@markman8
It’s been a while since the original posts!
I really hope you’re using the latest dev version of RT. It is mostly what the next release (5.9) will be, so better use it.
Now to colour matters… I will write the shortest possible answers, so if you don’t understand something, just ask.
Let’s start saying that colour management is about preserving the original colors from start (raw image) to end (output image). And yes, there are no «colours» in a raw image, but they become visible when decoded after demosaicing.
Let’s agree that no processing which alters colors is color management. And here is when color profiles come in handy: they do their job to preserve colors as much as possible.
And let’s face it from the start: you will never see the «raw image», nor the image inside the engine (inside RT). Never ever. And that’s because there’s currently no display capable of such a wide gamut as cameras can record (around 14bits), and no display capable of showing 32-bit per channel images (such as the «image» inside de engine).
So you are left with histograms, vectorscopes and waveforms to get a sense of what’s going on.
About the histogram: if you turn on the raw histogram (), what you will see is the raw values with a little bit of processing (just a bit so it makes sense). And no matter what you do afterwards with the image, you won’t see any change in the histogram. So the raw histogram is good to know what you’re dealing with at the start of the processing, but little more. You will know if your image has clipped channels in the raw data itself, and maybe if the image is too underexposed. I use it mainly to know how clipped is the raw image.
Then you have to change it to the usual (non-raw) histogram, so you know what your processing is doing to the image.
It is now that you have the choice to see the histogram with the values in the engine (working profile, ) or the values the image would have if you exported it with the output profile.
I usually choose the working profile, so I know if my image is clipped in the engine itself while I’m processing it.
Only when I’m about to export the image I change the histogram to the output profile, so I know if the TRC (gamma) of the output profile will clip my highlights.
So let’s recap: use your camera profile for input profile, set a wide enough working profile, use a calibrated profile for your display and set an output profile depending on what you’re going to do with the output image (as @ggbutcher said).
About printing: it seems there’s much to say here, but I have little knowledge about fine tuning the printing process. Let’s just say you can’t print with RT and you will be using some other means to get your print.
No matter how you print your image, you may wish to know how it will look on paper. Well, sadly that’s not possible, as your display emits light, while paper just reflects it. Besides, displays work with 3 colors (primaries, RGB), while printers work with at least 4 colors (CMYK). And so do ICC profiles: there are 3 primaries ICC profiles for displays, and there are different 4 primaries ICC profiles for printers. RT can only use 3 primaries profiles. RT is designed to work with displays, not printers.
But you can see how your print will look (), more or less… Again, you will get a feeling about how it will look, but it won’t be exactly the same as a real print.
Another recap: process your image as you like it, using the profiles, histograms and scopes as if they were meant to be shown on a display, but then, from time to time turn on the soft-proofing () and judge if your image is going where you want it to.
When you’re finished, you will have 2 options: print it yourself, and sending it to a third party.
If you print at home export with at least 16bits, a non compressed format (tiff or png), and an output color profile wide enough to encompass the printer profile. Then in a proper color managed application, use the printer profile. Your exported image will be RGB (there’s no way to avoid this in RT), and here the higher bit count and wider gamut will come in handy when the conversion to the printer profile is made.
If you send to a third party, pay attention to what they are expecting to receive. It may be an 8bits sRGB image (not ideal, but anyway), so you will export in 8bits and with RTv2_sRGB. No matter what, don’t let them do the conversion, nor in the bits side, neither in the color space, unless you really trust them. In spite of this, they will perform the conversion from RGB to printer profile, so the results may not be what the soft-proofing suggested…
HTH