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Another great client request about Color Spaces, sRGB, Adobe RGB and ProPhoto! In this video I’ll cover what they are, how it applies to your work and what I personally use in my workflow.The pro’s and con’s for each. I also discuss 8-bit vs. 16-bit
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September 30, 2011 10:55 pm
Thanks Shane. I print on an Epson Stylus Pro 4800, mainly in A3 and occasionally in A2.I find the colours are better in Adobe RGB than sRGB, although the difference is not huge.
The camera club I belong to uses only sRGB for competitions, both for projected and printed images. However, it is easy to convert a batch of images from Adobe RGB to sRGB in a PS Action. It doesn’t really make sense to go the other way since the gamut of sRGB cannot be increased to match the larger Adobe RGB gamut.
In regard to ProPhoto, I fully understand that no printer can reproduce the full (or even most)ProPhoto gamut. Some reviews state that provided all ProPhoto images are carefully soft-proofed in PS before printing, the printed result can be noticeably better than sRGB or Adobe RGB. Ignoring the soft-proofing step can apparently result in some pretty ugly colour conversions.
I have not yet tried this myself, but I have started to save selected good quality TIFF images with ProPhoto embedded. I lose nothing by doing this and I can still easily convert back to Adobe RGB at any time, even though there is a small theoretical degradation in colour quality associated with each colour space conversion.
There is also a strong possibility that whilst no printer will ever be able to print the whole ProPhoto gamut, the printable gamut may be much larger in years to come. This would enable me to go back to my RAW or TIFF images and take advantage of any printing improvements. It is also likely that larger gamuts will be possible on future monitors.
PeterS
October 1, 2011 7:44 am
Peter, go for it. If you are working with a FULL RAW workflow e.g. shooting in RAW (Adobe RGB), processing RAW and going straight to Pro Photo from LightRoom or whatever you’re using to process your RAW’s that’s fine if you think there’s some benefit.
Just to clarify though, if you’re NOT doing it that way and say shooting in Adobe RGB and then editing in Adobe RGB and then just converting to ProPhoto space in photoshop to print or something similar to that there is NO benefit in doing that. It’s like trying to Res up a file with detail/data it never had.
For me personally I highly doubt I’ll be wanting to come back and reprint my work in 10 years time to see if it looks any better. I imagine I’ll just keep shooting and want to print my current work at the time. I like the idea and the theory of what you’re saying but for me personally I highly doubt I’ll do that.
As I mentioned in the video/articles too there are such varying opinions on the topic both for and against I think at the end of the day it has to come back to your own testing and the results you’re getting. If you are getting visually better prints doing it one way or the other stick with that. If there is no visual difference and it’s more difficult then I’d be asking if it’s really worth it. You mentioned that you can see some small difference for the better with Adobe RGB so I guess if that is worth the change in workflow if there is one or you’re thinking you will definitely be printing your work from now in 5-10 years time when the printers are insane and they can cope with the larger gamut then great!
FUN times!
September 30, 2011 5:12 pm
Excellent analysis Shane. I understand output —to the screen. But one thing you didn’t go onto is printing. Does it make a difference if you print output in Adobe RGB? or can you print successfully in sRGB?
September 30, 2011 6:26 pm
Thank you! Yes, most devices an ‘Most’ labs print closer to the sRGB workspace than Adobe RGB. If you supply it in Adobe RGB it will be converted to their printer Workspace and you may notice some variations. Most of the labs I have spoken to confirm that their printers Kodak Pro. etc. are running closest to sRGB. Do some tests and speak with whoever you use. You may find if you’re printing your own work that Adobe RGB on an Epson for example will give you good results. But you will have to test.
September 29, 2011 9:05 pm
Very informative – well done(again)
September 29, 2011 9:29 pm
Thanks Henk
Glad you enjoyed it!