Is a free lunch possible with synthetic profiles

[MarkM]

I just saw this article by John Paul Caponigro about performing color and contrast adjustments using color profiles rather than more traditional tools.

http://www.digitalphotopro.com/revolution/synthetic-profiles

His basic takeaway is:

…values stay the same, but their meaning changes, so the image looks different. So when you use this unorthodox method of color adjustment, you get a change in appearance without changing the values in the file, and this is particularly useful when you want to pay a very small price for making very big changes.

By 'price' I assume he means the normal cost of extreme manipulation(i.e banding, noise, etc). But this seems completely wrong because sooner or later the image needs to be converted from this synthetic profile to an output space, whether it's a monitor, print, or just working space. When this happens the values DO change and any problems your adjustments might cause will become apparent (both visually and in the histogram). His argument is that because he can change the appearance without changing the histogram he has obtained a free lunch.

I seems to show such a lack of basic understanding of how things work that it's hard to imagine it being published. Having said that, this is published by a fairly well-known name — so I'm second guessing myself. Any thoughts? Is he correct or is this just a lot of extra work in exchange for less control and no real benefits?

[digitaldog]

It's like assigning the wrong profile to alter the color appearance but not the numbers. Years ago, Dan M. labelled  this a 'false profile' (dumb name). This isn't a new 'concept'

[MarkM]

This isn't a new 'concept'

Fair enough — but is the premise that you can "pay a very small price for making very big changes" correct?

[digitaldog]

Fair enough — but is the premise that you can "pay a very small price for making very big changes" correct?

I don't think there's a free lunch. The data has to be converted to something else at some point right?

[MarkM]

I don't think there's a free lunch. The data has to be converted to something else at some point right?

Well, that's what I think — even if it's just to convert to the monitor profile.

[smthopr]

I don't think there's a free lunch here, just a way to surprise oneself by looking at an image differently than the usual approach. Nothing wrong with that.

But. When push comes to shove, were all editing on a display, and the color space of the display is really where we are adjusting the image, no matter what the underlying color space the image is saved in.

Just my opinion of course:)