Picasa and Color Management

[neil_poulsen8]

<p>Does anyone know if Picasa, the image engine from Google, is ICC aware? Does it enable a Picasa user to get the advantage of monitor calibration? I'm wondering what workspace it uses? Adobe RGB 98?</p>

<p>Also, I don't see that it allows one to specify a printer profile.</p>

<p> </p>

[steve_wagner1]

<p>Unless something has changed Picasa is not color managed and almost certainly defaults to the srgb space</p>

[mark_sirota1]

<p>Since it's not color-managed, it doesn't default to any space at all.</p>

[steve_wagner1]

<p>In the abscence of color management don't programs effectively operate in the OS color space?</p>

[thomas_rutter1]

<p>No, in the absense of color management, programs cannot be said to be working in any particular color space.<br>

For instance, an image may be saved in one color space, let's say Adobe RGB, and your monitor may have another color space, let's say it is something like BT.709. If you open that image in an application that does not color manage, what color space could you say it is working in? The one the OS defaults to? The answer is that the application has no concept of color space, and as a result the image won't look right, but the application has no idea that this is the case.<br>

If the color space the image is intended for, and the color space of the monitor, are equal, then the fact this should 'look' correct is just a happy coincidence - the app still has no idea what color space it is using, and still cannot accurately do things that rely on knowing the color space, like gamma-correct lens blur, sharp, printing, etc.</p>