Black Bodies and Suchlike Magical Stuff
Black Bodies and Suchlike Magical Stuff
- Subject: Black Bodies and Suchlike Magical Stuff
- From: Nick Wheeler <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2003 09:21:22 -0500
Derrick:
I would suggest being a little more specific here.
Yes Jeff, you are "profiling the Camera, the "raw converter", and the
"COLOR
TEMPERATURE" of the lighting. Not the "Lighting".
This is not completely accurate. Not all light sources are perfect
"black body" radiators and emit a continuous spectum. In fact, some
light sources are quite discontinuous and have quite narrow band
spectra. Metal Halide bulbs, for instance, have almost the exact same
color temperature as daylight but emit an entirely different spectrum.
For this reason you are actually profiling the lighting, not just the
color temperature. This is one of the many reasons that profiling must
be done for a specific lighting situation. On the other hand, one might
want to preserve the characteristics of a given light source (sunset
orange, sodium vapor yellow, snow shadow blue, flourescent green etc).
Profiling might be the wrong way to go under these circumstances.
On a more general note I find the debate about how best to deal with
RAW files a little disconcerting.
It seems to me that using RAW files and interpreting them later (as
employed by Adobe, Phase One etc) makes a good deal of sense. One might
build a series of settings to interpret RAW files. This is somewhat
analogous to the traditional technique of using a variety of films and
CC filters to compensate for different lighting situations. Over time
the same settings will be seen to work well for a given condition and
can be employed repeatedly. I always used Kodak 64T with a 50cc Red
filter for flourescent light...was it right, no. Was it pleasing to me,
yes.
Essentially the discussion becomes what is the easiest and best
approach to use in building these settings. Using profiling software
may be a useful tool. Profiling software is not the ONLY tool, nor is
any other approach the ONLY approach.
The important thing is to understand the variety of tools available and
employ them appropriately. To insist that one approach or another is
best is to lock one's mind with dogma and possibly miss the best
opportunity to solve the problem at hand.
Dogmatic thinking is certainly not limited to the graphic arts world :=)
Best wishes,
Nick Wheeler
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