Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
independent of the monitor. This is a major departure from how users
dealt with documents prior to Adobe Photoshop 5.0, when everyone's
individual monitor was their editing space. Choose a RGB working space
based on the type of work you produce, and the type of output you
intend to ultimately produce.
Color Management in Photoshop Can't Be Turned Off!
Users now are required to embed ICC profiles in all their documents, oth-
erwise the color architecture in Photoshop will fail to deliver reliable
results. Remember once again that numbers without meaning are
ambiguous and can't be properly color managed. There is no way to
ensure that Photoshop is displaying or converting untagged documents
correctly. However, if these documents have an embedded profile, Pho-
toshop can use that information to produce a correct preview profile in
conjunction with the document's embedded profile. All color space con-
versions, even those for preview purposes, require two profiles.
Some users try to force Adobe Photoshop to mimic the noncolor man-
agement behavior of Adobe Photoshop 4.0 but that is not possible. Pho-
toshop can be used only in a color-managed fashion; there is no way to
turn off color management in Photoshop! Photoshop always looks at the
embedded profile in each document as well as the profile of the display.
If no profile can be found in a document, Photoshop simply makes an
assumption about the meaning of these numbers associated with the
image. If the assumption is correct, the preview is correct, as are any sub-
sequent color space conversions. However, the likelihood that the guess
is correct is always questionable.
Document Specific Color
Photoshop supports what is known as
document specific color
. Photoshop
keeps track of each open document's color space, provided by means of
an embedded profile. The display profile controls the rendering of the
preview using the Display Using Monitor Compensation discussed earlier.
These embedded profiles describe to Photoshop the color description of
each document regardless of the working space selected in the color set-
tings discussed later. It is possible to have the color settings configured
for one RGB working space yet open a document in another RGB
working space; the previews of each document are correct. Multiple doc-
uments with multiple working spaces can be opened at the same time.
The same is true for CMYK documents, Grayscale documents, and so
forth.
For documents with no embedded profile, the currently configured
working spaces in Photoshop's color settings are used for previewing pur-
poses. I mentioned that color management in Photoshop couldn't be
turned off. This is a perfect illustration. Photoshop has to assume some-
