Re: Canned or custom camera profiles?
Re: Canned or custom camera profiles?
- Subject: Re: Canned or custom camera profiles?
- From: Ray Maxwell <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 13:38:22 -0700
Chris McFarling wrote:
I've been reading up on the subject of camera profiling...
Hi Chris,
Here is my take on camera profiling...It all depends...
First you have to decide if you are trying for "accurate" color or
"pleasing" color.
If you want accurate color in a very constrained situation then camera
profiling has something to offer. Let me elaborate on what I mean by
"constrained".
Let's assume you want to photograph a painting and reproduce it
accurately. To be extremely accurate you will have to do the following:
1. Always use exactly the same lighting.
2. Always use the same ISO setting on the camera.
3. Always process the file exactly the same way using exactly the same
settings.
4. Make a profile using a color target using the exact same pigments
that are used in the artwork. Note that if you use a color target like
the Macbeth chart and it is not made using pigments that have the same
spectral characteristics as the pigments used in the painting, it will
not be "accurate". You will have to make your custom target with a full
range of the pigments of the type used in the painting. You will need
one done in oils, one for acrylics, etc.
Of course a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. This means
that you monitor profile and printer profile and workflow will have to
reproduce a gamut that is as large as the gamut of the pigments used in
the painting.
The profiles that come with some of the high end (Phase and Leaf)
digital backs are designed to approximate certain types of
reproduction. This includes product photography (more accurate) or
portrait (more pleasing). A lot of work has been put into these
profiles. They are a very good starting point.
If you are after "pleasing" color then ACR gives you a lot of personal
control over what you see as "pleasing" color. Keep in mind that all of
the films I have used produce "pleasing" color and are always
compromises in this area.
I am going to say something that may come as a shock to many people.
Monitors and printers have a gamut. Digital cameras and scanners do not
have a fixed gamut. A device that reproduces color has hard limits on
the volume of colors that it can produce. It cannot produce colors that
are beyond the full saturation of it's primary colors or combinations of
those colors. Therefore you can profile the gamut that can be produced
and have a very exact picture of the colors that it can produce.
A camera can respond to electromagnetic radiation that is beyond the
human visible spectrum. Try this experiment...Take your TV remote
control and have someone hold down one of the buttons and take a picture
with your digital camera. You will see that it responds to the infrared
radiation coming from the remote control. This is true for cameras that
have a IR blocking filter as well. You can constrain this response when
you copy artwork by not having anything in the scene other than the
pigments that you have profiled.
When you profile a scanner it will be accurate for a certain type of
film emulsion (Kodachrome, Ektachrome, Fujichrome, etc.) The gamut is
now constrained by the characteristics of the dyes in the emulsion. If
you want very accurate reproduction from a scanner, you need a different
profile for each emulsion. Using a single color chart for profiling of
your scanner will not result in as accurate a profile as using a
different target made on each emulsion you expect to scan.
I have good news and bad news.
The good news is that with digital workflows you (the end user) have
FULL control over every aspect of the color reproduction. This means
that if you master color science you can emulate old technology or
create new looks that have never been dreamed of.
The bad news is that with digital workflows you (the end user) have FULL
control over every aspect of the color reproduction. If you don't
understand how it works you will be constrained by using presets done by
others. You will be limited in your creativity.
We have a new medium that gives us incredible control. It brings to
mind the following: I have been told that there is a Chinese symbol
that means both "Opportunity" and "Danger". It is all up to you what
this new tool does for your creativity.
In closing, I would like to say "There is no such thing as push button
color".
In the final analysis color is subjective and only exists in the mind of
the viewer.
Ray Maxwell
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