Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Digital Image Processing => Topic started by: kjkahn on April 01, 2016, 05:49:59 pm

Title: sGray for Web?
Post by: kjkahn on April 01, 2016, 05:49:59 pm

While there is plenty of information available regarding color spaces for color photos to be posted on the Web, I'm confused by the proper color space for grayscale photos to be posted on the Web. I find that if I process them in sGray, then the appearance does not change noticeably when I soft proof them for the Web or when I view them in a browser. Is there any reason not to work in sGray for this purpose? If so, what is the proper color space for grayscale images on the Web?

Title: Re: sGray for Web?
Post by: digitaldog on April 01, 2016, 07:33:17 pm

You still use sRGB with an RGB document where all RGB values are equal (45/45/45, 90/90/90 etc).
Sounds like your browser isn't color managed OR this sGray profile is funky:
http://www.gballard.net/psd/go_live_page_profile/embeddedJPEGprofiles.html
http://www.color.org/version4html.xalter

Title: Re: sGray for Web?
Post by: kjkahn on April 02, 2016, 03:03:02 pm

Thanks,

The images in question are all scans from b&w prints (and a few transparencies). I've been scanning them as 16-bit grayscale.

My 3 browsers, IE 11, Chrome, and Firefox all test as color-managed using the link you provided. My monitor is profiled for print using Spectraview II.

Title: Re: sGray for Web?
Post by: MarkM on April 02, 2016, 05:46:57 pm

Quote from: kjkahn on April 01, 2016, 05:49:59 pm

I find that if I process them in sGray, then the appearance does not change noticeably when I soft proof them for the Web or when I view them in a browser. [emphasis mine]

I think digitaldog mis-read your post. If you are using a profile and saving that profile with the image this is expected behavior for color managed browsers. If the appearance is not changing that's an indication that the browser is using the profile properly. Still, some browsers don't, which is why sRGB is still the recommended color space.

Title: Re: sGray for Web?
Post by: kjkahn on April 02, 2016, 06:47:20 pm

Thanks Mark,

I've been using Photoshop for quite a few years, and I understand about using profiles that are browser-compatible, but I don't recall ever seeing sGray mentioned in any of the books and Web discussions that I have read. I suppose I  can change my grayscale images to sRGB.

Title: Re: sGray for Web?
Post by: digitaldog on April 02, 2016, 07:09:19 pm

Quote from: kjkahn on April 02, 2016, 06:47:20 pm

I suppose I  can change my grayscale images to sRGB.

Convert to sRGB, you should be fine. The file size will grow but I doubt that's an issue for web destined images.