Questions about ICC color profiles on DSLR images

[DavGold]

All,

My week to ask questions I guess.   I have been using PI for a couple years, but want to get better results now that I am trying to shoot longer integration images.  So I was wondering about color profiles.

I try to shoot in Adobe 1998 for all my normal photography and my cameras are set that way.   Was wondering if that is of any concern in PI, ie, should I be setting a color profile to my calibrated images before I start processing.

[sharkmelley]

A very simple question with a complicated answer!

It very much depends on how you do your processing.  When you shoot in Adobe 1998 it only affects the in-camera JPG.  The raw file is exactly the same as shooting in sRGB for example.

I assume you are importing and calibrating raw files in PixInsight.  So the ICC profile won't affect the processing.  However, you might want to assign an ICC profile to the processed data so it appears identical in when opened in Photoshop or on the web.

Unfortunately it is imposssible to cover all the nuances of color management and ICC profiles in a quick answer.

Mark

[RickS]

Some basic things:

• Calibrate the monitor you use for processing.
• Set up PI colour management so that you're processing in a device independent colour space like sRGB, AdobeRGB or ProPhotoRGB. I like AdobeRGB because my monitor can display 99% of it and it is wide enough to represent a good range of colours.
• Convert to a suitable profile after processing, if needed, and make sure you are embedding the profile in the final image.
• Be aware that there are image viewers and browsers that don't do colour management or do it badly.

Cheers,
Rick.

[DavGold]

Mark, Rick

Thanks, I sort of figured PI was not looking at the color profile of the RAW file, since it produces a nondebayered image when I calibrate with bias, darks and flats.   And I figured it was not a big deal on the debayered files as well.  I was mostly thinking about once I export a tiff file that would get edited in PS.

I'd really like to get PS out of the workflow for my images, but I have not managed to figure out all the nuances of PI to do that.

FWIW, I am calibrated for normal photography in Adobe 1998 from camera, to PS, or Lightroom to print on my Epson, so I thought it would be worth thinking about for PI.

Regards

[RickS]

Hi David,

As Mark mentioned, RAW files are just (somewhat processed) data from the sensor and don't have a colour profile.  The profile you set in the camera is only applied to JPEG images.

I can do everything I need in PI but it did take a little while to find all the tools and techniques I needed.  I'm sure you can get there too.

Good to hear you already have the colour management basics covered.

Cheers,
Rick.

[DavGold]

Rick,

Right, all Nikon does does is write the color profile info in the RAW file for Adobe to see when the image is opened and I think it attempts to display that way on the camera.

Again, thanks for the replies