolor - Spyder Xrite - Colormunki

Bring it into the computer Lightroom, Aperture or Adobe Camera Raw RAW still does not have a color space. You can work in Lightroom, Aperture or Adobe Camera Raw without a color space assigned. This is the time to apply the Camera Profile. Color Space is assigned when the Raw file is converted to jpg, tif or psd. Jpeg have the color space that was assigned in the camera.

Bring it into Photoshop (Elements) Color Space Now is the time to set the Color Space for Raw Files. Set Lightroom, Camera Raw, Aperture External Editing setting to same setting in Photoshop For most of us that would be sRGB At this point there could be problems if the file does not have a color space.

Bring it into Photoshop (Elements) How do you know which color space to use? Pros for sRGB Most monitors don’t display all of Adobe RGB. Most inexpensive printers and photo lab printers (including professional) don’t use Adobe RGB. Most photo papers don’t show Adobe RGB colors well. sRGB shows best on web. Starting with sRGB from the beginning is the safest as you don’t have to remember to switch to sRGB before output. Some pros and cons for Adobe RGB: If you have a photo with colors that fall outside the sRGB range that are important to render accurately, AND you have an ink-jet printer that can render them, Adobe RGB is a better choice than sRGB. Adobe RGB is also better if you have a commercial client, such as a magazine, that requests it in Adobe RGB. The pure cyan in HP's original logo can only be accurately represented by Adobe RGB, whereas in sRGB you would have to pick a substitute color. If you work with a printer who requires you files to be in CMYK. Then maybe Adobe RGB is better place to start. However, Adobe 98 is broader, meaning it spreads its crayons across a broader range of colors by making the jump between each color more coarse. You get finer increments of skin tone by using sRGB, for example. http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93362

Bring it into Photoshop (Elements) Rending Intents Perceptual rendering tries to preserve the visual relationship between colors. Colors that are in-gamut may change as out-of-gamut colors are shifted to reproducible colors. Perceptual rendering is a good choice when your image has many out-of gamut colors. It sacrifices accuracy to produce a more visually pleasing image. Very useful when the source has a wide gamut and the destination has a small gamut Relative rendering preserves all in-gamut colors and shifts out-of gamut colors to the closest reproducible color. The Relative option preserves more of the original color and is a good choice when you have few out-of-gamut colors. Used when color accuracy is the most important. Works best when source and destination gamuts are similar. So which is the best rendering intent for digital photography? In general, perceptual and relative colorimetric are best suited for photography because they aim to preserve the same visual appearance as the original. The decision about when to use each of these depends on image content and the intended purpose. Images with intense colors (such as bright sunsets or well-lit floral arrangements) will preserve more of their color gradation in extreme colors using perceptual intent. On the other hand, this may come at the expense of compressing or dulling more moderate colors. Images with more subtle tones (such as some portraits) often stand to benefit more from the increased accuracy of relative colorimetric (assuming no colors are placed within the gamut mismatch region). Perceptual intent is overall the safest bet for general and batch use, unless you know specifics about each image. http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/color-space-conversion.htm http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps12_colour/ps12_1.htm “Practical Color Management” by Eddie Tapp

Bring it into Photoshop (Elements) Assigning vs Converting Color Spaces Assigning Color Spaces preserves the Numbers. Do this ONLY when first assigning a color space or if you receive a file that does not have a color space. Converting Color Spaces does it’s best to preserve the appearance of the colors. Convert the color space when changing from one color space to the next. Converting to a larger color space doesn’t work very well.

Printer ICC Profiling How to install ICC profiles http://x-equals.com/blog/?p=6000 Where to find ICC profiles for your printer? Try your printer manufactor’s website. Google you printer model and “ICC Profiles” http://www.drycreekphoto.com/icc/using_printer_profiles.htm

Printer Soft Proofing Soft proofing in Photoshop will give you an idea of what your image will look like when printed. You need to have an ICC profile for your printer or lab’s printer. Soft proofing will let you know if You have colors that are out of gamut for the printer. You have shadows or highlights where details will be lost. Which rending intent to use when using your own printer. Check out this great youtube video Adobe Photoshop Soft Proof and Gamut warning