Accurate colors for editing and retouching. X-rite Color Checker

[lili23]

I have X-rite Color Checker for 4 years to get an accurate color profile with LR CC and C1P.

Yes, photographers can create their own color tones but I see several people demanding accurate colors for still life, foods, fashion, and more.

I would like to hear about your workflow for accurate colors using X-rite Color Checker or SG. Do you just create a profile with X-rite products and simply adjust settings?

Oh btw, do I really need to buy a new SG or ColorChecker every 2 years? They told me they recommend to get a new one every two years to get accurate colors.

 

[Sailor Blue]

Start with the assumption that every light source has a different color temperature, not all light sources provide the proper amounts of light of all colors for accurate color capture*, every camera sensor has color biases, and every lens has a color tint.

About the best most amateurs can do is use a good hardware device to color calibrate their monitor and use a X-Rite ColorChecker target to color calibrate their camera with each light source and with each lens.

After applying the color correction I find it is best to set the WB using the middle patch on the landscape row.

Once I get the colors as accurate as possible with the X-Rite ColorChecker I do my editing. As part of my editing I let my inner artist take over and make any artistically inspired color changes it wants.

*If your light source is a a fluorescent or LED light it probably doesn't provide the proper amounts of each color of light for accurate color capture but using a ColorChecker target will get you the best colors possible with that light source.

I store my Passport in the dark and at 40% humidity in a huminidty controlled cabinet. This is probably better storage than the ones stored at most photo stores.

If you store the Passport properly it should last for considerably longer than 2 years but yes, eventually you will want to replace it if color control is critical for you.

 

[Krav Maga]

I have X-rite Color Checker for 4 years to get an accurate color profile with LR CC and C1P.

Yes, photographers can create their own color tones but I see several people demanding accurate colors for still life, foods, fashion, and more.

I would like to hear about your workflow for accurate colors using X-rite Color Checker or SG. Do you just create a profile with X-rite products and simply adjust settings?

Oh btw, do I really need to buy a new SG or ColorChecker every 2 years? They told me they recommend to get a new one every two years to get accurate colors.

At the risk of sounding pedantic, I would recommend getting the notion of accurate colors out of your head and embrace the notion of consistent colors.

I have a Color Checker and have created some profiles for my cameras. Based on my personal experience and my personal workflow and goals, I've gotten to where I don't use the profiles, but I always use the WB patch; the big one on the back panel. That does more for me in establishing color consistency for what I do.

Much like Sailor, I use it to establish a baseline to then employ my own interpretation.

For what it's worth, I bought a new one after having my original for nearly two years. Holding my WB picker tool over the patch did show some apparent degradation. Granted I don't store mine in a climate controlled manner; it's just hanging out in my studio. So that does seem to lend some credence to the 2 year thing.

 

[Sailor Blue]

Once I get the colors as accurate as possible with the X-Rite ColorChecker

As accurate as possible is a better description than consistent.

The colors will certainly not be consistent if you take a photo of your ColorChecker target in tungsten light, home CFL lighting, business long tube fluorescent lighting, home LED lighting, flash/strobe (halogen discharge lamp), and daylight (of any variety).

The colors of the target shot in tungsten, flash/strobe, and daylight will be very close (almost consistent) but not the colors shot with the other light sources I listed for obvious reasons.







No matter whether you want to say the colors are as accurate as possible or consistent doesn't really matter, they are as good as you are going to get them with a simple color calibration with a tool like the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport.

We also agree that the image after color correction is simply the starting place for your inner artist.



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Living and loving it in Pattaya, Thailand. Canon 7D - See the gear list for the rest.