color management, workflow, monitor calibration

[Gooberlx2]

So I fiddled with setting my in-camera (EOS 300D) parameters to AdobeRGB this weekend. I shoot RAW and from some of what I've read online, it doesn't matter because my settings in the RAW software I use will determine what the ultimate colorspace of the picture is.

Soooo...

I'm tweaking some pictures and notice that the color output in my color-aware programs isn't matching my browser. After much trial and tribulation I noticed that when I switched my default profile in windows's color management from a calibrated profile (done through PSPX) to regular sRGB, things start matching up. I had thought I wasn't properly converting from AdobeRGB to sRGB back during the RAW to TIFF to JPG conversion.

This is when I realize I really don't have a handle on color management like I though I had. I thought it was a good idea to use a calibrated display profile, but then things don't match my web albums since browsers aren't color aware. So perhaps display calibration is really only for in-house printing?

Here's what I'm doing now.

Canon 300D settings - AdobeRGB (though it shouldn't make a difference since I shoot RAW...right?)
Windows Display settings - sRGB Color Space Profile
Rawshooter Essentials - Uses windows setting --> sRGB. Conversion working Space set to sRGB.
Paint Shop Pro X - Monitor Profile: sRGB. Working Space: sRGB.

So basically I set everything except the camera to sRGB because of ease when trying to save images for the web (which is what I mostly do).

How is everyone else managing color from Camera, to program, to display profiles (calibrated or not)? I'm so much more confused than I used to be.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

1. Setting the color space to ARGB or sRGB has no effect when you're shooting RAW. I like to set it to ARGB anyway for the very rare occasions when I shoot JPEG.
2. Windows Display Settings: just use the Default Plug n Play Monitor Profile. If you have a monitor color calibrator, you would create your own custom color profile for your monitor and in Windows Display Settings you would replace Default PnP Profile with the custom profile you created for your monitor.
3. You want your working spaces to be in Adobe RGB. ARGB is a larger color space than sRGB, so it gives you added flexibility when it's set as your working space.
4. Whenever you plan to upload photos to the web or even to an online printer, you need to convert and save your Adobe RGB photo to sRGB.

So you shoot in RAW, you work in Adobe RGB, you save a master copy in Adobe RGB, and you save and convert a secondary copy to sRGB for web stuff.

 

[soydios]

I normally shoot RAW, but also like FuzzyBabyBunny, I have both my D50 set to save JPEGs in the AdobeRGB color space for when I take sports shots and need the larger capacity for JPEG images on my memory card and in my write buffer. I also save JPEG exports at 60% quality in the AdobeRGB color space of all my images, but I save reduced-resolution JPEGs at 40% quality in the sRGB space for my slideshow screensaver. Furthermore, when exporting files for uploading to the web, I use an even further reduced resolution and the sRGB color space. Adobe Lightroom allows me to use presets for each of the above, automatically configuring destination folder, JPEG quality, resolution, and color space.

sRGB is for general viewing, because it has more "punch" to it by default. AdobeRGB is for editing and printing, because it preserves slightly more image data.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
1. Setting the color space to ARGB or sRGB has no effect when you're shooting RAW. I like to set it to ARGB anyway for the very rare occasions when I shoot JPEG.
2. Windows Display Settings: just use the Default Plug n Play Monitor Profile. If you have a monitor color calibrator, you would create your own custom color profile for your monitor and in Windows Display Settings you would replace Default PnP Profile with the custom profile you created for your monitor.
3. You want your working spaces to be in Adobe RGB. ARGB is a larger color space than sRGB, so it gives you added flexibility when it's set as your working space.
4. Whenever you plan to upload photos to the web or even to an online printer, you need to convert and save your Adobe RGB photo to sRGB.

So you shoot in RAW, you work in Adobe RGB, you save a master copy in Adobe RGB, and you save and convert a secondary copy to sRGB for web stuff.

Thanks for the advice.

So the problem I'm seeing is that when I make a custom/calibrated monitor profile, the colors might be right, for me, when I'm editing in PSP or PS (or other color aware program), but totally different when viewed through a web browser. From what I've read, the monitor profile adjusts the colors of any image (aRGB, sRGB or otherwise) to the monitor's profile for the best accuracy. This seems great for printing with my own equipment, but not so great for trying to edit for a web album or sending to a printing service (since they mostly assume sRGB). Thoughts on this?

It seems that simply setting the monitor to the default sRGB, as you suggest, is the simplest way to do things. Now since I've set the monitor to regular sRGB I do seem to be able to use aRGB in both RAWshooter and PaintShopPro and things turn out fine when I save jpgs for the web. There's no specific "convert color space" function in PSP that I can find. So it leaves me weary as to whether or not these files will actually display correctly for everyone else. Maybe one day I'll have enough money to spend on lightroom and PS.

Anyone know of any freeware colorspace conversion tools?

 

[Gooberlx2]

Thought I'd bump this because I did find a new tool and discover one I already had to convert profile within photos, without using photoshop.

DryCreekPhoto has a free icc profile converter. TIFF files are limited to 8-bit though. Also, little had I known that Canon's Digital Photo Professional (v3.0.2.6) will automatically convert to its working space profile when saving images. I'd been using this program for a while and never really made the connection. DryCreekPhoto's program is able to make use of any to/from profile conversion. For saving DPP uses only sRGB, aRGB, Wide Gamut, Apple RGB and Colormatch RGB, it can read from any profile.

So now I'm doing this:
- Monitor profile set at sRGB (so I know how things will look online).
- RAW manipulation and conversion to TIFF (ProPhoto) in RawShooter Essentials
- Image editing in PaintShopPro X (ProPhoto working space)
- Save for web using DPP (JPG, sRGB).

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Sounds pretty good. And yeah, ProPhoto > Adobe RGB (literally).