Color Management and Mac

[oneword]

Ive just switched from PC to all Mac and am using a power book and a Mac Pro desktop. To make matters worse, I've upgraded to CS3

Can anyone help me with settings with PS, Lightroom etc. and relevant settings with the Mac.

Basically, all the images are shot as RAW, I want to use Adobe RGB as the color space and want to be able to move images back and forth from the desktop to the book with consistent color.

I know that Mac has it's own color management and calibration so, what should the computers be set to and how do you do it? Should there be any setting adjustments made to lightroom, bridge or photoshop?

Many thanks,

[digitaldog]

Both applications are identical Mac or Windows as far as color management goes. Whatever settings you used on Windows can be used on the Mac. You of course need a good display profile but again, no different on this OS than that other one.

CS3's color settings are identical to CS2 I'll add.

[Mort54]

I know that Mac has it's own color management and calibration so, what should the computers be set to and how do you do it? Should there be any setting adjustments made to lightroom, bridge or photoshop?

The Mac OS and most Mac software are color managed (i.e. they use ICC profiles to correctly display color), but the Mac doesn't come with it's own calibration system. You still have to buy a third party calibration package (sensor puck and associated software). I use the Eye-One on mine and I like it a lot, but there are other calibration systems out there as well. Whatever calibration system you use, it will help you set the monitor to the proper luminance value (typically around 105 to 115), and will generate an ICC profile. The ICC profile is used by the Mac OS and software to interpret and display colors correctly. You will also need to calibrate your power book luminance and color the same way.

There's nothing different in the setup between PC and Macs as far as color space, rendering intent, etc, so use the same settings that you had success with on your PC. Mac's used to be optimized for a gamma of 1.8, but that is no longer the case. All new Mac monitors and graphics cards are optimized for a gamma of 2.2, just like PCs. So again, there's nothing you need to set differently between the two.

[Wayne Fox]

Basically, all the images are shot as RAW, I want to use Adobe RGB as the color space [a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=130027\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Off topic to your overall question, which has already been answered (I also use Macs), but curious as to why that color space?  Recently, many that shoot RAW are choosing to use a larger working space than AdobeRBG, since it now rarely encompasses the entire space a camera can capture, meaning you are forced to clip/compress colors as part of the RAW conversion.

I prefer to clip/compress the colors to fit the printer space I am working with, since various printers/papers have vastly different gamuts.  (Normally handled quite well by just using good printer profiles).  Current printers are also capable of producing colors outside of the AdobeRGB space now, and while not exceeding it by much, its seems logical to take advantage of the entire space of the output device before deciding how to compress/clip any colors in an image.  Obviously, if you have already clipped/compressed the data when you converted your RAW file, you have lost that capability.

Maybe you've considered this and have a specific reason that requires AdobeRBG, but thought I'd mention it in case you hadn't considered the idea before.

Currently all my RAW conversions are 16bit to ProPhotoRGB.