SRGB vs no Color Management question

I have two workflows for Photoshop that produce the exact same results and I want to know which one to use, but most importantly why?
WORKFLOW 1: NO COLOR MANAGEMENT
1. Photoshop Color Settings is set to "Monitor Color" which tells the PSD to not use color management.
2. I check with Proof Colors (View > Proof Colors), having Monitor RGB selected (View > Proof Setup > Monitor RGB), and of course nothing changes.
3. I Save for Web and nothing changes (If I select "convert to sRGB" in the Save for Web dialog the colors wash out so I NEVER check this).
4. Export the image.
WORKFLOW 2: sRGB
1. Photoshop Color Settings is set to "North America General Purpose 2" which tells the PSD to use sRGB.
2. I check with Proof Colors (View > Proof Colors), having Monitor RGB selected (View > Proof Setup > Monitor RGB), and the colors change a good bit.
3. I Save for Web and it matches what Proof Colors shows me (If I select "convert to sRGB" in the Save for Web dialog nothing changes).
4. Export the image.
Both of these yeild the exact same image. The technical difference is that the second image has sRGB embedded? From a workflow difference I perfer the first one since I never have to check if Proof Colors is selected, the image looks the same no mater what. In the second workflow I have to always check if Proof Colors is selected otherwise what I see in photoshop doesn't look the same as the exported image.
PLEASE help me to understand, that while both of these workflows yeild the exact same image, why the second one is better because I feel like the first one is not.
P.S. Majority of the work I do is for the screen (web or application UI) so I'm not to worried about print work but wouldn't mind any pointers in relation to this situation.

It's about 1:30 AM in my part of the world I need to get some rest, so I'll have to be brief.
I've never seen so many misconceptions crammed into a single post as you've managed to get in your last one. 
I'll try to get at least the most glaring ones.
eddit wrote:
1. I do understand that of the millions on monitors there are none that match, and the exact reds, greens, and blues that I see on my screen differ from other screens (i have a number of computers in my home and am very aware of this).
Good, but that's not the point. 
eddit wrote:
I also know that there is a huge gamma shift from PC to Mac as I use to be a PC users and am now on a Mac.
Only if the Mac user is still living in the stone age.  Macs should be calibrated to gamma 2.2, just like a PeeCee.  The old gamma 1.8 standard is a relic left over from the day of Apple monochrome monitors and LaserWriter b&w printers.  Even Apple recommends 2.2.
eddit wrote:
why would I work with a psd that is color managed, if it will all just get dumped by the browser anyways?
Because presumably you want to have a clue as to what your image looks like and what it might look like to others.
This is totally independent from whether you embed a profile or not.  Different issue.
eddit wrote:
2. I'm not talking about EMBEDDING profiles into any of the images that I Save For Web.
Neither am I.
eddit wrote:
3. I am far more interested in color consistency rather than color accuracy as G Ballard points out in his tutorials.
The only way to achieve consistency is through a color managed workflow.  That's what Color Management is all about, consistency.
eddit wrote:
From what G Ballard says, in a web browser, Macs apply the monitor profile and Windows applies sRGB.
Good grief!  That is so wrong or badly phrased that I feel bad even quoting it!   That statement is garbage/rubbish.
Only the bloody Slowfari (Apple's Safari) throws monitor profile at untagged files, i.e. files with no embedded color profile.  No other browser does that.  Period.  If the file is tagged, Safari will honor the embedded profile.
Firefox 3.9 (both Mac and Windows) correctly assumes sRGB for untagged files (files without an embedded color profile) with color management enabled in the guts of Firefox and/or even with color management disabled.
All other browsers on this planet, Mac and Windoze, are not color managed and assume sRGB for all files, with or without an embedded profile.
The reason the files look very similar to you is that you are dealing with the lowest common denominator (sRGB, where the s stands for sh¡t, as we know now), and probably your color monitor is pretty close to that common denominator.
If you happened to have an expensive truly wide-gamut monitor, your untagged files created in your monitor profile as working space would look like cr@p to you.
Get this through your head:  you cannot turn off color mangement in Photoshop, no matter what you do, the application won't let you.  You're just messing up with color management the way you work, you are not "turning it off" as you seem to think.

Similar Messages

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  • Color management question on having separate profiles in one document

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    Having difficult understanding some concepts in color management - would appreciate any guidance to further understand it.
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    How is white formed differently in additive and subtractive process systems?
    How are the non-process colors like orange formed differently in the additive and subtractive process systems? What colors from each system forms an orange?
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    Why is the difference in the process of color formation of major concern with the use of computers in the preparation of materials for 4-color process color printing?

    Sarah,
    Deep subject, so this will only touch the surface.
    What is the difference in backgrounds between additive and subtractive process color systems?
    How is white formed differently in additive and subtractive process systems?
    RGB blends "light" to generate colors.  CMYK blends "inks".  Starting with RGB and light.....pure white blends high levels of red, green and blue wavelengths in approximate equal amounts, which we perceive as white.  In Photoshop parlance, using 8-bit, this translates to 255R, 255G, 255B.  When we see an object, we are actually seeing the light that reflects from that object, not the object itself.  So, a bright white object reflects most of the visible light spectrum and reaches our eye, which the brain interprets to be white.  A black object "absorbs" light so nothing is reflected to the eye.
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  • Does Firefox 3.5 support only some ICC profiles (AdobeRGB, sRGB, e.g.) or all ICC profiles in color management?

    I put one image embedded with a ICC profile with D65 as white point, and the same image embedded with another ICC profile but with D50 as white point (the 'chad' matrix in the profile is different as well, given different white point for two profiles). When these two images (of same RGB values) but with different ICC profiles embedded are displayed side-by-side in Firefox, difference in color should be noticed between two images if color management is available in Firefox (color management is turned on in about:config). However, I did not see any difference.
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    Thanks.

    See https://developer.mozilla.org/En/ICC_color_correction_in_Firefox
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    http://www.color.org/version4html.xalter

  • Proofing colors in LR3, Color Management, look in sRGB

    Hello,
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    Regards,
    Ron.

    No you cannot change the internal color space. And I don't think you need to.
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  • Color management in Illustrator CS6 and InDesign CS 6-settings & workflow questions.

    I've read the color management posts and the Adobe help file regarding the Pantone + libraries and the new differences between CS5 & 6. However I'm still a bit confused as to just what my settings should be, and a few posts offer different pieces of advice, so I'm looking for clarification. I don't need to work with legacy CS files, so I don't want to swap out the old Pantone libraries for the Plus ones. However I still have my old Pantone Solid, Coated and Uncoated swatchbooks and until I can afford the new Plus swatchbooks, I'll depend on those. I'm hoping the difference between Pantone 321U and Pantone+ 321 is not great.
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    Let me try to help you further:
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  • Perennial colour management question (browser srgb)

    Howdy folks,
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    Hi again all,
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