ProPhoto to sRGB

[AdrienneKW]

Your tutorial says if your file is in ProPhoto 8bpc that there's nothing to do except start over.  When I convert it to sRGB and use the levels adjustment layer to check clipping, it is showing very little or none.  Is my file still trash?  

Thanks!

-Adrienne

[Damien Symonds]

It's not about the clipping, it's about the data quality.  ProPhoto is such a huge colour space, which means the available data has to be stretched out over a huge gamut.  In 8-bit, it's just not enough data - there's banding.

https://www.damiensymonds.net/2010/09/bit-depth-explained-by-cake.html

[AdrienneKW]

Thank you so much for responding!  Very helpful.  Unfortunately I have many photos edited in the wrong colorspace before I found you.  

For my files that are still in PSD format with my editing (16bit), how do I decide if the clipping is a problem?  

 

[Damien Symonds]

Exactly as you said.

Is this the troubleshooter you're following?  https://www.damiensymonds.net/art_tscs2.html

[AdrienneKW]

Yes.  I've been trying to research and answer my own question but I can't find a lot of good info on color clipping (channel clipping?).  Do the clipped colors get changed to the closest possible color in the new color space?  Or do they have values of 255 in one of the channels?  Is it just banding I need to be worried about?  In the below image, the reds of the bowtie are showing as clipped (in levels adjustment layer).  In this case I don't really care if they are a red that is close so would I be OK with the converted image?  Is the bottom line here that I need to have prints made of the images to know if they are negatively affected?  Thanks!!

[Damien Symonds]

Oh Adrienne, your photo makes me cry.  PLEASE don't wait too long to take the raw class.

4 minutes ago, AdrienneKW said:

In the below image, the reds of the bowtie are showing as clipped (in levels adjustment layer).  In this case I don't really care if they are a red that is close so would I be OK with the converted image?  Is the bottom line here that I need to have prints made of the images to know if they are negatively affected?  Thanks!!

Yes, the colour is replaced with the nearest printable colour, but the colour isn't really the problem.  It's the SHAPE.  The clipped area loses all shape and detail, and ends up just as a flat area of colour.