Monitor profile - colour management

[Alex]

Hi,

Was just wondering with the new monitor, I got a colour profile with the monitor Viewsonic 90f+. Should I select this instead of sRGBIEC6.... in photoshop as a working space? I always used the latter with the previous monitor version. I also have an option of opening NEF in Nikon capture NX under monitor profile rather than this sRGBIEC....
Interestingly sRGBIEC.. allows colour management, whilst the monitor colour space has colour management set to off.

Thanks
Alex

[DaveB]

with the new monitor, I got a colour profile with the monitor Viewsonic 90f+.

A "canned" profile like that is of limited value, as it'll only be valid:

• for a specific set of control values (e.g. brightness, contrast, colour temperature, etc)
• until the CRT changes behaviour (which is a continual process, although slow while the unit is new)
• for the "average" monitor as measured by the manufacturer

Should I select this instead of sRGBIEC6.... in photoshop as a working space?

NO!
Your working space should be chosen based on your own workflow, but sRGB and Adobe RGB are common choices. This is the colour space that your files will be in by default (you can change it for each file via "Convert To Profile" or "Assign Profile"). Photoshop will convert the numbers on the fly using the monitor profile (hopefully an accurate one generated by a calibrator) so that you see the actual colours (or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof) on-screen. Similarly printer profiles are used to show the right colours when printed.
The monitor profile will change over time (as you re-calibrate/profile to account for the monitor's changing behaviour) but you don't want all your files to have to change at the same time!

I also have an option of opening NEF in Nikon capture NX under monitor profile rather than this sRGBIEC....

I can't imagine there'd be a lot of call for this.

Interestingly sRGBIEC.. allows colour management, whilst the monitor colour space has colour management set to off.

If the image is being rendered directly into the monitor's colour space (as I mentioned, not a useful function most of the time) then implicitly no colour management is required to draw the colours accurately on the screen.

[big pix]

try here......

http://www.photoshopsupport.com/resources/color.html

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/di ... fault.mspx

http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/color_management.htm

[Alex]

Thanks guys. This is very useful.

Alex

[Alex]

with the new monitor, I got a colour profile with the monitor Viewsonic 90f+.

A "canned" profile like that is of limited value, as it'll only be valid:

• for a specific set of control values (e.g. brightness, contrast, colour temperature, etc)
• until the CRT changes behaviour (which is a continual process, although slow while the unit is new)
• for the "average" monitor as measured by the manufacturer

Should I select this instead of sRGBIEC6.... in photoshop as a working space?

NO!
Your working space should be chosen based on your own workflow, but sRGB and Adobe RGB are common choices. This is the colour space that your files will be in by default (you can change it for each file via "Convert To Profile" or "Assign Profile"). Photoshop will convert the numbers on the fly using the monitor profile (hopefully an accurate one generated by a calibrator) so that you see the actual colours (or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof) on-screen. Similarly printer profiles are used to show the right colours when printed.
The monitor profile will change over time (as you re-calibrate/profile to account for the monitor's changing behaviour) but you don't want all your files to have to change at the same time!

I also have an option of opening NEF in Nikon capture NX under monitor profile rather than this sRGBIEC....

I can't imagine there'd be a lot of call for this.

Interestingly sRGBIEC.. allows colour management, whilst the monitor colour space has colour management set to off.

If the image is being rendered directly into the monitor's colour space (as I mentioned, not a useful function most of the time) then implicitly no colour management is required to draw the colours accurately on the screen.

Dave,

Thanks again. This makes a lot of sense.

Alex