Best Darktable and GIMP color-space workflow for printing photos
Asked 7/24/2019
8 views
2 answers
0
I edit and print photos on Ubuntu using Darktable and GIMP. My monitor has been calibrated/profiled with Argyll and a Spyder 4 Elite, and the profile is installed system-wide.
Current workflow:
- Capture photos with the camera set to Adobe RGB
- Edit in Darktable
- Export as 16-bit TIFF with Adobe RGB
- Open in GIMP, which asks whether to convert to sRGB
- Save again as TIFF and send the file for printing
What I want to understand:
- Do Darktable and GIMP automatically use the system monitor profile, or do I need to configure that inside the applications?
- Is exporting 16-bit TIFF in Adobe RGB a sensible way to preserve as much image information as possible for printing?
- Why does GIMP ask to convert the file to sRGB when opening an Adobe RGB TIFF?
- Is Adobe RGB actually better than sRGB for this workflow, and are there any settings or pitfalls I should check for when preparing files for print?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
1
I'll answer your four questions in a different way that I think makes more sense, which will hopefully also answer each one.
- Adobe RGB isn't "better" than sRGB. More specifically, it is better in some respects, but not others.
- Its coverage of the human-visible chromaticity diagram is slightly better than sRGB. But many programs don't understand colorspace, even if the OS does, and assume sRGB. In which case, image color and contrast will seem very noticeably "off". In that regard, sRGB is "better", as it's a universal standard and often assumed.
- Colorspace metadata can and sometimes does get lost when converting between formats and/or cloud services. Without that metadata, most programs and browsers universally assume sRGB.
- At 8 bits per color (aka "8bpc" or "24-bit"), subtle gradients are more likely to appear banded, with Adobe RGB as opposed to sRGB. Which is seemingly a paradox until you think about it. sRGB is covers less of the chromaticity diagram, so the numerical difference between perceptibly different colors that can be displayed, is larger. (With more possible integer values in between.) Axiomatically meaning, you can display finer gradients [but narrow total range] with sRGB, than Adobe RGB. But at 16bpc, that's not the case. (It's still technically true even at 16 or 32 bpc, just not noticeable to human perception, and the advantage of a wider coverage of the chromaticity chart is usually deemed worth the tradeoff.)
But if you switch to >= 16bpc to work more accurately with Adobe RGB, you might as well go with ProPhoto RGB, which is even wider. It has even more coverage of the chromaticity diagram. (It can even encode colors humans can't see, which is arguably a drawback, since that's "wasted" values that could have instead gone into encoding better cover the visible colorspace. That whole thing is a tough nut to crack, with everything involving tradeoffs, at least without using 32bpc floating-point representation and all RGB values being absolute, not mapped to a colorspace.)
But so far, ProPhoto RGB is unsuitable for things like website images. (Even if most modern browsers should and seem to be technically and perceptibly OK with it.) For now, ProPhoto and arguably even Adobe RGB should be thought of as more appropriate for intermediate processing steps.
Once an image is converted to it's final compressed form (e.g. jpg for web), a general rule of thumb is that it should be 8bpc sRGB. That may not hold true indefinitely, but still a good tip for now. Our eyes can't really tell the difference, for the end result. It's the intermediate processing, where you may need the extra fidelity. Once you stack a half-dozen semi-transparent layers on top of each other, each with multiple transforms, the mathematical precision loss at 8bpc can start to obviously show in the final output, when compared to the same process at 16bpc or 32bit floating-point.
The reason Gimp is prompting you about Adobe RGB, is because that's the working colorspace it's set up for. (Presumably.) You can change that.
So basically we wind up with these subjective and arguable recommendations:
- If you're doing very light transformations and/or have an underpowered computer, stick with 8bpc sRGB. It's simpler, it's more portable and universal, and less likely to cause problems.
- If you're doing heavier transormations and/or have horsepower to spare, go with 16bpc ProPhoto RGB but only as an intermediate format. (Which personally, I also use to store my "master" edit versions in.)
- For final presentation on a website or computer monitor, it's usually best to export to 8bpc sRGB:
- JPG for continuous tones and/or real-world photography
- PNG for synthetic and/or text-heavy images, especially those with fewer, more solid colors. (E.g. brand logos or non-dank text memes. Or anything that needs a transparent background, which JPG doesn't do.)
Originally by user85980. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user85980
6y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Adobe RGB is not simply “better” than sRGB; it has a wider gamut in some areas, but sRGB is more universally supported. The best choice depends on the printer/lab workflow.
For print, 16-bit TIFF is a sensible format when you want to preserve quality and leave room for further edits. Keeping an embedded ICC profile is important.
GIMP asks about conversion because it is color-managed and wants to know whether to keep the image’s embedded profile or convert it to the working space. If your file is Adobe RGB and you want to preserve that, keep the embedded profile rather than converting automatically to sRGB.
A key point: camera color-space settings usually matter mainly for JPEGs. If you shoot raw, the raw data itself is not really “in Adobe RGB”; the output color space is chosen during processing/export.
Monitor profiling is separate from image color space. A properly color-managed application should use the monitor profile for display and the image/output profile for the file. Check each app’s color-management settings rather than assuming every program fully follows the system profile.
Also be aware that non-color-managed software may assume sRGB and show Adobe RGB files incorrectly. For widest compatibility, sRGB is safest; for a print workflow that supports it, Adobe RGB TIFF can be appropriate.
Recommended products
UniqueBot
AI6y ago
Your Answer
Related Questions
What should I choose when Photoshop warns that an embedded color profile doesn’t match my working RGB space?
What should I do if an image opens in GIMP with a monitor ICC profile instead of sRGB?
What color space does Lightroom use in the Develop module, and why export in ProPhoto or Adobe RGB?
Why do colors shift when converting an image from Adobe RGB to sRGB?
Why do exported JPEGs look correct only in sRGB, but shift in Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB?