Question on color workflow from 60D to Pro 9000 MKII

[RendrLab]

I am wanting to know the exact workflow to take to get the best possible photo prints when taking pictures with my 60D and printing from my Pro 9000 MKII?

I am a graphic designer and do large format printing every day, so I am very familiar with ICC profiles/color management. But, the majority of my work is vector graphics, or client-supplied TIFF, PSD, or JPEG files, so I have a few questions on which route I should take to ouput the best possible photos.

Does the color space in-camera matter if all that I shoot is RAW?

Is there any benefit to using the Adobe RGB profile with it's expanded color gamut as the ICC profile when I
print using my Canon Pro 9000 MKII?

According to another post I read on here recently, the in-camera color spaces (sRGB or AdobeRGB) only pertain to JPEGs output from the camera. If that indeed is the case, what is the point of the naming RAW files differently in-camera IF the color space is Adobe RGB?

I know the ProPhoto RGB (which is default color space for LR & PS) has a larger gamut than either of the other two, but not sure if I can use the ProPhoto profile to print from LR, PS or Canon's Plug-Ins. Not even sure if the printer can handle the gamut.

Raster printing is a semi-new thing for me. Well, change that. Taking my own high quality photos and printing them at home is new to me. I don't know if using the in-camera AdobeRGB Profile and sticking with the profile all the way through post-procesing to output would produce beter results? Any and all help from those more knowledgeable than I in this area is greatly appreciated.

 

[Astro]

spend some money and get the luminous landscape fine art printing videos.

there is more info then what could be written here.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/videos/tutorials/camera_to_print_and_screen.shtml

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/videos/tutorials/guide_to_colour_management.shtml

Does the color space in-camera matter if all that I shoot is RAW?

NO

raw files are not RGB files... they have no color information per se.

only when you demosaice the RAW files a colorspace is needed.
LR uses some kind of linear prophoto colorspace internaly.
and when you export the files you can choose one of the common profiles (sRGB, adobe RGB, prophoto).

Is there any benefit to using the Adobe RGB profile with it's expanded color gamut as the ICC profile when I print using my Canon Pro 9000 MKII?

yes if you use it as IMAGE profil.
afaik the canon 9000 can print a few colors that are not in the sRGB gamut.
but im not sure as i only use epson printer.

for your printer you should use a profile that matches the printer + paper combination... not adobeRGB or prophoto.

I know the ProPhoto RGB (which is default color space for LR & PS) has a larger gamut than either of the other two, but not sure if I can use the ProPhoto profile to print from LR, PS or Canon's Plug-Ins. Not even sure if the printer can handle the gamut.

no printer can handle the full prophoto gamut.
but prophoto or adobeRGB are nice workspace profiles when you do heavy image editing.

again... for your printer you should have special profiles that are made for a PRINTER TYPE + PAPER combination. with AdobeRGB or sRBG as printer profil you will never have the best results.

 

[Canon-F1]

Is there any benefit to using the Adobe RGB profile with it's expanded color gamut as the ICC profile when I
print using my Canon Pro 9000 MKII?

that sounds as if you want to use Adobe RGB as a PRINTER profile.
as astro wrote, that is a NO GO.. don´t do it.

as advised use a matching profile for your printer and paper.

 

[TrumpetPower!]

There's also a big question as to whether or not you're looking for the camera to capture pleasing color and for the printer to accurately reproduce what you see on screen after making it look the way you want in Photoshop, or if you want (as much as is possible) colorimetrically-accurate results from capture through print (such as if you're making giclée prints or doing certain types of product photography).

If it's the former, whatever you're doing today with Illustrator should also work for photography, or at least it'll work as well as your current results.

If it's the latter...well, welcome to the rabbit hole. It's a very steep and very long learning curve, with all sorts of pitfalls at every step. You will go insane if your standards and / or the standards of of your clients are anything more than, "Eh, close enough."

Your best bet to get started is with an Xrite package that includes an i1 Pro spectrophotometer and a camera profiling kit. There are alternatives that both cost less and produce better results, but that'll get you off the ground in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of hair loss, and the spectrophotometer is an investment that will last basically forever (even if you ditch the software sooner rather than later). And, who knows? The entry-level kit may well meet all your needs.

Good luck...you'll need it....

Cheers,

b&