Working in Lab Mode Space

AS
Posted By
Alan Smithee
Sep 28, 2005
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552
Replies
3
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Closed
Lab mode seems to offer an number of advantages over working in RGB and CMYK at certain times. What color space works best when going from a digitized scan into Lab mode? I thought maybe it would have it’s own working or colour space on my scanner software but there’s no sign of it in the driver (not in Epson Scan or Vuescan). Do I ALWAYS have to convert into Lab mode from another working space? Thx.
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J
John
Sep 28, 2005
"Alan Smithee" wrote in message
Lab mode seems to offer an number of advantages over working in RGB and
CMYK
at certain times. What color space works best when going from a digitized scan into Lab mode? I thought maybe it would have it’s own working or
colour
space on my scanner software but there’s no sign of it in the driver (not
in
Epson Scan or Vuescan). Do I ALWAYS have to convert into Lab mode from another working space? Thx.
Of course you do. Your scanner’s native output is RGB data – that is what it measures. If you want anything else, you have to convert.

—
John
Replace ‘nospam’ with ‘todnet’ when replying.
MR
Mike Russell
Sep 28, 2005
"Alan Smithee" wrote in message
Lab mode seems to offer an number of advantages over working in RGB and CMYK
at certain times. What color space works best when going from a digitized scan into Lab mode?

Whatever your scanner’s color space is. If none is specified, try assigning sRGB and see if you like the color saturation.

I thought maybe it would have it’s own working or colour space on my scanner software but there’s no sign of it in the driver (not in
Epson Scan or Vuescan).

Vuescan can be configured to embed the sRGB profile. Later you may want to calibrate more accurately, though IMHO this is not really necessary. Vuescan will calubrate your scanner for you, using a 40 dollar IT8 target ($40 from Wolf Faust).

Do I ALWAYS have to convert into Lab mode from
another working space? Thx.

Yes, although if you are using Windows, the Curvemeister plugin allows you to do curves in Lab without actually changing the format of your image. This is a time saver, but the end result is the same as if you did your conversion manually.
—

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
AS
Alan Smithee
Sep 29, 2005
Mike Russell wrote:
"Alan Smithee" wrote in message
Lab mode seems to offer an number of advantages over working in RGB and CMYK
at certain times. What color space works best when going from a digitized scan into Lab mode?

Whatever your scanner’s color space is. If none is specified, try assigning sRGB and see if you like the color saturation.

As "Output" or Scanner profile?
I thought maybe it would have it’s own working or colour space on my scanner software but there’s no sign of it in the driver (not in
Epson Scan or Vuescan).

Vuescan can be configured to embed the sRGB profile. Later you may want to calibrate more accurately, though IMHO this is not really necessary. Vuescan will calubrate your scanner for you, using a 40 dollar IT8 target ($40 from Wolf Faust).

Why would I want to work in native sRGB? Is this better if I intend to switch into Lab mode? All the advice I’ve been given is to stick with Adobe RGB 1998.

Do I ALWAYS have to convert into Lab mode from
another working space? Thx.

Yes, although if you are using Windows, the Curvemeister plugin allows you to do curves in Lab without actually changing the format of your image. This is a time saver, but the end result is the same as if you did your conversion manually.

My scanner is an Epson 3200. In Vuescan my choices for scanner profile are ICC or "Built-in". I had calibrated to one of Wolf’s targets a while back and compared the custom profile generated with Epson’s and decided that the Epson one was "close enough". For my Vuescan "output" profile I usually set to Adobe RGB (which I hope means Adobe RGB 1998) or sometimes ProPhoto if I’m scanning E6 (Slides). My attitude with scanner profiles is "you get what you get" if it doesn’t look right — well that’s what the screen is for — correcting and tuning the colour or grey scale (B&W) where necessary. Is this a good notion or bad?

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