How do I convert from Lab to the widest RGB color space with minimal clipping?
Asked 3/20/2021
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When editing in Lab, converting back to RGB defaults to sRGB in my workflow, which seems to clip or remap some colors. Can I instead convert from Lab into a wider RGB space such as Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB, ideally using perceptual rendering to minimize clipping? I'm trying to understand whether this depends on the software and what the practical limitations are.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
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Programs such as Photoshop allow you to change to a variety of color spaces like sRGB, Colormatch RGB, Adobe RGB, and ProPhoto RGB (listed in order from smaller to widest color gamut). Does the image editor you use have this functionality? You don't mention what software you're using.
BTW, it's best to convert to sRGB when you package images for customers since their image viewers may not accommodate color spaces outside of sRGB. Viewing Prophoto color space on an image viewer that only handles sRGB looks dingy.
Originally by user98537. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user98537
5y ago
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Yes—if your software supports it, you can convert from Lab to a wider RGB working space such as Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB instead of sRGB. sRGB itself cannot be made wider; choosing a wider gamut means converting to a different RGB color space.
That said, Lab doesn’t eliminate gamut limits. Its main benefit in editing is that adjustments are based more closely on human perception, and out-of-gamut issues can be deferred until the final conversion step rather than occurring repeatedly during editing.
So the practical answer is:
- Check whether your editor lets you choose the destination RGB profile when converting from Lab.
- Use a wider RGB space if you want to preserve more colors during editing/output.
- Expect some colors to still be remapped if they fall outside the chosen RGB gamut.
- Convert to sRGB for final delivery when images are intended for general customers or viewers, since many displays/apps assume sRGB and wider-gamut files may look dull or incorrect in non-color-managed software.
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