Color Profiles For Dummies
The Visible Light Spectrum
Word "light" is scientifically used to refer to electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths present in nature, also called electromagnetic spectrum.
Inside that spectrum, we humans can see a very limited range of wavelengths, is what we call the visible light spectrum.
There are many other wavelengths, such as the infra-red or the ultra-violet, that can not be seen by the human eye.
The range of wavelengths that we can see are what we call "colors". Each color has its unique wavelength with an unique intensity.
According to science, the human eye can identify around a million colors in the world.
Primary Colors of Visible Light
Even though it is such a large amount, scientists realized that we can obtain all of them by mixing different proportions of only three: Red, Green and Blue.
The sum of all three give us the "white" color, which is not really a color, but the "no color", the pure light.
This property of artificial color is referred by science and technology using their initials; R G B.
The Color Profiles
Among the million colors that the human eye can recognize in the real world, scientists and engineers have been able to emulate a big portion.
This portion has grown significantly over the years thanks to the evolution of computers and programming.
The computer code that is responsible for the emulation of the visible light spectrum is what we call Color Profile.
Each different Color Profile that have been appearing over the years has been able to cover a broader range of colors compared to its predecessors.
The most popular Color Profiles are:
· sRGB (Standard RGB)
· Adobe RGB 1998
· ProPhoto RGB
Here below you can notice how the quantity of information and therefore the richness of color will increase as we move from sRBG to Adobe RGB 1998 and ProPhoto RGB.
Polaroid SX 70 * warm was used to generate the following images.
sRGB color profile
The sRGB (Standard RGB) color profile was created cooperatively by HP and Microsoft in 1996 as a standard for monitors and the internet.
It only covers 36% of the visible light spectrum.
Adobe RGB 1998 color profile
Adobe RGB 1998 color profile was developed by Adobe Systems in 1998 to translate the CMYK space to RGB space.
It adds a greater range of colors in comparison with sRGB profile, encompassing 52% of the visible light spectrum.
Prophoto color profile
ProPhoto RGB color profile was developed by Kodak in 2000 to be used as the standard in photography industry.
It's the color profile that we have chosen to develop our film emulations.
Here you'll find a comparison test sRGB vs. Prophoto.
