Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
isn't an issue that should keep anyone awake at night. Nonetheless, from a work flow stand-
point, why produce conversions unnecessarily?
If a user supplies a document in a smaller gamut working space but will likely paste that
into a document with other images in a larger gamut, then it makes sense to convert the data.
If, however, the user receives a document in a smaller gamut working space it's usually a good
idea to preserve the data. It is for this reason that I usually recommend most users set up their
color policies to preserve the document's working space and have the warning check boxes
applied. This adds the most flexibility and is the safest option. With the warning check boxes
applied, users can change their minds and convert the document if they know they need to at
this point in the pipeline. As long as we embed the correct profiles in our documents, and under-
stand the reasons to use a particular color space, the right answer is to preserve that color
space. Once the document is inspected in the original working color space, we can always
convert if necessary.
Sidebar
Color Appearance versus Color Numbers:
Photoshop provides a warning when pasting data
between different color spaces that's not entirely clear thanks to the wording. Essentially, when
pasting data from one color space to a different color space, there are only two options. One
option is to allow Photoshop to convert from the original color space to the new color space.
Therefore, if I have a document in Adobe RGB (1998) and wish to paste that into a document
that is in ColorMatch RGB, a conversion could be from Adobe RGB (1998) (source) to Color-
Match RGB (destination). The numbers in the pasted data would change but the color appear-
ance would be maintained. Adobe uses the term
preserve color appearance
, meaning, make
the pasted color appear as it did in the original. See the
Paste Profile Mismatch
in Fig. 2-16.
The second option in the
Paste Profile Mismatch
is
Don't Convert (preserve color numbers)
.
This option leaves the original numbers alone; meaning don't convert into the color space of
the destination document. The result is the original numbers pasted into a different color space
will remain the same values. However, the color appearance will change. When would you use
this? Suppose you are testing two ICC profiles built with slight modifications for the same
printer. You want to gang up the two files in one document so they can be output side by side.
In this case, you would want to leave the numbers of both conversions intact. The color appear-
ance on-screen will look correct on the original image because that data is still in original doc-
ument color space. The pasted data was originally in another color space so it will not preview
correctly when pasted. We did not preserve the appearance but we did preserve the numbers.
Ignore the preview and examine the final print. You need to ask yourself if you want the pasted
data to retain the original color appearance or the original color numbers. You can't have both
of course. In most cases, users will want the original color appearance to be maintained so a
conversion is necessary.
Warning Check Boxes
The bottom of the Color Management Policies
section has three warning check boxes:
