Color Settings. Please shed some light on this :-(

[Eloth]

Alright, i've been trying to figure this out for years and have finally decided to ask the experts. I'm painting in photoshop and painter and have 2 main problems/questions, but before I go into that, let me describe what I am doing this for. I'm doing digital painting for my portfolio. I need it to be used for my website and for my printed portfolio. So here we go…

1.) Should I paint in RGB or CMYK? I normally paint in RGB since it has a wider range of color and then convert to CMYK and edit the painting so all my colors are in my gamut for print. Is this the best way to do it?

2.) What color profile should I paint in? I was painting in Adobe RGB (1998) because I was told it was the best for print; however, i need my stuff for the web too! Should I paint in sRGB and then change it to Adobe RGB (1998) when I change it for print? I noticed all my colors are wrong when I upload Adobe RGB (1998) to the web, so I always go with sRGB for that. Also, I noticed alot of printing places use (SWOP) v2. Do I just have no clue how this process works? Please help!

Ugh, why is it so hard to find a good explanation for this?

[arestocrat]

All below are just my personal reflections. For me at least, it works.

1.) I always paint in RGB (adobe RGB1998), just like you. For me, that's the best ways
2.) I would recommend painting in Adobe RGB1989 mode, but before you upload to web, go to "convert to" und make it sRGB! It always worked for me! Colors shouldn't change much (if they do, just adjust them a bit) and it will display correctly on the web. I like that way, because I often print my stuff and don't like to convert from sRGB to CYMK.
About the printing place with SWOP, can't help you there.. most countries have different printing-profiles... For example, here in europe (germany) best for printing purpose is Euroscale coated v2 ... at least what I experienced..
And I agree, it's hard to find information about all this stuff :<

[Eloth]

All below are just my personal reflections. For me at least, it works.

1.) I always paint in RGB (adobe RGB1998), just like you. For me, that's the best ways
2.) I would recommend painting in Adobe RGB1989 mode, but before you upload to web, go to "convert to" und make it sRGB!

Do you notice any big differences between sRGB and Adobe (1998)? I understand from reading that Adobe RGB(1998) has a wider gamut, but I haven't really noticed much difference, although it may only show up when printing. The more accurate print I can get, the better. Thanks for the reply!

[DeadlyFreeze]

This is a good run down on the whole sRGB vs RGB1998

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tut...obeRGB1998.htm

In the end you probably aren't going to notice any difference between the two. The gamut is larger but only in the greens/blues/cyan and even then its not by much.

[frog from itchy]

For digital painting, it is much wiser to work exclusively in sRGB, you will have far greater control by the simple fact that your monitor will actually be able to display the colours you are using.

If you have your colour space set to Adobe RGB then you are probably not able to correctly display the colours you are using, and are probably not aware of just how saturated they are. You'll also run into serious difficulties when converting your images to CMYK.

If you want more details on this you can read some more expansive posts I have made in the past:

http://conceptart.org/forums/showpos...48&postcount=6

http://conceptart.org/forums/showpos...4&postcount=17

I would add that if you have a monitor capable of displaying Adobe RGB (these are now becoming more common), and you know what you are doing (ie you can handle a colour-managed workflow), then Adobe RGB is viable - but even then the benefits probably aren't really worth the extra hassle.