A color space is a set of colors also called gamut. The gamut of a screen or video monitor represents all the colors they are able to display. The one of a printer, all the colors it is capable of printing. There are two types of color spaces : those related to each device (and we then speak of ICC profile) and some invented by researchers so that they do not depend on a device and the best known are the sRGB, Adobe RGB or ProPhoto in the world of photography and DCI-P3 or Rec 709 in the world of video. The largest of them represents the set of colours that a human being sees and is called the L*a*b* space. The L*a*b* color space is therefore the hub, the 'Gold' standard, for color management. All the other spaces are smaller because the technical limits do not allow the different devices we use to reproduce, for the moment, as many (saturated) colors. But why did we invent so many of them ?
The notion of color spaces - or colorimetric spaces - is very important in color management. The most important color space is the one of your images. The famous Photoshop working space is often presented as being very important too, but really only in one particular case : the one where your image does not have an ICC profile when opened in Photoshop ! Let's see it now..
Colorimetric models
- Adobe RGB (1998) is a color space that was developed by Adobe Systems, Inc. In 1998 and designed to cover a larger range of colors than the more common sRGB color space. Many professional photographers prefer Adobe RGB to sRGB due to the superior color range.
- Today we break down the differences between LAB, Adobe RGB 1998, ProPhoto RGB, and sRGB while offering general tips on how to choose what color space to work in and what color space to use when.
A color space therefore represents a set of colors 'visible' by a human being or device. This color set is also called gamut. There are several colorimetric models or colorimetric spaces: RGB, CMYK, L*a*b* or CIE xyz and in RGB, there are several variants encompassing more or less highly saturated colors (sRGB, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto in photo and DCI-P3 or Rec 709 in video, etc.) Some models are said to be peripheral dependent and are then called ICC profiles and others that they are independent and called color spaces. Finally, some are called working spaces. Why ? Which one to choose in photo editing or video editing software ? In his camera or his video camera ? From which point can we digitally represent a single color - absolute -, that perceived by a standard human eye, to answer the questions asked above ?
The starting point : the CIE xyz space and the L*a*b* space
Colors are nuanced in about eight million different shades for an 'average' (but efficient !) eye. The CIE (Internationale Commission on Illumination) and mathematicians needed to represent them mathematically on a three-dimensional graph (in volume), two of which appear in the figure below (in plan). You may be familiar with the figures below : the chromacité diagram (left) and the L*a*b* space (right). They represent the colors visible to the human being but in two different ways and will therefore serve all the time afterwards.
What is a color space?
Color Space Srgb Or Adobe Rgb
What are Adobe RGB and sRGB color spaces?
Monitors and printers
Camera shooting color space
Advantages and Disadvantages of shooting in Adobe RGB
Advantages:
- You get to capture a wider range of color tones in your photos.
- This color space is capable of displaying color tones that come out of a CMYK printer, thus ideal color space if you print your photos.
Disadvantages:
- When you upload a photo captured in Adobe RGB color space on the web, the colors get desaturated (and can look “off”).
- Adobe RGB monitors are costly, so in order to edit Adobe RGB color space image, you need to invest a lot in a monitor.
Advantages and Disadvantages of shooting in sRGB
Advantages:
- When you upload a photo shot in sRGB color space, the colors remain the same and do not get desaturated, unlike an Adobe RGB image.
- A majority of monitors in the world use the sRGB color space and are not that expensive, unlike Adobe RGB monitors. This ensures that the colors that you experience on your monitor would be almost the same on any other sRGB monitor.
Disadvantages:
- As the color tones in sRGB are less compared to Adobe RGB, you do not get accurate colors in your prints.
- If you submit your photos for photography contests, there are chances that those photos will be viewed on an Adobe RGB monitor. This might reduce your chances of winning as a photograph captured and edited in Adobe RGB will look more pleasing to the judges.