One of the problems I had in the past in posting images in these forums was the color conversion but after I discovered Adobe Camera Raw, such conversion became something from the past now. To get the same color regardless of color profiles, I open image from Bridge, Adobe Camera Raw window opens, change the settings to sRGB (a small blue line at the bottom of the window), and then after applying whatever changes I want, I hit "open image" from Adobe Camera Raw to open the image in Photoshop. Converting images color profiles in ACR doesn't change its color gamut like PS. Why? don't know and maybe one of those Digi gurus will answer us.
Posted by Jim Bullard on November 29, 2009 at 10:43 AM
In my experience with Photoshop CS3 if you "assign" a color profile it changes the colors you see on the screen. You can see the change as you do it. Assigning a color profile is something you do if you are using Photoshop to color manage your printing process rather than the printer. If you "convert" you don't see the immediate change on screen but converting to sRGB will generally make your images look better for web use since not all web applications recognize and properly display other color spaces. You may still notice the colors seem to be duller after converting and downsizing for the galleries or other web use in spite of converting to sRGB. That is a result of resizing and it can be remedied by sharpening. You always have to resharpen after resizing. I use Lightroom for converting to web use. Use the Export function to do the conversion and downsize. There is an option in the Export dialog to "Sharpen for screen" but I prefer to do it manually in Photoshop (judging it by eye) after Lightroom Export creates the downsized file.
Posted by David Bostedo on November 29, 2009 at 5:46 PM
Mohsen - I think Jim must have it right. You have to use the "convert" option - that takes the color values and changes them to try to keep the tones the same in the new color space. All the "assign" option does is change the color space itself - so the color values stay the same, but are interpreted as being in a different color space. So you get a shift in the colors.
But using "convert" in PS is identical to opening the file and saving it with a different color space in ACR. I just tested this myself -
1) I opened a RAW file and converted it in ProPhoto and saved it as a TIFF.
2) I reopened this TIFF in ACR and saved it again as an sRGB JPG.
3) I opened the TIFF in PS, and ran a "Convert to Profile" to sRGB and saved another JPG.
4) I opened the two JPGs, put them on layers, and set the layer blending mode of the top one to "difference"
This gave me solid black, meaning there was no difference between the JPG created in ACR, and the one created in PS, which is what you'd expect since they should do the same conversion.
Discussion
2 repliesBut using "convert" in PS is identical to opening the file and saving it with a different color space in ACR. I just tested this myself -
1) I opened a RAW file and converted it in ProPhoto and saved it as a TIFF.
2) I reopened this TIFF in ACR and saved it again as an sRGB JPG.
3) I opened the TIFF in PS, and ran a "Convert to Profile" to sRGB and saved another JPG.
4) I opened the two JPGs, put them on layers, and set the layer blending mode of the top one to "difference"
This gave me solid black, meaning there was no difference between the JPG created in ACR, and the one created in PS, which is what you'd expect since they should do the same conversion.