What color space does Lightroom use in the Develop module, and why export in ProPhoto or Adobe RGB?
Asked 8/10/2014
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When you edit JPEG, TIFF, or RAW files in Adobe Lightroom’s Develop module, what internal color space is used? I’ve heard Lightroom always uses a ProPhoto-based space regardless of whether the source file is sRGB or Adobe RGB.
If that’s true, what is the advantage of working in Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB when many monitors can’t display the full gamut, and web images usually need to be converted to sRGB anyway?
Also, I exported the same RAW images from Lightroom as sRGB, Adobe RGB, and ProPhoto RGB, and they all looked exactly the same on my monitor. Is that expected?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
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1) I have never seen any official information, but various people close to the LR development team indicated at numerous occasions that LR is internally using color space that they named Melissa, which has gamut of ProPhoto RGB, but different gamma.
2) No devices support entire ProPhoto RGB, but many, especially modern inkjet printers, exceed sRGB and even AdobeRGB in different colors. When using these small gamut color spaces, you lose the ability to print these colors. The visual differences are subtle, though. Even if you finally convert to sRGB for web use, using larger color spaces may be beneficial, because you have control over how are the out of gamut colors toned down. If you use sRGB workflow, these colors will be just clipped.
3) This is normal. There are several reasons:
- Your monitor is most likely only capable of displaying sRGB colors
- You can only see a difference if you actually have an image that has those colors that sRGB can't show. Many times sRGB is enough so there is nothing to see
- Even if you have such colors and a way to display them, the differences are often subtle. Next time when you see an image of vivid flowers on the internet, note that they are sometimes totally lacking detail inside of the most saturated areas. This is a sign of out of gamut colors.
The picture below shows gamut of a randomly picked portrait picture from my LR catalog. First is in ProPhoto, second in sRGB and third in my printer's color space. Note how is the sRGB clipped and how is the printer gamut larger than sRGB. This is even more interesting with nature shots with natural foliage green. The triangles represent sRGB and ProPhoto RGB color spaces
Originally by user27944. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user27944
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes. Lightroom’s Develop module is widely understood to use an internal working space often referred to as “Melissa,” which has the gamut of ProPhoto RGB with a different tone curve/gamma.
Using a larger-gamut space such as ProPhoto or Adobe RGB can still be useful even if your monitor cannot display all of it. Some printers can reproduce colors beyond sRGB, and a larger working space helps preserve those colors during editing. It also gives you more control when converting later to a smaller space like sRGB, instead of having out-of-gamut colors clipped earlier in the workflow.
If your exports in sRGB, Adobe RGB, and ProPhoto RGB look identical on your monitor, that is normal. Most displays cannot show the full differences between those spaces, and the visible differences are often subtle unless the image contains colors near or beyond the smaller gamut limits and the whole workflow is color-managed.
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