Which Color Space to Choose When Editing

[KinleyB]

Hello all!

I’ve gone through tons of forums on this topic but am still very confused. I shoot in RAW, export to my computer, edit in Lightroom and then export from there to folders for posting/printing etc.

My camera is set to SRGB, but my understanding is that does not matter with RAW shooting. However, on my BENQ monitor, I have the ability to quickly switch between SRGB, AdobeRGB, many other modes that I don’t know, and custom calibrations. Which should I choose when editing? They all visually look very different.

Because I don’t have a solution yet, I’ve been going between them all and trying to find a happy medium in my editing that has ok colors and contrast in all modes. Then, I send to my phone to view and see if it is “ok” and make adjustments from there if not.

Then bottom line is: when editing, should I have my monitor mode set to SRGB, AdobeRGB, or my custom calibration for the most accurate color representation?

Thank you for helping this newb!

 

[mclewis]

Hello all!

I’ve gone through tons of forums on this topic but am still very confused. I shoot in RAW, export to my computer, edit in Lightroom and then export from there to folders for posting/printing etc.

My camera is set to SRGB, but my understanding is that does not matter with RAW shooting. However, on my BENQ monitor, I have the ability to quickly switch between SRGB, AdobeRGB, many other modes that I don’t know, and custom calibrations. Which should I choose when editing? They all visually look very different.

Because I don’t have a solution yet, I’ve been going between them all and trying to find a happy medium in my editing that has ok colors and contrast in all modes. Then, I send to my phone to view and see if it is “ok” and make adjustments from there if not.

Then bottom line is: when editing, should I have my monitor mode set to SRGB, AdobeRGB, or my custom calibration for the most accurate color representation?

Thank you for helping this newb!

In general you should use the widest possible colour space as your working colour space when editing so no (or minimal) data is clipped.

You can't choose the working colour space in Lightroom. It is based on ProPhotoRGB. In Photoshop the widest working space you can choose is ProPhotoRGB.

Now, your monitor colour space is not linked to the working colour space of your editing software. The monitor colour space is just what colours the monitor can display. Generally you would have it show the maximum range of colours by calibrating it to its native colour space (custom calibration).

Whatever colour space you monitor is using make sure the relevant icc profile is set for the monitor in the operating system settings. Then colour managed software will show colours in images as accurately as possible. If you change the monitor colour space and don't tell the system that it needs to use a different icc profile then the colours will be incorrect as the software is compensating for a different output that what the monitor is actually providing.

Don't bother using your phone to asses colours. It won't be calibrated. How sure are you that the photo viewing app is colour managed? Do your exported images have the correct colour space attached when you export them?

When you export images from Lightroom choose an appropriate destination colour space depending on what the use case is for the image.

 

[J A C S]

I decided to stick with one color space and chose sRGB for saving my photos, as wider color spaces, in my opinion, aren’t worth the hassle. Ideally, a high-quality sRGB monitor would suffice. However, when I set my Dell monitor to sRGB with the correct color profile, it felt too limiting. Instead, I use Adobe RGB with its corresponding profile, which works better for me. One drawback on Windows is that system colors aren’t properly managed. If I select an even wider color space supported by my monitor, the system icons, like yellows and reds, appear overly vibrant, almost neon-like. Photos saved in wider color spaces don’t look noticeably different.

Ultimately, it comes down to your monitor. If it performs well as a high-quality sRGB display, I’d recommend staying with that. Mine doesn’t, and Adobe RGB feels like a more refined version of sRGB. Further exploration of the calibration data supports this, but I won’t delve into those details here.

 

[mclewis]

Photos saved in wider color spaces don’t look noticeably different.

It depends on whether the colours in the photos fall outside the smaller colour space or not. An image where all the colours are in the sRGB gamut will look identical in any sRGB and any larger colour space that encompasses the sRGB gamut.

If a photo has a lot of colours that are not in the sRGB gamut but are in the AdobeRGB gamut then using a display that can cover the larger AdobeRGB gamut would make a difference compared to a sRGB display.

 

[J A C S]

Photos saved in wider color spaces don’t look noticeably different.

It depends on whether the colours in the photos fall outside the smaller colour space or not. An image where all the colours are in the sRGB gamut will look identical in any sRGB and any larger colour space that encompasses the sRGB gamut.

If a photo has a lot of colours that are not in the sRGB gamut but are in the AdobeRGB gamut then using a display that can cover the larger AdobeRGB gamut would make a difference compared to a sRGB display.

That was in the context of my monitor set to aRGB. It acts as a very good sRGB one. My point there was not to believe 100% that the monitor does what it claims.

When I set it to an even wider color space, I do see a difference, rarely, but as I said, I decided not to be bothered with it.

 

[Bill Ferris]

I choose AdobeRGB in post for the larger color space, especially in green.

 

[bodeswell]

Unless you have a specific reason to do otherwise you should stick to sRGB. That way your pictures will look the way you expect them to look when viewed on other people’s monitors. Your printer may be happier too.

It would be different if someone were paying you to maintain a certain color managed workflow. In that case you should give them what they want.

 

[mreynolds767]

Be careful as there are different applications that matter:

For editing purposes:

I used to use ProPhoto RGB - offers largest color gamut that Adobe offers.

but then when I would want to print I found I had colors out of gamut which became an minor but annoying issue I had to correct. I also don't believe my monitor could show the full ProPhoto gamut in certain colors either.

I since have switched to Adobe RGB. I use at least 1 printer that accepts this color space and can fully print the entirety. Other times for other printers it does need to be converted to sRGB for printing but that has not caused as many issues as converting from ProPhotoRGB did. I believe my monitor can also show the full Adobe RGB range or enough that I won't notice.

Occasionally have to print in CMYK and that stinks - always have color conversion issues with that.

Adobe RGB offers a wider color gamut than sRGB but not as wide as ProPhotoRGB.

if you never print and just use online it might be better just to edit in sRGB to start and never have to convert to another. Anything for the web is going to be sRGB. I don't believe color space editing is as big a deal as the 8/16/32 Bit concern where larger is beneficial for editing even though you have to save as 8 bit in the end.

For your monitor:

You don't want to limit your monitors color range. Get a calibration tool, follow it's instructions to let it set the colors and leave it - other than re-calibrating every few months.

For your camera:

Always capture the RAW data with as large a color space as your camera will allow. If your camera allows for ProPhoto RGB use that setting,

--
Online Gallery here
https://www.mattreynoldsphotography.com/

 

[dazzerfong]

Be careful as there are different applications that matter:

For editing purposes:

I used to use ProPhoto RGB - offers largest color gamut that Adobe offers.

but then when I would want to print I found I had colors out of gamut which became an minor but annoying issue I had to correct. I also don't believe my monitor could show the full ProPhoto gamut in certain colors either.

If you're talking about moving pictures from Lightroom to PS and back, that's very strange......but still, using ProPhoto minimises your quantisation errors. Soft proofing from a ProPhoto picture will help clamp the colours.

I since have switched to Adobe RGB. I use at least 1 printer that accepts this color space and can fully print the entirety. Other times for other printers it does need to be converted to sRGB for printing but that has not caused as many issues as converting from ProPhotoRGB did. I believe my monitor can also show the full Adobe RGB range or enough that I won't notice.

So question, why aren't you using a printer profile for your designated printer? Adobe RGB isn't a printer profile........

Occasionally have to print in CMYK and that stinks - always have color conversion issues with that.

Try soft proofing with your printer profile, it's always worked quite reliably for me.

Adobe RGB offers a wider color gamut than sRGB but not as wide as ProPhotoRGB.

if you never print and just use online it might be better just to edit in sRGB to start and never have to convert to another. Anything for the web is going to be sRGB. I don't believe color space editing is as big a deal as the 8/16/32 Bit concern where larger is beneficial for editing even though you have to save as 8 bit in the end.

Generally isn't, though browsers these days do support proper colour profile handling so you can take advantage of wider gamut (albeit rarely)

For your monitor:

You don't want to limit your monitors color range. Get a calibration tool, follow it's instructions to let it set the colors and leave it - other than re-calibrating every few months.

Lack of calibration doesn't limit your monitor's colour range - it only corrects the perception of it.

For your camera:

Always capture the RAW data with as large a color space as your camera will allow. If your camera allows for ProPhoto RGB use that setting,

Camera raws don't care about colour profile, that setting is only for JPEG or HEIF only.

 

[mujana]

Be careful as there are different applications that matter:

For editing purposes:

I used to use ProPhoto RGB - offers largest color gamut that Adobe offers.

but then when I would want to print I found I had colors out of gamut which became an minor but annoying issue I had to correct. I also don't believe my monitor could show the full ProPhoto gamut in certain colors either.

I don’t think any monitor can show the full ProPhoto gamut.

I since have switched to Adobe RGB. I use at least 1 printer that accepts this color space and can fully print the entirety. Other times for other printers it does need to be converted to sRGB for printing but that has not caused as many issues as converting from ProPhotoRGB did. I believe my monitor can also show the full Adobe RGB range or enough that I won't notice.

(not using Adobe for editing, but DXO Wide Gamut colour space for editing..larger than AdobeRGB). I use 16-bit ProPhoto tiffs for printing. Remarkable that print to screen is much better than AdobeRGB for printing. sRGB for sharing on computers.

Occasionally have to print in CMYK and that stinks - always have color conversion issues with that.

Adobe RGB offers a wider color gamut than sRGB but not as wide as ProPhotoRGB.

if you never print and just use online it might be better just to edit in sRGB to start and never have to convert to another. Anything for the web is going to be sRGB. I don't believe color space editing is as big a deal as the 8/16/32 Bit concern where larger is beneficial for editing even though you have to save as 8 bit in the end.

For your monitor:

You don't want to limit your monitors color range. Get a calibration tool, follow it's instructions to let it set the colors and leave it - other than re-calibrating every few months.

For your camera:

Always capture the RAW data with as large a color space as your camera will allow. If your camera allows for ProPhoto RGB use that setting,

--
Online Gallery here
https://www.mattreynoldsphotography.com/

 

[mclewis]

I also don't believe my monitor could show the full ProPhoto gamut in certain colors either.

No monitor can show the entire ProPhotoRGB gamut. It is impossible due to the primaries used (some of them are not physically possible).

 

[Malcolm Richardson]

Hello all!

I’ve gone through tons of forums on this topic but am still very confused. I shoot in RAW, export to my computer, edit in Lightroom and then export from there to folders for posting/printing etc.

My camera is set to SRGB, but my understanding is that does not matter with RAW shooting. However, on my BENQ monitor, I have the ability to quickly switch between SRGB, AdobeRGB, many other modes that I don’t know, and custom calibrations. Which should I choose when editing? They all visually look very different.

Because I don’t have a solution yet, I’ve been going between them all and trying to find a happy medium in my editing that has ok colors and contrast in all modes. Then, I send to my phone to view and see if it is “ok” and make adjustments from there if not.

Then bottom line is: when editing, should I have my monitor mode set to SRGB, AdobeRGB, or my custom calibration for the most accurate color representation?

Thank you for helping this newb!

In general you should use the widest possible colour space as your working colour space when editing so no (or minimal) data is clipped.

You can't choose the working colour space in Lightroom. It is based on ProPhotoRGB. In Photoshop the widest working space you can choose is ProPhotoRGB.

Now, your monitor colour space is not linked to the working colour space of your editing software. The monitor colour space is just what colours the monitor can display. Generally you would have it show the maximum range of colours by calibrating it to its native colour space (custom calibration).

Whatever colour space you monitor is using make sure the relevant icc profile is set for the monitor in the operating system settings. Then colour managed software will show colours in images as accurately as possible. If you change the monitor colour space and don't tell the system that it needs to use a different icc profile then the colours will be incorrect as the software is compensating for a different output that what the monitor is actually providing.

Don't bother using your phone to asses colours. It won't be calibrated. How sure are you that the photo viewing app is colour managed? Do your exported images have the correct colour space attached when you export them?

I would agree with all of mclewis comments and simply add to their last point:

When you export images from Lightroom choose an appropriate destination colour space depending on what the use case is for the image.

If, for example, you only edit in Lightroom and only view your images on the same computer, you don’t need to do anything else.

If you intend your images to be viewed on the web or on multiple different devices/screens/browsers by many different users, then it will be best to save/export your files in sRGB because it is the most widely used.

If you intend to send your files to an external print service, then just ask them how they want the files saved. Most will ask for sRGB, some will want AdobeRGB and some labs will be able to handle any color space so long as you tell them which you have used.

Doing your own printing can be very rewarding but it can become a “dark art”. One piece of advice I would give to avoid a lot of grief is to choose a small set of papers that you like and then create or pay someone to make custom paper profiles specifically for your own particular printer and paper combinations.

 

[Guy Parsons]

The honest answer is, if you have to ask that question then forget about all the other possible colour spaces and stick to sRGB for everything.

 

[mujana]

The honest answer is, if you have to ask that question then forget about all the other possible colour spaces and stick to sRGB for everything.

Agree.

 

[davidedric]

Hello all!

I’ve gone through tons of forums on this topic but am still very confused. I shoot in RAW, export to my computer, edit in Lightroom and then export from there to folders for posting/printing etc.

My camera is set to SRGB, but my understanding is that does not matter with RAW shooting. However, on my BENQ monitor, I have the ability to quickly switch between SRGB, AdobeRGB, many other modes that I don’t know, and custom calibrations. Which should I choose when editing? They all visually look very different.

Because I don’t have a solution yet, I’ve been going between them all and trying to find a happy medium in my editing that has ok colors and contrast in all modes. Then, I send to my phone to view and see if it is “ok” and make adjustments from there if not.

Then bottom line is: when editing, should I have my monitor mode set to SRGB, AdobeRGB, or my custom calibration for the most accurate color representation?

Thank you for helping this newb!

In general you should use the widest possible colour space as your working colour space when editing so no (or minimal) data is clipped.

You can't choose the working colour space in Lightroom. It is based on ProPhotoRGB. In Photoshop the widest working space you can choose is ProPhotoRGB.

Now, your monitor colour space is not linked to the working colour space of your editing software. The monitor colour space is just what colours the monitor can display. Generally you would have it show the maximum range of colours by calibrating it to its native colour space (custom calibration).

Whatever colour space you monitor is using make sure the relevant icc profile is set for the monitor in the operating system settings. Then colour managed software will show colours in images as accurately as possible. If you change the monitor colour space and don't tell the system that it needs to use a different icc profile then the colours will be incorrect as the software is compensating for a different output that what the monitor is actually providing.

Don't bother using your phone to asses colours. It won't be calibrated. How sure are you that the photo viewing app is colour managed? Do your exported images have the correct colour space attached when you export them?

I would agree with all of mclewis comments and simply add to their last point:

When you export images from Lightroom choose an appropriate destination colour space depending on what the use case is for the image.

If, for example, you only edit in Lightroom and only view your images on the same computer, you don’t need to do anything else.

If you intend your images to be viewed on the web or on multiple different devices/screens/browsers by many different users, then it will be best to save/export your files in sRGB because it is the most widely used.

If you intend to send your files to an external print service, then just ask them how they want the files saved. Most will ask for sRGB, some will want AdobeRGB and some labs will be able to handle any color space so long as you tell them which you have used.

Doing your own printing can be very rewarding but it can become a “dark art”. One piece of advice I would give to avoid a lot of grief is to choose a small set of papers that you like and then create or pay someone to make custom paper profiles specifically for your own particular printer and paper combinations.

I'm in the UK, so it may be different ellsewhere.

However, I use Permajet papers, and they are happy to provide print/paper profiles for any of their papers, free of charge

 

[mreynolds767]

Be careful as there are different applications that matter:

For editing purposes:

I used to use ProPhoto RGB - offers largest color gamut that Adobe offers.

but then when I would want to print I found I had colors out of gamut which became an minor but annoying issue I had to correct. I also don't believe my monitor could show the full ProPhoto gamut in certain colors either.

If you're talking about moving pictures from Lightroom to PS and back, that's very strange......but still, using ProPhoto minimises your quantisation errors. Soft proofing from a ProPhoto picture will help clamp the colours.

I guess I should add more clarity on this.

I have kind of mixed 2 different but relevant issues when preparing/saving files for a print vendor.

For proofing there are ICC profiles you should request from your printer but then you have to choose a color space when you export your file.

The previous issue I had editing in ProPhoto was when I would soft proof in PS for a printer's ICC profile I had more instances of out of gamut colors and felt like I needed to make edits after the fact which I dislike. I didn't explain that well before.

Once I switched to Adobe RGB that rarely happens anymore

ProPhoto just allows a little too much headroom for editing on screen that you can push things and then end up ina situation when you have to dial back later which is not ideal.

(yes you can soft proof and turn on out of gamut warnings while editing to prevent this but I am not always using the same ICC profile depending on the printer and the media plus usually I edit any image for screen 1st and then later I might need to have the image printed).

I since have switched to Adobe RGB. I use at least 1 printer that accepts this color space and can fully print the entirety. Other times for other printers it does need to be converted to sRGB for printing but that has not caused as many issues as converting from ProPhotoRGB did. I believe my monitor can also show the full Adobe RGB range or enough that I won't notice.

So question, why aren't you using a printer profile for your designated printer? Adobe RGB isn't a printer profile........

I rarely print myself but I do use a printer's supplied ICC profile to soft proof. I was referring to when saving the file the color space.

Some printers require you to save out and email as sRBG only - so you either let the software do that on export and don't check it or you convert to that profile yourself and adjust if you feel you need to.

Occasionally the only option the printer provides is CMYK - but that is usually for a high quantity run of something the photo is being used for.

 

[Michael Fryd]

Hello all!

I’ve gone through tons of forums on this topic but am still very confused. I shoot in RAW, export to my computer, edit in Lightroom and then export from there to folders for posting/printing etc.

My camera is set to SRGB, but my understanding is that does not matter with RAW shooting. However, on my BENQ monitor, I have the ability to quickly switch between SRGB, AdobeRGB, many other modes that I don’t know, and custom calibrations. Which should I choose when editing? They all visually look very different.

Because I don’t have a solution yet, I’ve been going between them all and trying to find a happy medium in my editing that has ok colors and contrast in all modes. Then, I send to my phone to view and see if it is “ok” and make adjustments from there if not.

Then bottom line is: when editing, should I have my monitor mode set to SRGB, AdobeRGB, or my custom calibration for the most accurate color representation?

Thank you for helping this newb!

The general rule is that the colorspace needs to have a wide enough color gamut to contain all the colors you want in your image. Wider colorspaces offer no advantage. If all the colors fit into sRGB, then there is no advantage to using a wider gamut colorspace.

You should consider the final product you are producing. There is no need to use a colorspace that allows colors that can't be in your final rendered product. If you use a colorspace wider than your final output medium, then the person handling the final rendering will control how the colorspace of your image is mapped into the final colorspace.

If your goal is to produce something for online display, then sRGB is a good choice.

If your image is a shadowy bodyscape, with just a hint of color, then there is no need to use a wide gamut colorspace. sRGB is a good choice.

.

Think of a colorspace as being a big box of numbered crayons that are used for drawing your image. Each pixel in your digital file contains the number of the crayon to be used for that pixel.

The number of crayons is determined by the bit depth, not the colorspace. With 8 bits per channel, there are 16,777,216 "crayons" in the box. That's true whether you are using sRGB, AdobeRGB or Prophoto RGB.

In sRGB, the difference between adjacent crayons is very small. With AdobeRGB the difference between adjacent crayons is larger. This allows some crayons to have less used colors. With ProPhoto the difference between adjacent crayons is even larger, this allows for crayons with neon greens, neon pinks, etc. If you want those colors in your image, this is a good thing. If you don't want those colors in your image then this isn't a benefit. ProPhoto actually has many crayons that are unusable, therefore ProPhoto actually has few colors than sRGB, although those colors are spread over a wider range.

The upshot of all of this is that at the same bit depth, smaller gamut colorspaces actually offer more precise color specification than larger gamut spaces. Thus, if your colors fit into sRGB, there is a small advantage to using sRGB.

With AdobeRGB the reduction in precision isn't noticeable, so it isn't an issue. With ProPhoto the reduction in precision can be an issue. Therefore it is helpful to use 16 bits per channel when using wide gamut colorspaces such as ProPhoto.

 

[dazzerfong]

Hello all!

I’ve gone through tons of forums on this topic but am still very confused. I shoot in RAW, export to my computer, edit in Lightroom and then export from there to folders for posting/printing etc.

My camera is set to SRGB, but my understanding is that does not matter with RAW shooting. However, on my BENQ monitor, I have the ability to quickly switch between SRGB, AdobeRGB, many other modes that I don’t know, and custom calibrations. Which should I choose when editing? They all visually look very different.

Because I don’t have a solution yet, I’ve been going between them all and trying to find a happy medium in my editing that has ok colors and contrast in all modes. Then, I send to my phone to view and see if it is “ok” and make adjustments from there if not.

Then bottom line is: when editing, should I have my monitor mode set to SRGB, AdobeRGB, or my custom calibration for the most accurate color representation?

Thank you for helping this newb!

The general rule is that the colorspace needs to have a wide enough color gamut to contain all the colors you want in your image. Wider colorspaces offer no advantage. If all the colors fit into sRGB, then there is no advantage to using a wider gamut colorspace.

It's actually detrimental to use a wider gamut colour space when you don't need it, especially if your image is only 8-bit. It can introduce banding as your text below explains. It's why editors mostly operate in 16-bit space where quantisation errors are minimised far below your output.

You should consider the final product you are producing. There is no need to use a colorspace that allows colors that can't be in your final rendered product. If you use a colorspace wider than your final output medium, then the person handling the final rendering will control how the colorspace of your image is mapped into the final colorspace.

If your goal is to produce something for online display, then sRGB is a good choice.

If your image is a shadowy bodyscape, with just a hint of color, then there is no need to use a wide gamut colorspace. sRGB is a good choice.

.

Think of a colorspace as being a big box of numbered crayons that are used for drawing your image. Each pixel in your digital file contains the number of the crayon to be used for that pixel.

The number of crayons is determined by the bit depth, not the colorspace. With 8 bits per channel, there are 16,777,216 "crayons" in the box. That's true whether you are using sRGB, AdobeRGB or Prophoto RGB.

In sRGB, the difference between adjacent crayons is very small. With AdobeRGB the difference between adjacent crayons is larger. This allows some crayons to have less used colors. With ProPhoto the difference between adjacent crayons is even larger, this allows for crayons with neon greens, neon pinks, etc. If you want those colors in your image, this is a good thing. If you don't want those colors in your image then this isn't a benefit. ProPhoto actually has many crayons that are unusable, therefore ProPhoto actually has few colors than sRGB, although those colors are spread over a wider range.

The upshot of all of this is that at the same bit depth, smaller gamut colorspaces actually offer more precise color specification than larger gamut spaces. Thus, if your colors fit into sRGB, there is a small advantage to using sRGB.

With AdobeRGB the reduction in precision isn't noticeable, so it isn't an issue. With ProPhoto the reduction in precision can be an issue. Therefore it is helpful to use 16 bits per channel when using wide gamut colorspaces such as ProPhoto.

 

[Michael Fryd]

…

The general rule is that the colorspace needs to have a wide enough color gamut to contain all the colors you want in your image. Wider colorspaces offer no advantage. If all the colors fit into sRGB, then there is no advantage to using a wider gamut colorspace.

It's actually detrimental to use a wider gamut colour space when you don't need it, especially if your image is only 8-bit. It can introduce banding as your text below explains. It's why editors mostly operate in 16-bit space where quantisation errors are minimised far below your output.

…

For 8-bit AdobeRGB the small increase in quantisation error usually isn’t noticeable.

The more likely problem is that someone using the file will have incorrect color management settings. This will cause the display (or printing) of incorrect colors.

Even with correct color management, there are choices on how to map a larger color gamut into the smaller gamut of the rendering device. The larger the gamut of the image’s colorspace, the greater the impact of those decisions. If you are delivering a file in a colorspace with a larger than needed color gamut, you are increasing the odds that the final rendering will not match your intentions.

 

[Linahira]

Since you shoot RAW, the camera’s color space setting doesn’t matter. What does matter is your editing environment and output. For most web use and general sharing, sRGB is the safest since it’s the standard and ensures consistency across devices. If you print and your workflow supports it, you can edit in AdobeRGB or a calibrated custom profile for more accuracy, then convert to sRGB on export for web. Ideally, calibrate your monitor and stick to that profile when editing.