Why is my color profile in Photoshop show ProPhoto coming from LRC?

[2Charlie]

When I edit in Photoshp from Lightroom Classic, it shows ProPhoto RGB as the color Profile.

I do not want this color profile. From Lightroom Classic Edit In Photoshop, how do I get it to show Working RGB?

[Conrad_C · Accepted solution]

If the file opens in Photoshop with ProPhoto RGB, that’s because your Lightroom Classic is set to save Edit in Photoshop files in ProPhoto RGB in Preferencees, External Editing. If you want Lightroom Classic to send images to Photoshop using a different profile, change that Lightroom Classic setting. According to your screen shot, the Photoshop RGB working space is currently set to sRGB, so select sRGB in Lightroom Classic. (The term “Working RGB” does not appear in Lightroom Classic.)

[TheDigitalDog]

Keep this in mind too (same for Lightroom Classic as Adobe Camera Raw):

You may want that color profile initially. 

[Rob_Cullen]

As I understand the process-  Lightroom-Classic always works in ProPhoto (or a near equivalent that @TheDigitalDog could explain!), you cannot change that.

You can follow the detailed suggestion from @TheDigitalDog 

Or in Photoshop I believe you can-

1) set the working space in Color Settings- For RGB set your desired working space,

2) Change the Color Management Policies for RGB to 'Convert to Working RGB'

3) If you want to be asked about the change- Check an appropriate box-

If you click the > on the line below the image window you can set the info to display the Document Profile-

My Nikon NEF image came from LrC and is set to Adobe-RGB working space.

[2Charlie]

Perfect! Thank you for all the help. I got it working now.

[D Fosse]

I would not recommend "convert to working RGB" in Photoshop! You should never allow profile conversions to happen automatically and unsupervised. It will potentially destroy data. You need to watch what's happening.

"Preserve embedded profiles" is the safe setting. That's the way Photoshop is designed to work.

Lightroom's internal working color space (linear tone curve and ProPhoto primaries) has no bearing on this. There is no particular reason to choose ProPhoto RGB in External Editing because of that. There is no need for anything to "match" - they won't in any case; they're not identical.

ProPhoto is potentially a very risky color space to use for the inexperienced! The huge gamut means it can contain colors that are very far out of gamut for any kind of output. Sooner or later you will have to remap all of that into a much smaller color space. The end result will likely look much better if you try to keep an early check on the most excessive colors.

What you want to avoid is gamut clipping. An excessively large initial color space may not help you with that, it may only make it worse. The harder the clipping, the worse it will look. Keep an eye on the histogram. It's a very underrated diagnostic tool. If you see any one channel solidly rammed into 0 or 255, you have clipping.

ProPhoto is fine if you know what you're doing. For beginners, it's a stick of dynamite.

[Per Berntsen]

You can set up the color profile for images you send to Photoshop in the External editing tab of LrC's preferences.

The color profile does not have to match the RGB working space in Photoshop, color management will make sure that the image displays correctly.

My recommendation is to set the profile for external editing to Adobe RGB.

For more information, see https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/which-color-space-should-i-use-locked...

If you want to change the color profile for an image in Photoshop, use Convert to Profile, which changes the RGB numbers, so that colors will display correctly with the new profile.

Assign profile will keep the numbers, and there will be a color change. It should only be used for untagged images (that don't have an embedded profile), or if the image has a wrong profile embedded.

[Milko con la elle]

I've got some images with sRgb and some others with another color space profile attached (not proPhoto RGB).
Why Lightroom doesnt respect the already attached color space profile and force another mismatched color profile ?

Why does lightroom assume a 16 bit color depth instead of keeping the existing one?

thx.

[D Fosse]

@Milko con la elle 

You set all this in Lightroom Preferences.

There is no such thing as "mismatched" profiles as long as there is one, and it's a standard profile. Profiles don't need to match, that's the whole point of a color managed application. Any embedded profile will be correctly treated.

[Milko con la elle]

I'm trying to understand how Lightroom Classic works with color profiles.

case 1. my images already have a color profile assigned.

case 2. my images doesnt have a color profile assigned.

In case 1, if LRC assigns a color profile different from the one in the image, the appearance of the image is also significantly modified, while if LRC converts the existing profile to another (ProPhoto Rgb for example), the appearance does not change but the RGB values ​​change.

In case 2, if LRC assigns a color profile different from the one the image was created/worked with, the appearance of the image is also significantly modified. if LRC assigns the same color profile with which the image was created/worked with, everything is fine.

thanks for your help @D Fosse 

and sorry for my english

[D Fosse]

That's expected.

Assigning a profile changes the interpretation of the numbers, so the appearance of the image changes.

Converting recalculates all the numbers to maintain the appearance in the target color space.

Lightroom retains all embedded profiles, but if there isn't one, it will assign sRGB. That will radically change any file that wasn't created in sRGB to begin with. A ProPhoto file, for instance, with the profile stripped, will appear very dark and dull, with a greenish tinge.

If you have an untagged file, you need to find out which color space it was originally created in. Then assign that profile - or whatever is closest, and work from there.

Bottom line, never work with untagged files. Always make sure there is an embedded profile. Without a profile, all bets are off.

[Milko con la elle]

probably my english misled you.
I agree with what you wrote but my question is this:
how does LRC handle color profiles?

I noticed that, even if the starting image already has a color profile (Adobe RGB for example), when switching from LRC to Photoshop the Profile Mismatch window appears and it tells me that the embedded profile is ProPhoto RGB (set in LRC) while in reality the image incorporates the sRGB profile.

a bit strange this.

this is a simple image for test.

[Per Berntsen]

You can safely ignore the Profile mismatch, images will display correctly as long as they have an embedded profile.

And that profile does not have to be the same as the working space.

You can (and should) turn this behavior off by unchecking Ask when opening under Profile mismatches in the PS Color settings dialog.

[Per Berntsen]

In case 1, if LRC assigns a color profile different from the one in the image, the appearance of the image is also significantly modified, while if LRC converts the existing profile to another (ProPhoto Rgb for example), the appearance does not change but the RGB values ​​change.

By @Milko con la elle

My understanding is that LrC uses a variant of the ProPhoto color space (Melissa RGB) internally for editing, and that this has no effect on image appearance, the embedded profile will be used for display.

I have never seen images with an embedded profile change appearance when importing them in LrC.

Raw files are a different story – they are greyscale files and don't have a color profile – so only exported files will have a color profile.

@D Fosse has given you the correct answer for case 2.

If you have untagged files, you have to use Photoshop to assign a profile. (Edit > Assign profile)

[Conrad_C]

I'm trying to understand how Lightroom Classic works with color profiles.

case 1. my images already have a color profile assigned.

case 2. my images doesnt have a color profile assigned.

By @Milko con la elle

Case 1:

Import: Lightroom Classic recognizes the embedded color profile.

Edit: In the Develop module, image colors are converted on-the-fly to the Develop module working space (MelissaRGB at 16bits/channel). This is basically the same as in Photoshop Color Settings when the option “Convert to Working RGB” is enabled.

Export or Edit In: Lightroom Classic embeds the profile that’s set up in those options.

Case 2:

Import: Lightroom Classic finds no embedded color profile in the image, so it acknowledges that it’s untagged.

Edit: In the Develop module, the Develop module working space is assigned on-the-fly to the untagged image, and the image is edited this way. (I don’t think Lightroom Classic assumes any other color space for untagged images, I suppose it might assume sRGB because it’s so common but I’m not sure.) This is basically the same as in Photoshop Color Settings when the option “Missing Profiles: Ask When Opening” is disabled…the working space is silently applied to the untagged image.

Export or Edit In: Lightroom Classic embeds the profile that’s set up in those options.

If you don’t want to see a Profile Mismatch warning in Photoshop, in Lightroom Classic the place to address that is where the image is sent back out of Lightroom Classic.

In the Export dialog box: Make sure that in the File Settings options, Color Space is set to match the RGB Working Space that you have selected in Photoshop. 

In the Edit In preferences: Make sure that in the External Editing tab, Color Space is set to match the RGB Working Space that you have selected in Photoshop.

Those are the same places you set the bit depth for Export and Edit In, so you control the bit depth.

[D Fosse]

The best way to get rid of the profile mismatch warning is to disable it in Photoshop Color Settings.

It's a legacy warning from a time when color management wasn't widely implemented. Today it serves no useful purpose and should just be disabled.

There is no need for the Lightroom Edit In or Export color spaces to match the Photoshop working space. Any profile you set here will override the working space and be correctly treated in Photoshop.

[reproo2773183]

It's a legacy warning from a time when color management wasn't widely implemented. Today it serves no useful purpose and should just be disabled.

By @D Fosse

Agree with everything you've written. And very much agree with setting Photoshop's policies to Preserve Embedded Profiles.

But if your Policies were incorrectly set to Convert or Assign then, and only then,  The Profile Mismatch Warning when opening could save you from making a big mistake.

The Profile Mismatch when Opening Warning should be ON in other Adobe Apps such as InDesign and Illustrator because they potentially have to deal with multiple Profiles on the same page, and also you'd normally want to avoid CMYK to CMYK conversion.

[Milko con la elle]

...and also you'd normally want to avoid CMYK to CMYK conversion.

By @reproo2773183

vero 😉

[Milko con la elle]

thanks to everyone for clarifying my doubt