How do I know what color work space I am using?

[Goldilocks]

Hi,
I have an Canon Powershot s70 and a Canon Powershot s80 at the present time. I like using RAW, I like the RAW Shooter software. I also have an HP Photosmart 7550 printer. Since I have severe problems walking and carrying weight and want to get back to capturing landscapes, with all it's subtleties, I want the best color work space that is not a nightmare to use. Problem, needs creative solution. I don't want to restrict myself to setting up my system to one camera, one printer, one paper etc., because I do creative work including painting. I have called up Canon and HP but they can't answer a simple question like what color work space there software is looking for. Canon's photorecord programs bomb out (stuck in an endless loop about "Image Anaylsis for Color Correction or Contrast Correcton has failed due to an internal error" and "ICI error in Alb_on_idle ici/alb-photo.ici, 868:division by 0.0". ) Canon tech support is blaming incompatiblity with HP printers, but if I use Canon software only on my raw files and save to jpeg and print, it doesn't have a problem with the HP Printer. I just don't like the result of Canon's raw editor: less fine tuning to 10th's not onehundredths and no noise control which is a major issure for the s70. Tim Gray mentioned Qimage to print with, but I don't know after researching it, what the ICC profiiles are all about and don't know if I have enought information about my software/hardware that it would give me the results that I want. I'm looking for decent colormanagement and the ability to print multiple pictures on one page when I want to.
Any advice or suggestions is much appreciated.
Linda

[Leigh]

"Software" doesn't necessarily--- "look" for a Color Space.    Most current cameras produce images in either SRGB, or Adobe RGB 1998, and sometimes with a choice of either.

  Your editing Software, however, must have Color Management capability ( At one time that meant Photoshop only, but there are others available now.)

  You have to set-up / choose a Color Space in your editing software.

  If, for example, you choose Adobe RGB 1998, in Photoshop---- When you open an image with that profile / tag it will simply open---- If it has a profile other than your chosen one, or no profile at all-- photo shop will open a dilog, asking you what you wish to do--- leave it, Convert, etc.

  You can choose from a "number" of Work Space profiles to suit your needs.

  Below is a link to an essay on Color Management in Photoshop CS, but should shed some light on the entire subject.

   http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps8_colour/ps8_1.htm

  Leigh

[Mark D Segal]

If you are using the RAW format in the camera for taking the photographs, this does not have a colour space, and you need not think of colour spaces at this stage.

Images get assigned a colour space by the user when the image is converted from RAW to the final file format. If you do not like the Canon Raw converter, then you should use Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop. It is an excellent program. In Camera Raw you can specify what colour space you wish to work with. Many people use Adobe RGB98, but you can experiment to see which works best for your work and your printer. sRGB is another colour space which contains a smaller colour range than ARGB98, while ProPhoto contains more.

Printing profiles are a separate matter. You can let the printer handle color management by setting up the printer driver to do it, in which case you do not need to worry about ICC profiles - the printer driver will do the needful. Or for better results, you can turn colour management OFF in the printe driver and let Photoshop do the colour management, in which case you need to specify which profile Photoshop should use for correctly interpreting the colours for the paper you are using. Your printer software came with profiles that are lodged in your computer's operating system when you downloaded the software. When you open Photoshop's Print with Preview Dialogue box, it will ask you whether you want Photoshop to Determine Colours and if you select that, then you need to open the drop down menu for profiles, and select the ICC profile for the type of HP paper you will be using.