Need to determine color profile of TIFF files for DCP conversion

[Mick8888]

I have some uncompressed 16 bit tiff files that I need to have converted to a DCP. The company that will be doing the conversion needs to know if the source files are sRGB or Rec709. The files were created in Photoshop, working in the srgb color space. they were then exported from Premiere (which was in the rec709 color space) as uncompressed tiff files. When I load the exported files into Photoshop and a number of other paint programs they look correct, so I'm assuming that their color profile is sRGB, but I want to be sure.

I tried vieing the metadata of the files in Photoshop and Exiftools and it doesn't tell me the color profile, so I suspect that the file doesn't contain this info.

[Ann Bens]

MediaInfo will tell you the color space (not profile)

[Mick8888]

I checked out MediInfo. Unfortunately it only tells me that the color space is RGB - not the color profile within that space (sRGB, rec709, etc).

[R Neil Haugen]

RGB is a technically a "color model", but most stills people treat this as essentially Adobe RGB, as used in Photoshop, which is a specific color space.

sRGB is another specific space, and is the color space specified in Rec.709 ... which also includes white point and total nit value along with the use of the sRGB color space.

I've also had A-RGB images that were simply listed as "RGB" in MediaInfo. So I think it kinda conflates Adobe or A-RGB with "RGB".

And especially as this is a TIFF file, A-RGB would be my first guess to try anyway.

[Mick8888]

I never got to the bottom of this. The company doing the DCP asked me to send them a link to the video on Youtube so that they could see what the color is supposed to look like. They're under contract to the film festival that the film will be in, and they'll be sending the DCP directly to the festival. So I'll find out how it turned out when I see it for the first time at the festival - along with everyone else in the audience!

[Warren Heaton]

We can check the document profile (the RGB or CMYK color space) for a TIFF image at the lower left of the document window in Photoshop.

Open one of the TIFF images in the image sequence and then change Document Sizes to Document Profile.  It’s the second option in the list.

Photoshop 2023 - Document Profile showing Rec.709 Gamma 2.4

[Mick8888 · Accepted solution]

Ahh, never knew about this! Unfortunately for me, it simply tells me that the image is untagged RGB. But this is good to know for the future...thanks!

[Warren Heaton]

I'd have to double-check, but I think TIFF image sequences from Premiere Pro will always show as untagged.

After Effects should include the color profile of the project color settings when rendering a TIFF image sequence.

You could create a Photoshop batch action for Edit > Assign Profile to assign the preferred profile on the Photoshop side and then run that on the image sequence.

[Warren Heaton]

If you send an untagged image to someone else, they can tag it on their end.  The advantage of having it set already means no guesswork for whomever the image sequence goes to.