setting up LR / CS3 question

TallyHo

[FONT=Geneva, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hi,

Im In the process of setting up LR and PS on my first mac and am wondering the best setting for working between LR and CS3.

In the External Editing preferences in LR it recommends the TIFF format, ProPhotoRGB color space and 16bit channels. Is this the best setting ? in the past on my PC i used 8bit, and sRGB colorspace with PSD file format, have I been using the wrong setting all this time ?

im just curious what you professionals use and whats best for smugmug.

Thanks [/FONT]

arodney

You should probably stick with 16-bit ProPhoto for most flexibility, then convert to sRGB for on line stuff (lowest common dominator).

Edit the high rez masters in high bit, wide gamut. From there, you can save off smaller files or files with lower color gamut for less demanding work. As you can see, LR recommends the ProPhoto/16-bit export. Of course you can build as many export presets (not the same as a direct conversion into Photoshop) and build small, lower rez, sRGB images too.

As for why ProPhoto:
http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdfs/phscs2ip_colspace.pdf

TallyHo

thanks for the reply, so should i continue to use srgb for my exising photos or convert them all to prophoto ?

arodney

TallyHo wrote:

thanks for the reply, so should i continue to use srgb for my exising photos or convert them all to prophoto ?

Where are the images coming from?

arodney

TallyHo wrote:

thanks for the reply, so should i continue to use srgb for my exising photos or convert them all to prophoto ?

IF you have sRGB images, that's what you're stuck with. Converting to ProPhoto buys you nothing.

TallyHo

Yeah, I know i'd never gain anything now from going from srgb to prophoto, but im just curious how Id juggle 2 profiles (srgb for my existing photos and prophoto for the new ones).

im assuming i'd need to switch monitor profiles to match whatever profile i was using.

My thoughts for moving everything to prophoto was that I would at least have a consistent profile amongst all my photos, and then only have to switch to srgb if i output anything to smugmug.

Im still trying to get my head around all this calibration and profile jargon

arodney

TallyHo wrote:

Yeah, I know i'd never gain anything now from going from srgb to prophoto, but im just curious how Id juggle 2 profiles (srgb for my existing photos and prophoto for the new ones).

im assuming i'd need to switch monitor profiles to match whatever profile i was using.

No, you don't every mess with the display after you calibrate and profile. That's a totally separate entity.

You work on the image in ProPhoto RGB until you're done. Then you simply make a copy and convert to sRGB (and size, output sharpen and all the other stuff necessary to provide to the output service). The ProPhoto image is your master. If you're printing in house, you use that. In fact, you use that in every case to convert to the ultimate print output space EXPECT when you end up dealing with labs and people less savvy about color management that demand sRGB (OR you're posting to the web).

jdryan3

arodney wrote:

... to convert to the ultimate print output space EXPECT when you end up dealing with labs and people less savvy about color management that demand sRGB (OR you're posting to the web).

Andrew: Truly not trying to be the editing police, but don't you mean except (not expect)