Color Management for Black and White - Black and White in Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop Lightroom - page 10

For a more in-depth discussion of color spaces and color management, check
out Jef Schewe and Bruce Fraser's A Color Managed Raw Workl ow - From
Camera to Final Print published on Adobe's website.
ColorMatch RGB . This color space is not an available option on any camera
as a capture space, but is an available choice in editing spaces. Its color
space is wider than sRGB, but not as broad as Adobe RGB. As a mid-sized
editing space, it can often help control oversaturation problems with images
captured in Adobe RGB, as well as produce better skin tones. Some i ne art
printers advocate using this editing space with Piezography black and white
printing, coupled with monitor calibration settings at D-50. (See Chapter 8,
“Printing”, for more information.)
Hopefully, you can see that changing the color space dei nition of an image
changes the appearance of the image altogether. The numbers that describe
each pixel in the image are meaningless without a color space associated with
those numbers. The color space dei nes what color is represented by a set of
numbers describing an image pixel; it dei nes, in ef ect, what the color of the
pixel actually looks like. Since achieving the best-looking color (and ultimately
best tonality in black and white) is what we are after, selecting the right color
space in the camera and in your viewing software is a fundamental step in the
process.
Color Space Recommendations
• Grayscale Capture : If your camera is capable of capturing in Grayscale, you
will want to resist the temptation to choose this setting. Although it may be
fast and easy, the results will be fast and easy as well. You get what you pay
for, and image capture is no exception. The capabilities you gain with image
quality as well as editing and conversion options are far superior with RGB
capture and post production conversions.
• Choose a Color Space Best for You : If your camera of ers a choice of sRGB
and Adobe RGB, choose Adobe RGB (if you are interested in learning more
about ProPhoto RGB, read Bruce Fraser's Real World Color Management ). There
are some interesting and valid reasons for moving into ProPhoto RGB. One
must, however, really understand the complexities of color space, and the
advantages and limitations well. The selection of a wider-than-sRGB color
space does generally translate into an image with better color, and can be
easily converted into smaller spaces. Going the other way, however, such
as converting an image originally captured in sRGB to Adobe RGB, does not
bring with it the benei ts of shooting in a broader color capture mode such as
Adobe RGB.
• Syncronize Capture Color Space with Editing Color Space : When editing
your images, make sure that you set the software to view them in the
corresponding color space chosen for capture. For instance, if you capture