We regularly get questions from people about how to deal with color space choices, both in the digital SLRs we use and in our editing software. I recently received a question about using a Nikon D70 and Photoshop Elements together, and thought it would make a good blog entry.

Hi Bill: I recently attended the digital class you taught in Denver with Reed Hoffmann. I enjoyed the class very much. I thought I would take you up on your offer to email you with any questions. My question has to do with color scheme settings. I have a Nikon D70 that is running with the factory default setting for color scheme (I thinks it's sRGB, but it's not clear to me in the camera menus). I'm using Photoshop Elements on my PC. When I do an Edit - Color Settings, the window that pops up has the "No Color Management" radio button checked. I'm wondering if I should leave it like that, or change it to sRGB. I don't really think I understand the effects of changing it or leaving it as is. What's your opinion?

Mark:
Your camera gives you options in the Color Mode menu of choosing to use sRGB (Mode I or III) or Adobe RGB (1998) color space (Mode II). Essentially the difference is that Adobe RGB (1998) is a larger color space, able to have more color information in it than does sRGB. People argue over how large that difference is. The benefit of the larger information parameter is that if you are doing a lot of editing of your images, you are less likely to see artifacts from that extensive editing since you started with more information. The default choice of the camera is sRGB since that is the color space more consistent with standard monitors and the type of file that most labs work with. So if you are generally just looking at your photos, doing only minimal editing and /or using a commercial photofinishing operation for prints (whether a pro lab or the drugstore down the street) you could keep your life simpler just staying with sRGB. If doing a lot of editing on individual images and doing your own printing, you may prefer Adobe RGB (1998). In Elements' preferences, you should set the choice to the way you shot the photo (in other words for sRGB or Adobe RGB, as in the camera menu), so that what you see on the screen is the most accurate view of that photo and the tone and color in the image as it was captured. Of course, if your monitor is not calibrated and profiled (with something like the Huey by Pantone or the Eye One Display 2 by xRite), then you're likely not seeing the color as it truly is anyway.

Good luck - Bill