How accurate is Lightroom's Out-of-Gamut warning

[lara_ckl]

I am trying to decide between two papers.  Let's assume that all other things are equal.

In Lightroom 6, I turn on soft proofing and destination out-of-gamut warning.

For the same image, using the manufacturer's profile for Paper A, I get lots of out-of-gamut warnings.  For Paper B, using its manufacturer's profile, I get less out-of-gamut warning.  (Both profiles are also specific to my printer.)

Can I conclude that, for my specific printer, Paper A has a smaller gamut than Paper B?

Thanks.   

[Farmer]

It has a different gamut and relative to the image you're trying to print, less of it is within the gamut of the paper.  That's all you can conclude.  You also can't conclude how far out of gamut it is nor whether it make the image significantly different, better, or worse.

It's useful to know, but it's just a starting point.  Test prints are the best way forward.  Softproof comparisons can be OK, too.  You can also get something like ColourThink and see exactly where and how much the gamut is different but that won't necessarily help you to make an aesthetic choice.

[patjoja]

I am trying to decide between two papers.  Let's assume that all other things are equal.

In Lightroom 6, I turn on soft proofing and destination out-of-gamut warning.

For the same image, using the manufacturer's profile for Paper A, I get lots of out-of-gamut warnings.  For Paper B, using its manufacturer's profile, I get less out-of-gamut warning.  (Both profiles are also specific to my printer.)

Can I conclude that, for my specific printer, Paper A has a smaller gamut than Paper B?

Thanks.   

Yes, that's what soft proofing can help you see. 

Patrick

[digitaldog]

Soft proof useful. OOG overlay not much:

The Out Of Gamut Overlay in Photoshop and Lightroom

In this 25 minute video, I'll cover everything you need to know about the Out Of Gamut (OOG) overlay in Photoshop and Lightroom. You'll see why, with a rare exception, you can ignore this very old feature and still deal with out of gamut colors using modern color management tools.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00O-GTDyL0w
High resolution: http://digitaldog.net/files/OOG_Video.mp4

Plotting 3D gamut’s in something like Colorthink Pro; super useful!

[PeterAit]

I am trying to decide between two papers.  Let's assume that all other things are equal.

In Lightroom 6, I turn on soft proofing and destination out-of-gamut warning.

For the same image, using the manufacturer's profile for Paper A, I get lots of out-of-gamut warnings.  For Paper B, using its manufacturer's profile, I get less out-of-gamut warning.  (Both profiles are also specific to my printer.)

IMHO, you are going about this all wrong. Make prints to the best of your ability on the two papers. Compare. Which do you prefer?

[digitaldog]

IMHO, you are going about this all wrong. Make prints to the best of your ability on the two papers. Compare. Which do you prefer?

And use a color reference image that's got a really wide gamut for testing: http://www.digitaldog.net/files/Gamut_Test_File_Flat.tif

[lara_ckl]

It has a different gamut and relative to the image you're trying to print, less of it is within the gamut of the paper.  That's all you can conclude.  You also can't conclude how far out of gamut it is nor whether it make the image significantly different, better, or worse.

It's useful to know, but it's just a starting point.  Test prints are the best way forward.  Softproof comparisons can be OK, too.  You can also get something like ColourThink and see exactly where and how much the gamut is different but that won't necessarily help you to make an aesthetic choice.

Thanks Phil.  You are right.  What I am seeing is specific to the colors on a specific photo.  Paper A may have trouble printing a photo with lots of reds compared to Paper B but the reverse may be true for a photo with lots of greens.  I shouldn't have concluded that Paper A has a smaller gamut based on out-of-gamut warnings on one photo.

[lara_ckl]

IMHO, you are going about this all wrong. Make prints to the best of your ability on the two papers. Compare. Which do you prefer?

I was actually working my way through two packs (Moab and Canson) of sample papers.  Installing ICC for all those different papers were a pain.  While I was grumbling my way through the process, it occurred to me that Lightroom has a out-of-gamut feature in their soft proofing.  I thought, "hmmmm, what if.....".   

[Doug Gray]

I was actually working my way through two packs (Moab and Canson) of sample papers.  Installing ICC for all those different papers were a pain.  While I was grumbling my way through the process, it occurred to me that Lightroom has a out-of-gamut feature in their soft proofing.  I thought, "hmmmm, what if.....".   

The gamut warning mask can be useful for directing your attention to problematic areas but that's about all. It tells nothing about how colors will be printed, whether there will be visible clipping, etc. Soft proofing is better for that though one is also subject to the limits of the monitor's gamut when evaluating soft proofs. A wide gamut monitor goes a long, long way helping that. It will properly display most, but not all, printable colors in soft proof.

Andrew's videos cover this pretty well. Do check them out.