conversion to sRGB

[keefeborden]

I'm in the process of assembling my first album, and have decided to use blurb as a printshop based on the recommendations from this website.... The directions from the site call for images in sRGB, but my camera is set to aRGB and I am doing all post processing in the same space. A couple of questions:
do I need to convert to sRGB before assembling the album?
if so, what's the easiest way to do this?
do I need to worry about the difference between sRGB and aRGB?

thanks in advance, Keefe.

[Gordon]

If they ask for them in sRGB, then yes, you'll need to convert.

What software do you use/ have for editing ? Something like photoshop will convert to sRGB easily and fairly painless when set up properly. Plenty of other programs will too.

Yes and no to needing to worry about it. If you convert properly then there's not much to worry about. If you don't convert and they just print it as if it was sRGB, your colours will look washed out/ muddy.

[PeteQ]

What Gordon said...

I do my conversion as a process of my work flow as one of the final steps, just right before output sharpening. Then it is saved as a new file with a tag so I know it's sRGB and ready to print that way.

One other note. Jake had a tip about Blurb and it's covers. The inner pages aren't too bad for printer color cast/shift and so forth. Granted it's not like lab print quality, but it's ok for what it is. Anyway, the covers are a bit notorious for color shifts so Jake suggested using a black and white image for the cover. I tried it and I like the idea. If it's a cityscape or something it's not too noticeable but if it's a portrait be cautious as skin tones are tough to begin with. Anywhoo, that's my two cents....

[keefeborden]

Thanks for both replies. I should have included more information....
I'm using Photoshop CS2 and Bridge. I have already converted from RAW to jpeg and have applied modest sharpening. I would prefer not to reprocess all over again if at all possible. Can I convert to sRGB after sharpening?

Thanks, Keefe.

[barP]

you can convert to srgb anytime, but you have to save a new file. i'm surprised they want it that way, though. thought srgb was primarily for web display...

wp.