Color Output Settings
Capture One Express can output to any RGB color space while Capture One Pro can also output to CMYK (it is necessary that the ICC profile is available on the local machine).
For Web
Images that are intended to be published on web sites should always be processed into the sRGB color space as few web-browsers are capable of color management and the subtleties of images will not only be lost but can also be incorrectly displayed. Images processed in larger color spaces like Adobe RGB will be displayed with less color (especially green) and those are often slightly too dark when shown in browsers that support only sRGB.
For Print
Images for print should be output to suit the requirements of the client or lab. Adobe RGB is a large color space that is capable of expressing a wider gamut of colors than sRGB. Adobe RGB is the preferred choice for images that are likely to receive extensive processing or retouching.
Camera Profiling
Embedding the ICC color profile into the processed file (ICC Profile -> Embed Camera profile) ensures that no color changes are made to the image data, which is particularly important for creating camera profiles.
Retouching/Manipulation
Image files that are intended to receive intensive retouching and manipulation can benefit by being processed and output in 16-bit to ProPhoto RGB, which is a larger color space than Adobe RGB.
CMYK Color Spaces
Capture One Pro provides a selection of the most common CMYK color spaces. The photographer can convert to CMYK during processing to ensure image quality instead of applying this color space conversion in postproduction. CMYK can be selected in the Format and Size tool in the Export Recipes panel.
Setting a permanent color space in Capture One
Capture One Pro allows you to proof color space profiles, including CMYK, for output prior to being processed. Alternatively, as Capture One displays the image in the Viewer using the ICC profile that’s selected in the highlighted Export Recipe, you can use a recipe to display the color space permanently. Note, a permanent color space profile seen in the Viewer may produce different colors than the actual output image.
- Select View -> Proof Profile and select the desired profile from the list.
- Perform final corrections before processing by using a recipe with the desired profile.
- Alternatively, select the desired ICC profile in a Format and Size tool for the permanent display in the Viewer.
Comments
6 comments
Liliia,
Can you explain the last sentence a bit further, and give a recommendation which profile to set when adjusting the image at a time when it is not yet clear which output format/color space is targetied? The sentence I mean is :"Note, a permanent color space profile seen in the Viewer may produce different colors than the actual output image".
Thanks
Capture One displays the image in the Viewer using the ICC profile that’s selected in the highlighted Process Recipe. By default, when you go to the View -> Proof Profile menu, the option Selected Recipe (Default) is selected. However, you can purposefully choose another recipe to display the color space permanently by going through the list of available ones in the View -> Proof Profile menu. That way, a permanent color space profile seen in the Viewer may produce different colors than the actual output image. It means that the way the image is displayed in the Viewer may be different from that of the processed or exported one. For example, if you have Euroscale Coated v2 profile selected in View -> Proof Profile and Adobe RGB (1998) in the ICC Profile field in the Process Recipe tool, the output image and the one in the Viewer will look different.
Consider that it is up to your choice which specific profile to set when adjusting the image. This also depends on the particular purpose the image is being adjusted. To make sure that the edited and output images look the same way, make sure that the Selected Recipe (Default) optionin the View -> Proof Profile menu is selected.
If you process your image with a different profile than you have selected for the viewer, the file output of course can differ from the screen output.
Thank you, understood.
Regards
Hi Lily, I've been wondering where the ProPhoto profile is... I've made a recipe and I can't find the ProPhoto profile in the profile list for the recipe.
Am I supposed to be adding it some other way?
Many thanks
Hi Philippe,
Thank you for your comment.
The ProPhoto profile is not on the list by default. However, you can use custom ICC profiles by inserting them into the corresponding folders. Please, find more detailed instruction here:
How to install ICC profiles?
Hi Lily, I think this section needs to be updated. All recent browsers support ICC profiles and color management. You can test it on this page: http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/color-spaces-page2
However, the recommendation to convert/export everything in sRGB is still true, because most people are not photographers and probably don’t call a wide-gamut monitor their own. So if you are e.g. uploading an image with highly-saturated colors and AdobeRGB profile, most people will still only see the image converted to sRGB on their hardware (the browser will take care of this). Another big problem is, that most CMS and image optimization tools are ignoring and removing the color profiles by default. Converting to sRGB helps here, because even if the profile is stripped from the resulting image (e.g. when a thumbnail or optimized version of the image is generated), browsers will assume that the image is in sRGB colorspace and still display it correctly, whereas an AdobeRGB image would look dull, when the profile is missing because the browser would also treat it, like it was an sRGB image.
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