Yes and I even have created a custom color profile for my camera. I have the Xrite Color Checker Passport for just such situations. But I'd still prefer to use as clean a light source as I can.
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- Thread starter Mike Buckley
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Yup, I'm with you there—get it right before the shoot!
If the color patch is lit by a bulb with a low CRI value, in theory the colors on the patch aren't going to be the same as when using a bulb with a high CRI value. If color accuracy is super important, we should be using incandescent bulbs, which have a CRI value of 100, the highest value. If it was me and if color accuracy was really important for only a few items, I would photograph them using an incandescent bulb and I would photograph everything else using compact fluorescent bulbs.
There is s/w that goes with the Xrite Color Passport Checker (patch) that compares the colors in the image and adjusts them to bring them back to accuracy. You can use it in any light and it will adjust any color "tainting" in the image, regardless of light source.
Ahhhh, I didn't realize that.
When we consider color accuracy, it's important to realize that accuracy applies only to a particular color temperature and a particular situation; the so-called accurate color occurs truly only in one situation. That situation is the benchmark by which we determine the accuracy of color. As an example, we very rarely view jewelry in an environment when the color temperature is 5500K. Taking that into account, what is the accurate color of a particular gem?
Similarly, I can light a fundamentally black board so it appears fundamentally white and I can light a fundamentally white board so it appears fundamentally black. Using just one light source, I can also light a piece of shiny metal so it displays fundamentally black in some areas and fundamentally white in the other areas. That begs the question, what is the color of the boards and the metal? The answer is that their color is the color as those items appears in any situation that is similar to when we typically view them.
People viewing my photographs often say to me, "That's not the color of a ______________ (fill in the blank)." My response is that that's the color of it when I light it the way I lit it. I often intentionally light objects to appear very different from how they appear in a typical, day-to-day viewing situation. I regularly make a point of lighting my fine art food photography (as opposed to traditional food photography) in a way that displays the food very differently from how we typically view it.
All these things need to be taken into account when deciding how to light a tabletop scene. It's really up to the photographer to decide how to present the scene and why. When the photographer doesn't know the "why," it's not possible to know the "how." There is no right or wrong to the "why," except for making that decision in the context of ethical considerations.
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I would guess that for insurance appraisal purposes or offering jewelry items for sale that one would indeed need and want to have accurate color representation. For casual tabletop photography where one is using the item as a decorative ornament within a scene or as the focus of the scene, probably the color representation is not so important.
Ideally one would have a formal appraisal written by a gemologist who can accurately (backed with credentials) describe the color and other attributes relative to the stone’s worth. But that doesn’t help with photography!
Exactly! The photographs reflecting accurate colors and such would be in accompaniment to the formal appraisal documents, etc.
I have photographed artworks for artists and artisans who wanted to post photos on a web page for sale. Color accuracy is pretty important for that purpose.
For example, these intarsia jewelry boxes are very valuable and these photographs were posted on a web site where they were listed for sale by a relative of mine. I photographed them for him a few years ago using focus stacking and an Xrite color checker to get the colors accurate. I did the photography in a room in our house with a skylight, so I was getting mainly outdoor light.
For example, these intarsia jewelry boxes are very valuable and these photographs were posted on a web site where they were listed for sale by a relative of mine. I photographed them for him a few years ago using focus stacking and an Xrite color checker to get the colors accurate. I did the photography in a room in our house with a skylight, so I was getting mainly outdoor light.
Wow, Jim, those intarsia jewelry boxes are absolutely beautiful and your photography captured the vividness of the colors perfectly! Really lovely...... I'll bet your relative had no problems at all selling them, but I'll bet it was hard to let each of them go off to a new home!
Thanks for all the kind remarks, folks. It was this project that got me started in focus stacking.
I don't think many of the boxes have been sold yet, as the prices are astronomical.
One thing which should not be underestimated in all this, something which Jim's work illustrates so well, is the value of the thoughtful and careful use of natural light to get the desired effect, too.....
In general, yes. But the problem comes when the spikes in the spectrum are tall and sharp. You would need a huge number of patches - in fact you need a spectrophotometer to do the job properly.
Imagine the extreme case of sodium lighting, it would be impossible to correct, no meatter what.
These graphs show why CFL lighting is so bad, it has spikes. LED is much much better, it has a bump in the blue, but a fairly smooth bump.
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One variable that is rarely discussed when we talk about color accuracy, is the viewing environment. If someone is looking at images on line, is their system calibrated and color managed? Usually not.
Even prints change. If I know the viewing environment, I have different paper profiles for different viewing conditions. Color is such a hard thing.
Gary
Even prints change. If I know the viewing environment, I have different paper profiles for different viewing conditions. Color is such a hard thing.
Gary
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