What is best color space? Adobe RGB 1998 or sRGB? Why?

8 Bits/Channel or 16 Bits/Channel? Why?

Anything else I should know?

The reason I ask all this is mainly because my color prints are not turning out the way they look on my monitor. My B/W prints look great. Which is a whole different topic of course (I know I need to calibrate my monitor!!)

Thanks to all your Adobe Photoshop gurus!

Geneve

I use srgb. Now I'm not color space expert, but adobe rgb has a wider gamut of colors, but we can't really see them on our monitors anyway (well most monitors, there are some that do adobe rgb). So for web display, srgb is a must. I do my printing through labs and they all do srgb as their color space, so the adobe rgb space really is of no use to me. I'm sure geekier types will have better info though

First thing you need to do is calibrate your monitor. Pick up a spyder express or pro or huey or whatever, just get it calibrated so it's atleast 99% there. That's the most important part.

Second if you want your photos to look as good as possible to your client use SRGB. It is the standard colorspace and would be easiest to work with. When you save your final jpegs save as 8 bit per channel becuase you really won't need all that extra color information.

If i was unclear or you'd like more explanation just ask.

What does your lab print at? If they only print sRGB, then there's your answer right there.

I like to keep my workflow consistent throughout, so I start in sRGB, web images need to be sRGB, and then my prints are in sRGB. I use 8-bit too, unless I feel like I need to do some high dynamic range work on an image...but that rarely happens.

Yes, sRGB (8-bit) is the most common colorspace, but if you do lots of manipulations with color, you'll see some banding within the blues of your skies, as well as on some bw's. The smooth tonal change is where it's most noticeable.
Since sRGB is what most browsers use, AND is what most labs need (WHCC, Pictage, etc.) then exporting your RAW files AS sRGB files is a great option.
However, if you're going to really work over a file, then I would suggest to export the RAW as Adobe RGB 1998, do all of your work, then convert to sRGB before sending to a lab.
Some purists would even say to export as 16-bit, and then change the mode down to 8-bit before saving as a jpeg...anyway.
Someone also mentioned calibrating your monitor...that's a definite necessity. If you're looking for consistent color out of your laptop screen...well, you'll be looking for a long time...so I would advise to invest in a monitor (that you can connect your laptop to) where the screen doesn't get lighter or darker depending on your angle up and down.

sorry for writing so much.

Most labs want sRGB and if you forget to convert before output you'll get muddy images on paper. I made that mistake once... once!

I shoot in Adobe RGB and automatically convert to sRGB. Some people have asked why not shoot in sRGB to start- but the most color I can possibly get out of the raw file is always better and I can see a difference between shooting the two types.

Your question is thoroughly answered by the crew here, just thought I'd add that if you archive your Raw files and XMPs, you'll always have the capability to export any color space you want.

That way, when we're wearing booster packs and printing holograms, you're good to go.

-Leon

LMAO, nice one leon!

Great--Thanks guys! Best place to ask such questions!!GeneveAwesome info! Thanks so much Ham-Butter. LOL. Actually, what does your name mean? That was my favorite sandwich in France! Add some cornichon & dijon....yummy! but I digress...ok--one more follow up question....hope this doesn't make me sound too silly (i'm fairly new to digital)! When you "export" the raw, do you mean when I convert to JPEG??

You got it. "Export" is a term that software manufacturers came up with to mean creating a new file from the RAW master file. You can take your .CR2 or .NEF files and "export" them to a variety of different file types, bit depths and color spaces. You can even "export" your RAW file to a new .DNG file. This is kind of like taking a RAW file and making a new RAW file out of it.

So every time you make a Jpeg or Tiff from your camera RAW file you are "exporting" the file.