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Understanding colour space
Techniques
24 October 2007 12:25
Colour space defines the range of colours and tones available in an image. Some colour spaces offer a wide range of tones, giving more subtle images, while those with a more limited colour range give more punchy results. So changing from one colour space to another is similar to changing films – from one that gives high contrast and punchy colours to a lower contrast, more subtle film.
The most important reason for choosing the colour space that you’ll be using is consistency. If your software and printer use an sRGB colour space, make sure that your images are saved in this colour space as well.
There are two colour spaces commonly used in digital photography – sRGB and Adobe 1998. There are technical differences between the two, but the choice is mainly down to what you’ll be doing with your images.
• sRGB: if you’re printing them at home on an inkjet printer or using an online or high street printer, then use sRGB. This will give you the most consistent and punchiest colours. It’s also great for direct printing from your digital camera. This is used by most inkjet printers and high street or online laboratories.
• Adobe 1998: this offers a greater range of colours and tones but most of this will be lost if you print at home or at many normal commercial printers. Adobe 1998 has become the standard used by many professional and magazine applications, so if you’re producing images for sale you may want to use it instead. It can produce weak colours when using inkjet, or online or high street printers.
Before you start changing settings, ask yourself if you’re happy with your results. If you are, why change?