Colour Management
Can you please give some pointers or tips to colour management with regard to output in Pano2VR. I find with my 360º VR's that the colour seem to be a bit desaturated and the contrast low especially with outdoor scenes; do not experience it so much with interiors. When editing and viewing a image in Photoshop it appears normal; normal tone, contrast, saturation, but after output in Pano2VR it appears desaturated/low contrast. Is the problem with my editing setting contrast, saturation or the correct tones? Will appreciate your help! Thank you
prepare your source (TIF) in Photoshop to Standard RGB (sRGB)... and if you're have 16-bit per channel (48) convert to 8-bit (24-bit space)
Gumir J | VR Panoramic Photographer | mobile: +77055717171 | skype: gumirj
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website: gumirj.com | google.com/+gumirj | facebook.com/gumirj | twitter.com/gumirj
Actually, it is not considered to be best practise to be in sRGB when dealing with original photographic work, especially if print might be involved. the sRGB colour space isn't as large as Adobe RGB (1998), let alone the more pro-oriented ones. The whole point of sRGB is to provide a 'lowest common denominator' for colour display on monitors - which is good for end delivery, but NOT for working in.
The trouble is, Flash expects everything to be sRGB. (Another example of Flash's brain-deadness.) If you hand it an image that's in a better colour space then it mistreats it, and the end result is a flatter, duller image than you expected.
The BEST, most professional solution is to work in Adobe RGB (1998) or better and *convert* the final output to sRGB at the last possible moment, using Photoshop. For me, that means the equirectangular images that I drop into Pano2VR.
Now, if Pano2VR could do this for me as it outputs I would be delighted!
Keith
The trouble is, Flash expects everything to be sRGB. (Another example of Flash's brain-deadness.) If you hand it an image that's in a better colour space then it mistreats it, and the end result is a flatter, duller image than you expected.
The BEST, most professional solution is to work in Adobe RGB (1998) or better and *convert* the final output to sRGB at the last possible moment, using Photoshop. For me, that means the equirectangular images that I drop into Pano2VR.
Now, if Pano2VR could do this for me as it outputs I would be delighted!
Keith
My workflow, in case it helps:
Camera is set to capture as Adobe RGB (1998)
16-bit TIFFs from my original 14-bit RAW files
16-bit TIFF equirectangular output from PTGui
Final check and possible manipulation/editing in Photoshop
Use Photoshop to convert to sRGB and save (as 16-bit TIFF)
Drop into Pano2VR
Camera is set to capture as Adobe RGB (1998)
16-bit TIFFs from my original 14-bit RAW files
16-bit TIFF equirectangular output from PTGui
Final check and possible manipulation/editing in Photoshop
Use Photoshop to convert to sRGB and save (as 16-bit TIFF)
Drop into Pano2VR
-
erik leeman
- Posts: 470
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- Contact:
Sorry Keith,
"The BEST, most professional solution is to work in Adobe RGB (1998) or better and *convert* the final output to sRGB at the last possible moment"
ahem, aren't you 'oversimplifying' things a bit here?
Please allow me to propose a bit of nuance:
- For the best possible image quality the smallest 'fitting' colour space must be used, NOT the largest available!
In other words: every colour actually present in the captured scene should (ideally) fit inside the chosen colour space, but that colour space should not be substantially larger than necessary!
Especially if a scene has subtle gradients you want to use all available bits to differentiate between as many possible tiny 'steps' to prevent banding. Wasting those bits by reserving them for colours that aren't there is not what you want if you're aiming for quality!
Actually, for most (natural) scenes sRGB will do nicely, my guess is there won't be much that doesn't fit in it. Only if you know that the colours of important elements in your image will not fit inside sRGB should you choose a wider colour space.
- If you don not have a (profiled and calibrated!) monitor that can show a wider colour space than sRGB you should not edit images in any other colour space than sRGB, because there is no way you can see what you are doing!
- ANY conversion from one colour space to another will cause damage that can not be repaired. It should be avoided like the plague if your goal is the best possible image quality!
So for most common scenes my advice is to work in sRGB from start to finish. As an added bonus this will most likely also save you from accidental mixups.
Oh, and I think setting your camera to capture as Adobe RGB is completely pointless if you shoot RAW. Even if you shoot RAW + jpeg I can't think of a reason why one would want those jpegs to be anything but sRGB.
Cheers!
Erik
"The BEST, most professional solution is to work in Adobe RGB (1998) or better and *convert* the final output to sRGB at the last possible moment"
ahem, aren't you 'oversimplifying' things a bit here?
Please allow me to propose a bit of nuance:
- For the best possible image quality the smallest 'fitting' colour space must be used, NOT the largest available!
In other words: every colour actually present in the captured scene should (ideally) fit inside the chosen colour space, but that colour space should not be substantially larger than necessary!
Especially if a scene has subtle gradients you want to use all available bits to differentiate between as many possible tiny 'steps' to prevent banding. Wasting those bits by reserving them for colours that aren't there is not what you want if you're aiming for quality!
Actually, for most (natural) scenes sRGB will do nicely, my guess is there won't be much that doesn't fit in it. Only if you know that the colours of important elements in your image will not fit inside sRGB should you choose a wider colour space.
- If you don not have a (profiled and calibrated!) monitor that can show a wider colour space than sRGB you should not edit images in any other colour space than sRGB, because there is no way you can see what you are doing!
- ANY conversion from one colour space to another will cause damage that can not be repaired. It should be avoided like the plague if your goal is the best possible image quality!
So for most common scenes my advice is to work in sRGB from start to finish. As an added bonus this will most likely also save you from accidental mixups.
Oh, and I think setting your camera to capture as Adobe RGB is completely pointless if you shoot RAW. Even if you shoot RAW + jpeg I can't think of a reason why one would want those jpegs to be anything but sRGB.
Cheers!
Erik