RGB Working Spaces

With the release of Photoshop 5 back in 1998 Adobe took the bold step of fully implementing Color Management and creating RGB Working Spaces. This effectively disconnected the monitor from the actual working file. One needed to create a Monitor Profile that Photoshop would use to display the image on the monitor in its Working Space. The beauty of this approach is that the image is truly independent of the monitor. The same image could now be displayed on different monitors, and as long as each monitor was properly profiled, the image would appear virtually the same. Of course this new approach met with much initial confusion from new and experienced users alike. So many different working spaces, what to do with legacy files (files used before color management)? Thankfully with the introduction of Photoshop 6, Adobe simplified the process by eliminating some of the non standard working spaces and streamlining dialogues from Photoshop’s Color Settings. Today there are really only three main choices for Working Spaces: sRGB for Web based images, Colormatch RGB for images intended to go to press, and Adobe RGB 1998 for images intended for output on a wide variety of devices with larger color gamuts. Many may argue that there are other Working Spaces available or you might even create your own for specialized workflows. But most people will end up getting great results using one of the Working Spaces that are hardwired into Photoshop. One of the oldest debates around has been the choice of sRGB for a working space. In the 2d illustration above the difference between it and Adobe RGB 1998 might not seem that bad. However comparing these profiles in 3d space reveals that sRGB really clips some colours that are available in the larger Adobe RGB 1998 working space. For serious image work stick to Adobe 1998. Check out the comparison here!

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