Page 254 - Friedman Archives

254 The “Recording” (Camera icon) Menu Settings

if you forget to convert it back, the image will tend to look faded and low-
contrast.)

TIP: If you choose to shoot in AdobeRGB mode, you’ll notice that the file names
begin with “_DSC”, whereas with sRGB the file names begin with “DSC0”. This is
a visual cue to the folks in charge of post-processing images (in the event that
that person is not you) that they still need to be tweaked into a more universally
accepted color space so that they can be easily shared with others.

Not sure what to do? You can always shoot in RAW and then choose your
color space on your computer when you open / convert the RAW file. One
advantage to doing that is that RAW files represent colors using 12 bits per
color instead of 8, so if you open the RAW file in Photoshop you can pull it
in using 16-bit AdobeRGB and have a larger palette of colors to play with.

One thing to keep in mind is that shooting in AdobeRGB doesn’t mean
your final output will necessarily look “better” or you’ll see more colors. It
means only that the preview you see on your monitor will more accurately
reflect what the printed output will look like (if everything has been
calibrated).

(Shameless plug: Color space is a very big topic – probably too big for this
book. If you found this summary confusing, I explain the complex ideas of
color space, ICC profiles, and color matching output at length in my
ebooklet “Advanced Topics 2”, available at
www.FriedmanArchives.com/ebooks).

Equal Time: While it’s true that most professionals shoot in AdobeRGB and
have configured their software and calibrated their equipment to handle it,
not every professional thinks it’s worth the trouble. See photography pundit
Ken Rockwell’s (I know, I know… but this time he has a point!) treatise on the
subject at: http://tinyurl.com/2yjdct)

Contents of this book Copyright © 2014 Gary L. Friedman. All rights reserved.