grey balance;how we did it
grey balance;how we did it
- Subject: grey balance;how we did it
- From: "Andy D'Angelo" <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 08:20:22 +0000
for what it is worth....
I recently completed the design,shooting , color balancing and delivery to
a printer of an 12 page catalogue with over 230 small products. All were
shot digitally. I shot small group shots of items, each shot included a
color checker. Bracketed the exposures. The exposures were ALL the same, ie.
same lighting set up, same camera ,same lens,etc. There were NUMEROUS
exposure and color differences in the shots, albeit suttle. I first
attempted to simply use the normal exposure( incident metering} color
balance off of the grey patches(Or an included Kodak Grey card)......and
sent a set of shots off to the printer for a digital press
proof.......Horrible results......In short here's what I found out/did:
1.Typically I used the (-1/2 stop) exposures
2. Brought the images into photoshop and adjusted color balance of a ALL
Three levels by reading the grey scale patches on the color checker. I
started with the shadows, then did midtones and finally highlights..change
one and the others are effected.
3. converted to CMYK and re did the color balancing procedure, same
technique, same patches read. Since alot of the products had background
colors that were almost identical< I figured out the correct CMYK values for
this color and fine tuned these shots to these values. This was done through
another run of proofing.
4. Then I adjusted levels to make the black values black and keep hightight
detail.
5.finally I pulled the individual items out of the group shots and used then
in QUARK.
OBSERVATIONS:
A>SLIGHT.....SLIGHT....variations in voltage of the flash units was
effecting not only density but COLOR.
B>Exposure was effecting color,alot more than with traditional E6 films
C>the KODAk grey card and the MacBeth Color checker ARE NOT THE SAME COLOR
D> SImply color balancing the color checker patches ALONE did not insure
accurate press color.....I have been using the same procedure{without CMYK
conversion) to deliver digital images to a traditional lab for output on RA4
paper......good results so long as the nit wits at the lab do not start
messing with things in photoshop, and their conversion to sRGB is up to
par{another line}.
HAVE FUN
Andy
D'Angelo Photography / Overlook Communications
425 East Lancaster Avenue
Shillington, PA 19607
610-796-0400
email@hidden
www.overlookcom.com