Part 2 - Photoshop CS Color Settings

Now begins the process of configuring Photoshop. This is achieved through the "Color Settings" dialog (figure 1) found under the "Edit" menu (Windows) or the Photoshop menu (Mac OSX).

The Color Settings dialog is the control room for the Photoshop CS colour management system, and like all control rooms it can appear complicated. The default colour setting is called: North America General Purpose Defaults, but this certainly isn’t the best choice. So if the default isn’t what is, and how do we make the necessary alterations?

I could answer the above question by simply writing US Prepress Defaults but doing so doesn't really help explain why. Therefore, I will work my way through each section of the Color Settings dialog in turn.

Note the Description box at the bottom of the dialog. As the mouse is moved across the various pop-up menus, etc. you should see a short but informative explanation of what each menu does. Also note the checkbox labelled Advanced Mode; it's probably best that you select it now. At least you'll now see everything that the Color Settings has to offer, even if some are only applicable to the most advanced of Photoshop users.

 

Figure 1 - Photoshop CS Default Color Settings

 

The first section is labelled Settings and is a simple pop-up menu with a list of pre-set Photoshop settings plus any that you may have saved. You needn't worry too much about this section just yet.

 

Figure 2

 

If you are upgrading from Photoshop 6 or 7 it should be a simple matter of selecting your previous saved setup. Notice that Adobe has retained the Colour Management Off option for those users who find the whole subject too complicated. However, whilst I don't recommend choosing this option I am aware that quite a few new Photoshop users working on the PC Windows platform find it the easiest to manage.

Working Spaces

The next section is labelled Working Spaces (figure 3), and as I discussed earlier the selections made here will determine the Working Space of certain types of image/document.

 

Figure 3

 

There are four Working Space types in Photoshop: RGB, CMYK, Grey and Spot (occasionally called Modes because they appear under the Image>Mode menu). Since configuring the others follows a similar process I will concentrate mainly on the RGB Working Space.

Also note that the term Working Space should not be confused with Workspace. The term Workspace is used by Adobe to describe the layout of palettes, menu bars, etc whereas Working Space relates specifically to the various colour modes available in Photoshop.

RGB - Working Space

Clicking the RGB pop-up menu with the mouse will produce a list of options similar to that shown below. I chose Adobe RGB (1998) because it's the Working Space I settled on when using Photoshop 5. Notice that Adobe RGB (1998) appears within a group of four Working Spaces, each of which is device-independent. Typically sRGB will be confined to those users solely interested in web design, ColorMatch is a favoured choice of many Mac users and AppleRGB is apparently for Mac web design.

 

Figure 4

 

If you look just above the four common Working Spaces you should also find options for Monitor RGB (green spot in the screenshot), and in the case of Mac systems ColorSync RGB. Monitor RGB is simply the colour space of your monitor as created by the Adobe Gamma utility or a 3rd party software/hardware combination.

It's often claimed that Photoshop CS has no obvious way of informing the user which monitor profile is actually being used. Well, a quick check for Monitor RGB in the RGB Working Space pop-up should be enough to put your mind at rest. If Monitor RGB is showing something other than the profile you created when calibrating the monitor it is essential that you investigate the reason and make the appropriate corrections. It is also possible to select your monitor space as the Photoshop Working Space, but this is not really a good idea. ColorSync RGB is only available to Mac users and will reflect the settings chosen as part of the ColorSync setup.

The actual list of options available for selection as Working Spaces differs depending on whether you activated Advanced Mode, or not. If you chose to activate Advanced Mode then the list of available RGB profiles will be quite extensive.

Additionally, if you had previously been using another Working Space such as BruceRGB then it should also appear as one of the options in this extended list. If it doesn’t you can still create it yourself by choosing Custom (yellow spot in figure 4 above). The dialog box shown below appears and you simply type in the data as shown for the Primaries etc, but remember to give this new Working Space a name and click OK.

 

Figure 5 - Description of BruceRGB

 

Bruce Fraser originally developed BruceRGB around the time Photoshop 5 shipped but it has long since fallen out of favour by the majority of experienced Photoshop users.