Color Space for customer DVD

[dmcantrell]

Hello,

I have two specific questions regarding workflow color space.

I have my workflow set up in sRGB from front-to-back. Lately I have been reading that this may not be the way to go for various reasons. In a recent search on this forum, I see someone mentioning Prophoto RGB. I did some quick reading on this and this seems to be pretty attractive.

Understanding ProPhoto RGB

1) Is Prophoto RGB the "gold standard" for post-processing flows?

Also, I offer my clients the option to purchase a DVD with printable images.

2) Is there a particular color space that I should be targeting for customer DVD images?

Thanks,

Dave

[srwatters]

When I develop my RAW images with either ACR or CaptureOne, the output is 16 bit color depth and ProPhoto color space. Keep in mind that if you want to use ProPhoto, you will need 16 bit color depth. Even though your camera may only process 12 or 14 bits of color, Photoshop requires the files to be either 8 or 16 bit for RGB.

All editing is done in the same and I save the master in PSD format, but that file is never delivered to any customer (at least not as of yet...). I save an un-cropped 8 bit color depth version of the file in aRGB and tiff format as well as the final crop in the same format. If the customer purchases the full size files, that is what is delivered, but I also will create sRGB full size quality 10 jpg files as a convenience. Typically that is what they will use for making prints, but for publication the tiff files are better for conversion to CYMK.

YMMV.

[jeffkohn]

What Scott said. sRGB is the safest colorspace to deliver files to a client in. If you delivered ProPhoto RGB files to them and they don't use ICC-aware viewing/printing software, the pictures would look terrible.

[dmcantrell]

Awesome, this is exactly what I needed. Thanks guys.