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Question

Converting from sRGB to AdobeRGB

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
March 30, 2024
4 replies
2250 views

Hello there

After previously working in RGB on Photoshop and being repeatedly dissatisfied with the conversion to CMYK results when printing (the blacks always looking washed out) I decided to work thereafter in CMYK.

Now when I recently completed my latest art piece, I also discovered the gamut warning option. In using it, I realised that a lot of my art piece was out of gamut so I made a copy of the art piece and systematically began altering the hues and saturation levels of all the many different elements. And in the end, I managed to correct a decent chunk although there was still a good chunk remaining too which brings me to my next point.

In discovering the gamut warning option, I also became aware of sRGB and AdobeRGB. Now for my part both my embedded colour profiles and working spaces are sRGB IEC61966-2.1 and U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2 but in reading about AdobeRGB, it became clear that it has a bigger colour gamut than sRGB. So my question is this: if I converted from sRGB to AdobeRGB, although I know it would not add colours that weren't there to begin with, would it at least mean that those colours that are out of gamut be able to be seen, either wholly or in part? Sorry for the rambling nature of this message but I'm still rather shaky with all this (as you can likely tell!) Many thanks!

Colin

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D Fosse

Community Expert

What kind of monitor do you have? If it's the standard traditional type - not wide gamut - it can't reproduce any colors outside sRGB anyway.

First of all - don't even touch CMYK until you know with confidence which CMYK profile to use. There is no such thing as a "standard" CMYK. The Photoshop default, US Web Coated SWOP, is not valid outside the Americas, and even there not necessarily right. CMYK is always tied to a specific offset print process: certain inks on certain paper stock, on an offset press calibrated to a certain standard. Ask the printer which profile to use.

So assuming you have the correct CMYK profile:

You'll often hear that CMYK is "smaller" than sRGB, but it's not as simple as that. The primaries are shifted 60 degrees, so there are some CMYK colors that are outside sRGB, and some sRGB colors that are outside CMYK. To cover all the CMYK colors, a relatively large RGB space is needed, like Adobe RGB.

But for soft proofing, you need to see all those colors. And then you need a wide gamut monitor - either one of those that are sold and marketed as "Adobe RGB", or the DCI-P3 varieties that are increasingly sold now. These two are very similar with about the same total gamut volume, the primaries are just not in exactly the same place.

If your monitor is a standard gamut sRGB-type, soft proofing is of little practical use.

C

Colin30187875eszdAuthor

Known Participant

Hi there

Many thanks for taking the time to respond. With regards the monitor, I work on a HP Pavilion laptop so really I can't tell you anymore than that I'm afraid.

The reason I started my last two pieces in CMYK from the off is that the blacks, when converting from RGB to CMYK, always looked washed out, even when practice prints were made at a professional printer. So instead I decided to work straight off from CMYK and the first piece I did, printed off initially at home on my old bog standard Canon MG3250, looked surprisingly good, particularly the blacks. But with regards the exact type of CMYK Profile that a professional printer might use, wouldn't it be a case of altering the proffered settings on Photoshop prior to sending a copy to them? I do have two copies of my latest piece, one utterly untouched from finishing it, the other a copy I've been trying to reduce the out of gamut grey warning areas on to see what can be achieved. Would I be right I'm thinking then that it might be best when sending a copy off to a professional printer to make sure the CMYK Profile I've got it saved as matches that used by the professional printer and that I send off the untouched original piece to see what exactly it comes out looking like? Apologies if I'm.way off on all of this, there's just so much to remember!

Regards

Colin

Derek Cross

Community Expert

What kind of professional printer are you going to use – for example, is it one that does photograph prints or one that does digital/litho printing?

Derek Cross

Community Expert

Are you producing artwork for printing by a commercial CMYK printer or are you printing to (say) your desktop inkjet printer that has CMYK plus facilities?

C

Colin30187875eszdAuthor

Known Participant

Hi Derek

I'm producing artwork for printing at home so I can view the pluses and minuses and then having corrected them to the best of my abilities, then send them to a professional printer

Derek Cross

Community Expert

Have you spoken to your printer about profiles etc?

Monika Gause

Community Expert

A lot of this would depend on Exactly what content you are working with? Drawing illustrations, photos ...?

Generally working in CMYK is not the best of ideas. That's what a softproof is for.

So you calibrate your system, set up the color management to your needs, work in RGB, use the soft proof, make hard proofs where necessary and then have the color converted in the final steps. And as desired by the printing service or your collaborators.

You want to learn aboiut color management. There are courses on LinkedIn (not for free).

C

Colin30187875eszdAuthor

Known Participant

You see Monika, I didn't like working in RGB because of the issue I raised with the black tones and working in CMYK has definitely improved this. And if I'm being very honest, there's an awful lot about the process that I simply don't understand as I simply don't understand half of the explanations. I must admit it's all very confusing.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

That's why I recommended a color management training. If you are producing artwork for professional printing, then you need to understand all that goes into it.

What kind of artwork is it that you are producing?

kglad

Community Expert

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.

<"moved from using the community">

C

Colin30187875eszdAuthor

Known Participant

Sorry about that. Looking through the list I'm not fully sure which is the best one to put the message on. A Photoshop one would be best I feel but there's a lot of different choices and I don't know which one would best suffice 😬

kglad

Community Expert

(no problem. your post is in the color management forum where experts have already responded.)

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