exporting files

[mgolin]

Lightroom Version Number

6.14 perpetual

Operating System

1. Windows 10

While I've been scrupulous backing up the LR catalog & the original imports, I've been concerned that the work I've put into the VCs seems thin; maybe I worry too much. I'm still using the stand-alone LR6, so there's no cloud backup involved. I'm about to start culling my way too many adjusted photos into a couple of hard drives to pass along to my kids so that they don't have to work at anything (not being overly interested in photography.) Even if I'm deluding myself, some images may be worthwhile maybe to grandkids of the future, so I intend to save them as TIFFs. So my questions then...

• Since virtually every thing I've done in digital so far has used sRBG color space, does exporting them as Adobe sRGB or ProPhoto give the files any advantage? I understand that if I've been using Adobe SRGB or ProPhoto from the start, that there is better color resolution for printing. But if someone wants to print them, will that advantage translate from an sRBG-based original file?
• Or another concern is if are the image colors altered by LR when exporting from sRGB to another color space? As best I can glean from the web, probably not, but....?

As you might guess, I'm not very print literate, so any clarification of this would be appreciated.

 

[Philippe Coudé du Foresto]

does exporting them as Adobe sRGB or ProPhoto give the files any advantage?

Usually not, except for art printing. Most usual printing provider on the net use a printer with a colorspace not bigger than sRGB.

are the image colors altered by LR when exporting from sRGB to another color space?

It depends, If you are exporting to a biiger color space like Adobe RGB, it's just a matter of translating the color values to the new colorspace. No color are changed (since they exists in the biggest colorspace)
The problem arises when you are exporting to a smaller CS (say from RGB to sRGB). You might have colors in the image that doesn't exist in the destination CS. These colors must be changed to a color existing in the destination CS. This change can affect the colors outside the destination CS, but also the color inside the destination CS, depending of the conversion method used (Perceptual or Relative).

 

[mgolin]

Thanks for the quick & informative enough (so as to not cause more confusion) response.

 

[Replytoken]

Are you starting out with raw or jpeg files? If jpeg, then I do not see any advantage of moving from sRGB to a larger color space. If raw, then there may be some value in the future by saving the exported file in a larger color space like Adobe RGB, but future users/viewers would have to know how to handle the file, and assuming that folks do not, then it just may complicate things.

--Ken

 

[clee01l]

does exporting them as Adobe sRGB or ProPhoto give the files any advantage?

sRGB, AdobeRGB and ProPhotoRGB define mostly over lapping color spaces The smallest envelop is sRGB and ProPhotoRGB is the largest. That means that any defined colors that fall outside of the sRGB color space will be truncated and lost to future edit adjustments. If the future use of the file you are creating is going to involve further editing in a photo editor, you want to preserve the largest color space for edit calculations. That means that you should choose ProPhotoRGB to get the largest color space and not lose any color defined inside ProPhotoRGB.

However if your file IS the end product you should choose a colorspace suitable for the destination media. If the destination is a photo shown on a web site, then sRGB is the generic color space for monitors. It should be noted that many newer displays are capable of a larger gamut than sRGB. Some mfgs offer AdobeRGB and Apple displays use DCI-P3 which has an envelop similar to ProPhotoRGB

If you are going to make a print from your file then the media colorspace should be matched (Printier and paper type) or it not known use the generic Print colorspace AdobeRGB.

 

[Trillian]

I hear so many conflicting opinions on this. But I always export to TIFF in ProPhotoRGB, if I'm working with it on Photoshop, and when all retouching is done and I want to share it, just then I export to jpg in sRGB. Even when people say "it won't matter if your TIFF is in ProPhotoRGB, it will just make your file bigger". I figure I want to postpone my losses for the last possible minute.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Even when people say "it won't matter if your TIFF is in ProPhotoRGB, it will just make your file bigger"

If they say that you should question their knowlegde. ProPhotoRGB does not make the file any bigger than AdobeRGB or sRGB. The only reason why ProPhotoRGB TIFF files are often bigger in practice is because you need to use 16 bits/color for ProPhotoRGB while you can get away with using 8 bits/color for the other two.

Your working method is perfect, so don't change anything.