colorspace question

[transoptic]

I work with RAW files and usually save images for the web, although sometimes I need to send images to print.

Now I understand that sRGB is optimal for web viewing, but should I do all my editing in a larger gamut? AdobeRGB or Profoto, for example?

[Swampy]

Edit in RGB for print save as RGB (300 DPI). Convert to CMYK and save a TIFF under a different file name for hand off to the printer.

[skydog]

Great timing for this thread...

I've never had to deal with CMYK since most of my work is with photos, but recently I was asked to design a business card for a friend. Enclosed is the back the the card in both RGB and CMYK. Both the customer and myself like the RGB, but we question the difference and darkness of the CMYK. I did has Swampy suggests above, but I wondered if I should have designed in CMYK so I know the color I am dealing with? But then I guess what I see on the monitor in CMYK is not what I would get when we go to print? Does calibration of the monitor take care of this?

[transoptic]

I wasn't talking about CMYK vs RGB... I was talking more about color profiles such as sRGB or Profoto.

[skydog]

Sorry bout that...I guess I picked that up from Swampy's response. Hopefully someone can give me a quick response to my question...

[pixelzombie]

from what i understand and i could be wrong here, but you only need adobe RGB if your subject mater can actually use the wider gamut and if you have an output device that can handle such a wide gamut...

[DWThomp]

I generally do my RAW conversions to AdobeRGB and the corrections in it. One of the labs I use for prints wants the file in sRGB so I do the conversion as the last thing. Also, any save for web gets converted to sRGB.

[Swampy]

To answer Skydog's question. I have a tutorial on Color Shift to help explain why it happens and although it talks about inkjet printers, the theory applies to high end commercial presses as well. You can get a feel for areas in your work that are going to shift when printed by going to View>Gamut and turning on the gamut warning. A highlight color (chosen in Photoshop Preferences) will designate the areas that will be affected by color shift. Also, your color picker will be limited to the areas that fall within the printing gamut.

[mquest]

I suggest that you do your editing in AdobeRGB, then you have a good original for conversion to both sRGB and whatever CMYK profile you want.

[BobJones]

Forget about CYMK unless you are doing prepress and sending this out to be printed on some kind of printing press.

When it comes to color spaces, bigger isn't always better. When it comes time to print, the image will have to be converted to 8-bit depth (I'm not aware of any printer that accepts 16-bit at this time) and you'll find that larger color spaces are not as smooth in the transitions from one step value to the next as a smaller color space. You can introduce banding in areas of subtle color variations. And, the wider the color space, the harder it will be for to work accurately with the image on the monitor.

And, just because you use a larger color space, it doesn't mean that you will actually make use of the full gamut possible. Unless you tend to shoot highly saturated images, it's likely that the majority of colors in the image will fit within sRGB.

It makes the most sense to work in Adobe RGB or another larger color space if you are printing your own prints. If you are sending your photos out to a photo lab for printing, the vast majority require sRGB.

My preference is to use a working color space of Adobe RGB and print using my own printer. I'll convert to sRGB when necessary. But, I'll work natively in sRGB when I'm working with subtle color graduations or where it makes sense to do so.