sRGB vs. ProPhoto

[Thomas Logan Art]

I have a question regarding color space that’s been bothering me for a while that I can’t seem to find an answer to.  Basically, with regard to sRGB, AdobeRGB and ProPhoto and my editing in ACR, Lightroom, Photoshop, etc.  I don’t know if it matters at all switching to ProPhoto when 95% of the monitors out there are representing the sRGB gamut and a few are the AdobeRGB?

If my base assumption is wrong, then I’m happy for someone to explain, and further help me understand how it matters to have my software set to ProPhoto and edit with a monitor that at best is AdobeRGB.  Naturally, I don't use sRGB for anything but exporting, so the emphasis of the question is for editing.  As a side note, I recently purchased a new 4K display, and during my research I read about the sRGB vs. AdobeRGB display space, and thusly ended up purchasing an LG that has the AdobeRGB space.  I have traditionally used the ProPhoto space with Photoshop EDITING.  I have since switched “down” to AdobeRGB for editing as I thought MAYBE it is better if everything is adjusted to the same space.

I also understand printing may come in to play, for that my edited photographs are either exported via jpeg online, and then printed by that host via their sRGB/jpeg, or I print a TIFF file directly from Lr or Ps.

Thanks for your time and attention.

Thomas Logan

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Another thing worth keeping in mind is that when working in a large Color Space it may be beneficial to work in 16bit to avoid quantisation effects when converting to a smaller target space.