ColorChecker - When to use for static lighting? Every shoot?

[Cheng]

Hi all,

I am interested in starting to use a ColorChecker - possibly the passport or the nano variant. I only do macro photography (I am a dentist/dental photographer). The shots are with zero ambient light (F40 and 1/250th shutter) and a ring flash. Therefore all lighting is from just the flash alone.

The subjects I shoot (people's teeth!) will be at the same distance nearly every time. I understand the colorchecker will calibrate the camera sensor itself. As my lighting is essentially the same, or very similar each time (same flash, aperture,exposure, whitebalance), do I need to take a new ColorChecker shot/profile for each time I take a new set of photos for each subject, or would setting one for each camera/flash setup be sufficient (or probably sufficient) and I can then probably just recalibrate every few weeks/months?

I understand if the lighting is dynamic / outside, then perhaps every shoot would be a good idea, but I'm thinking if it's a statically lit setup (or largely static) I wouldn't need to make a new profile for each subject I'm shooting?

Secondly, if I'm shooting macro items, would the ColorChecker Passport be acceptable if I just took a step back filled the frame from a greater distance, then transferred the colour profile to my much closer macro shots, or would I need to get the much more expensive ColorChecker Nano and use it in the same distance / focal distance that I would normally use when shooting macro subjects?

Thanks so much!

 

[Dave Canon]

I have a Colour Checker Passport which I have used to produce a calibrated profile for each of my cameras. I actually used the Adobe DNG editor software to do this rather than the X-Rite software as the Adobe software was more accurate. I stored the profiles in the normal place for Adobe and LR, PS and Elements could access them. Things have changed more recently and you now have to apply the profiles via a preset which is linked to the specific camera by serial number.

I actually use the passport only occasionally when shooting particularly if accuracy is important and the light source is changing. So If I am photographing a fashion model I would take one shot of her holding the colour checker. The idea being to capture the colour checker in the same light as falling on the model. I need nothing else unless I change the light source (e.g . move from the studio to outside}. When processing the Raw images in LR I will be able to see that the White Balance for the Colour checker shot may be a little different than the model shots so would normally synchronise WB for all of the model shots to that of the Colour checker (just sampling the grey panel).

Dave

 

[Chris_911]

I find that shooting the passport frequently doesn't make much difference to the end images (from one shot to the next) - the white balance is far more critical.

 

[Dave Canon]

I find that shooting the passport frequently doesn't make much difference to the end images (from one shot to the next) - the white balance is far more critical.

But the reason to photograph the Colour checker is to determine the WB. You only need to take a shot of the CC if the light source has changed.

Dave

 

[Phil V]

But the reason to photograph the Colour checker is to determine the WB. You only need to take a shot of the CC if the light source has changed.

Dave

It could be argued that simply using a ring light with fixed settings and using a fixed WB negates the need for a color checker. But for an absolute perfectionist you might want to check the colour of the flash output with various levels of discharge.

 

[Dave Canon]

It could be argued that simply using a ring light with fixed settings and using a fixed WB negates the need for a color checker. But for an absolute perfectionist you might want to check the colour of the flash output with various levels of discharge.

Indeed I do that almost all the time. Only a serious professional fashion or wedding photographer will need that precision. Though setting up a bespoke profile for each camera was worthwhile and you only need to do this once. You do not need to remember to apply it as you can set a default so LR automatically applies it.

Dave

 

[Chris_911]

But the reason to photograph the Colour checker is to determine the WB. You only need to take a shot of the CC if the light source has changed.

Dave

What I meant was that once an initial calibration file has been produced using the passport for a camera, subsequent calibrations make little difference.

 

[Cheng]

Thanks all, really interesting replies. Largely aligns to what I was thinking:

My setup is a ring flash, with 0 ambient. The only variable will be distance to subject, which is hopefully largely similar. Unsure if that brings much variation to colour balance.
White balance in theory should be fixed, unless there's issues of bulbs fading over time, or distance to subject. Hopefully it's a single camera calibration, largely.
For clinical photography, or for my purposes, colour reproduction is absolutely essential, as we're trying to replicate the colour as best we can. Things might not look pretty but hopefully they'll definitely look accurate!

I guess I'll play a little bit and see how much the difference is, if anything, between shots.

Does the colorchecker serve as a white balance card too - does it have a grey spot? Thanks!

 

[dweeble]

If you are that thorough, you sound a go-to guy for false teeth! I assume that's what you need the matching for? In which case, remember to take into account viewing conditions at the dental lab - supply them a viewing box perhaps?

 

[Dave Canon]

What I meant was that once an initial calibration file has been produced using the passport for a camera, subsequent calibrations make little difference.

We still seem to be talking about different things. I use the CC once to calibrate the camera but again to obtain the WB in critical situations; in most cases I just use auto WB on the camera. The calibration process is more complex and requires taking shots in different light. I typically produce Dual Illuminent Profiles so take one shot at a WB of around 6500 and another at say 2500. The Adobe Labs software will combine these to produce the Dual Illuminent profile and LR interpolate according to the actual image WB. Clever stuff but I never need to chnage WB unless I want to create a special effect.

Dave

 

[Cheng]

If you are that thorough, you sound a go-to guy for false teeth! I assume that's what you need the matching for? In which case, remember to take into account viewing conditions at the dental lab - supply them a viewing box perhaps?

Haha yes, very thorough! Every little helps. Need to ensure the lab is using a calibrated monitor though I guess!