Setting a Working Space
After you calibrate your monitor and identify it, you’ll use Photoshop to select a color space — also called a working space — depending upon the type of work you do. Just follow these steps:In Photoshop, choose Edit (Photoshop on the Mac)>Color Settings.The Color Settings dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 4-14, displaying a huge array of choices. Don’t be put off by all the options; the Color Settings dialog box comes with several predefined settings that you can select from the Settings drop-down list.

Figure 4-14: You can select the color management settings with the Color Settings dialog box.
Use the Settings drop-down list to select a working space based on the type of work you do.Some options you can choose from include:
Color Management Off turns Photoshop’s color management system off entirely.
ColorSync Workflow (only available on the Mac) uses the Mac’s built-in ColorSync system to manage color.
U.S. Prepress Defaults manages color using typical printing conditions in the U.S.
Web Graphics Defaults manages color for images created for the Web.
Other options include European and Japanese Prepress settings, which use color settings based on typical printing conditions for those regions.
I use U.S. Prepress Defaults because it sets the RGB working space to Adobe RGB (1998), which gives the widest range of possible colors. Also, it allows you to accurately view high-end 24-bit images.
Tip | To find out more about a particular option in the Color Settings dialog box, pass your mouse over that option. An explanation of the feature appears in the Description area at the bottom of the dialog box. |
Click OK to close the dialog box and save your color management settings.