Here was a little PR for you on Adobephotoshop@yahoogroup.
"I also use the Spyder2 to calibrate my monitor. It works well and
doesn't cost much.
The short answer is never use the Spyder2 profile inside Photoshop.
That's not where it should be used. Using it in Photoshop would double
up its use in ways you don't want.
Photoshop does want to warn you when you are using an unexpected Color
Space. That's what that warning is about. This is one of the reasons I
recommended picking a Color Space and sticking with it; you won't be
bothered by these messages then. Well, it does depend on what files
you get from others.
The short answer on how to answer those questions is: it depends. The
first thing you need to do is learn how the different Color Spaces
define color. You can do that by spending a lot of time online reading
and find very little of it clear and useful. Probably the easiest way
I've found is to use the following Photoshop file:
http://curvemeister.com/downloads/index.html
Scroll down to LabMeter. Download the Zip file with the Photoshop file
in it. Open it up in Photoshop. Then go back to this site and open
that tutorial page. You need to follow that to turn on Photoshop's
Soft Preview feature. Then preview all your installed profiles.
You'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. This will give you a quick
visual representation of what the different profiles cover. You can
see what colors they don't cover and how wide of a range they cover.
Pay particular attention to how the different Color Spaces match with
your Spyder2 profile for your monitor and the different printer/paper
profiles. You will see that your monitor and printer probably doesn't
have very wide profiles. More than likely, sRGB will cover everything
that you can see on your monitor or from you printer.
If you are lucky, you will have hardware that will cover a wider range
than sRGB. You should see that they popular AdobeRGB is only a
slightly wider Color Space than sRGB. Of course, that slight
difference may be enough to more fully cover your hardware output. A
Color Space like ProPhotoRGB is MUCH wider than any hardware that you
may have or ever have. Of course, LAB has all the colors possible,
including some you can't even see. So, what is the use of these really
wide Color Spaces?
Well, there is a slim chance that your wonderful Photoshop masterpiece
will one day run into some hardware that really has a wide profile.
That certainly won't be CMYK (4 color) printing, because you just saw
that CMYK has a smaller Color Space than sRGB. But who knows what the
future holds; in 5 years you may have a printer that goes half way out
to ProPhotoRGB. This could be insurance for the future.
Another very common reason for using a wide Color Space is to avoid
editing losses. Editing changes pixels; that what we are trying to do.
Many things you do in editing will change the colors. In that process,
you MAY change colors that are outside the range of your Color Space.
Photoshop must do some averaging and truncating to pull those colors
back into line. Mathematically, this is absolutely true and critical.
However, it may or may not be a real world issue. First, you may not
be able to ever SEE those changes. In my testing, I have never been
able to see any differences from editing in the different Color
Spaces. I am a believer that if you can't see the differences, they
don't matter.
Remember that these editing changes are most likely to happen in the
very dark or very light ends of the spectrum. The human eye is much
less sensitive to color variation at those ranges. Also, you are less
likely to be changing colors way out there when you edit. So, the odds
are greatly reduced that you will ever see Color Space limitations in
your editing.
If you spend your time in the math of color science and playing with
full range gradients and charts in Photoshop, you will be able to see
a difference in the use of the different Color Spaces on your monitor
and printer. However, if you work with real world photos and print
projects, I bet you will never see a difference.
Here's what I do - if it's any help... I open my camera files in Adobe
Camera RAW (part of Photoshop). From there I send it into Photoshop in
ProPhotoRGB Color Space. Hey, it doesn't hurt to edit in a wide Color
Space. Very early in my editing process I convert to 8 bit LAB mode. I
convert to LAB not to use the full range of colors, but I do some
editing steps that use its ability to let me edit Luminosity and color
separately. I convert to 8 bit because 8 bit files run much faster and
save smaller. After editing I convert to sRGB and save.
Why sRGB? First, I don't see any difference between it and any other
Color Spaces - on my hardware. Second, I always kept forgetting to
convert to sRGB before I sent a file to someone else. If you notice, a
Photoshop file in a wider Color Space that is "Save for Web" into JPEG
looks like crap. The colors look very muted, dull, and very lifeless.
By having all edited pictures already in sRGB, I know they will work
anywhere; my monitor, my printer, a pro printer, your e-mail, your web
browser, etc. I don't have to rely on my poor memory to change it to
something later.
Third, sRGB is my standard because it is pretty much the standard of
everyone I send to and receive from. Most publishers and pro print
shops want everything in sRGB. (Most want JPEG files too.) They know
that sRGB will work on their equipment and they don't have to change
anything. (Most won't change anything, because if they do they are
held responsible for the results. By not changing anything, you are
responsible.) Besides that, all personal transfer of pictures is sRGB
because most people don't have color management on their computers.
sRGB is the only thing that will work right. ...and I don't get those
annoying messages that you are talking about.
When I get a file that is in a wider Color Space, I usually do all my
editing in the wider Color Space. In other words, I answer the
question to NOT change to my default. If I am not going to edit it, I
still say no to converting it. (The conversion to LAB and then to sRGB
really is a better way to do it. OK, you probably wouldn't see that
either.)
I would recommend ultimately getting every file you have into YOUR
standard Color Space. That will make future remembering and workflow
easier. You won't have to figure as much out in the future.
If the incoming Color Space is wider than your standard, it won't hurt
to do all your editing in that Color Space before you convert it to
yours. If the incoming Color Space is narrower, converting to your
standard as soon as possible would be best.
answers. (pun intended)
Thanks,
Clyde
--- In adobephotoshop@yahoogroups.com, "Peggy Eubanks"
>
> WOW--that was indepth and easy enough for the lay person to follow.
I have
> a question that I somewhat struggle with. I have my monitor
calibrated with
> the spyder2. Sometimes although not always when I open something,
it has
> some questions for me to answer before it loads. Should I load it
in the
> original saved color space or let it load in the workspace color
space or,
> um, I can't remember what the third option is--sometimes it says use the
> spyder2 profile. Can you explain about what that is actually asking and
> what your thoughts are on the best answer?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Peggy"
Barry