A method for applying gamut mapping to an input digital image having an associated input color gamut, to produce an output digital image having an associated output color gamut, which includes: defining a gamut mapping color transform which embodies the operations of transforming input color values from the input color space to linear RGB color values for a linear RGB color space, wherein the linear RGB color space has desirable hue preserving characteristics; transforming the linear RGB color values to determine nonlinear RGB color values; applying a 3×3 matrix transformation to the nonlinear RGB values to an opponent color space; applying a gamut mapping function to map opponent color values within the input color gamut to produce modified opponent color values within the output color gamut; and transforming the modified opponent color values to produce the output color values in the output color space.