>> I have been hearing a lot recently about a 'standard colour space' <<
Since Photoshop v5, this has been the vogue for many - although some used a setting similar to a 'standard workspace' in earlier versions and did not know it, even if the workflow was not the same or the view (there was no monitor compensation). But that is getting off topic into semantics which have been pointlessly chewed over before on another list. :) >> individuals recommending the assignment of Adobe RGB 1998 to all files to set a 'standard' working space for all image practitioners. << As you know by now from the other posts, assign vs. convert is confused by many users. Assign is simply a label, visual appearance changes but the files numbers do not. The assigned profile simply describes the numbers in the file for Photoshop to display. Convert often preserves visual appearance between different profiles (as much as possible), by changing the files numbers. "Ideally" one would only assign A98 to an image if the images numbers were in A98 to start with...or if the user liked the artistic rendering that results from mislabelling a non A98 file with a A98 profile (such as increased saturation if the file was sRGB numbers, or a darker more saturated file in the files numbers were ColorMatch RGB etc). As for working direct in monitor space for RGB files, if using a spyder type device that measures the monitor and makes a profile - then I would not do this...I would use a safe edit space to work in, convert from scanner or camera to this standard space - and the monitor profile would only be used in the background by Photoshop for monitor compensation of the editing space image. Since v6, the monitor profile has been 'hidden' from the user and monitor compensation is always on, unlike in v5 where one could choose to turn it off (not good if your edit space is very different to your monitor space). Some very good free primers on ICC colour management can be found at this website, download all three PDF files: http://www.i1color.com/freeware/gm_books.asp Regards, Stephen Marsh. =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
