How to make a FREE COLOR CORRECTION chart

In this episode I show you how to create a color correction chart using free supplies instead of buying one.
I use the DataColor SpyderCHECKR 24 color chart on a regular basis for color correction, and it's really great-but it costs nearly $50 and not everyone has the budget to get one.
(Although if you DO have the budget, you can grab it here, and Amazon might even give me a few pennies: amzn.to/2KttRSM)
This works really well for color correction (prior to color grading) for Adobe Premiere Pro, Davinci Resolve, Filmora, Final Cut Pro, or any other major video editing software.
Don't know how to do color correction using a color chart? No problem. Check out this video I made about how to do it: • INSTANT COLOR CORRECTI...
Using Behr samples from Home Depot, here are the exact colors you need to approximately recreate the DataColor SpyderCHECKR 24 for absolutely free.
ROW 1:
Vibrant White
Bella Vista (blue)
Japanese Koi (orange)
Kauai (turquoise/cyan)
ROW 2:
Classic Silver
Wild Berry (pink/purple)
New Age Blue (dark blue)
Violet Aura (light violet)
ROW 3:
Great Graphite (light gray)
Solarium (yellow)
Hibiscus Flower (pink)
Trailing Vine (dark green)
ROW 4:
Iron Mountain (gray)
No More Drama (red)
Virtual Violet
Glass Sapphire (light blue)
ROW 5:
Carbon Copy (dark gray)
Park Picnic (green)
Laser (yellow green)
Nairobi Dusk (light brown / light skin tone)
ROW 6:
Black
Dark Cobalt Blue
Splendor Gold (light orange)
Earth Fired Red (brown / dark skin tone)
1,124

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Colors listed in description so you can make one yourself, or just buy the SpyderCHECKR here: amzn.to/2KttRSM Don't know how to use a color chart? Watch here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sImwfJ2jo71pq7s

[@Mikemenn]

Mr. Archer did a lot of leg work. Thanks! After getting to H.D. discovered finding each swatch by name was going to be tedious. So here you go... To easily find the Behr samples he used, start on the left side of the Behr section (most Home Depot's have the same display) and go top-to-bottom, left-to-right using the swatch Behr Code below. (These are NOT in the order on the card.) ORDER BEHR CODE NAME ....................... Section 1.......... RP2-4............ Wild Berry.................. Red & Pink 2.......... RP5-4............ Hibiscus Flower......... Red & Pink 3.......... RP5-5............ No More Drama........ Red & Pink 4.......... OP4-5........... Japanese Koi............. Orange & Apricot 5.......... OP8-4........... Splendor Gold........... Orange & Apricot 6.......... OM4-4.......... Nairobi Dusk............ Orange & Apricot 7.......... OS3-7........... Earth Fired Red......... Rust & Brown 8.......... YP6-5............ Solarium................... Yellow & Lime 9.......... GP2-4........... Laser......................... Green & Emerald 10........ GP6-5........... Park Picnic................ Green & Emerald 11........ GS6-7........... Trailing Vine............. Olive & Sage 12........ BP2-2............ Kauai........................ Turquoise & Violet 13........ BP6-4............ Bella Vista................. Turquoise & Violet 14........ PP3-5........... Dark Cobalt Blue....... Cobalt & Violet 15........ PP8-5........... Virtual Violet............ Cobalt & Violet 16........ PM6-5........... Violet Aura............... Cobalt & Violet 17........ W11-3........... Vibrant White........... Whites 18........ G4-2............. Great Graphite.......... Grey 19........ G4-7............. Carbon Copy............. Grey 20........ G9-7............. Black.......................... Grey 21........ G10-2........... Classic Silver.............. Grey 22........ OH-8-14........ Glass Sapphire.......... One Coat 23........ OH-8-16........ New Age Blue........... One Coat 24........ OH-10-2........ Iron Mountain............ One Coat

[@peterscott2662]

I love that the inaccuracies, lead to slightly more pleasing rich blue skies. My favorite kind of bug.

[@dj2_cards]

Excellent video... I'm in the process of making this. Spent 45 minutes at Home Depot searching for the swatches and can't wait to put this together. Thanks for sharing.

[@MartinBellamy.MBDrums]

So I just went out and did this based on your recommendations. The hunt for the colours in Home Depot was so rewarding 😂 Gonna test it out on a few projects coming up :) Thanks for the inspiration!!!

[@lacaraja]

Remember us when you reach fame... Great job!

[@AdventuresInVideo]

If I ever get there, I'll tell them you sent me! 😄

[@derekrowanphotographics]

Thats surprisingly looks better than expected, Richer and warmer tones with Bogan checker 👍

[@cdscissor]

I'm not so surprised paint colour swatches would work. That industry is also quite standardised with its colour accuracy, maybe even moreso cuz variance in paint colour would be pretty darn obvious on a wall. As for the Home Depot thing, that's not an issue for making this apply worldwide really. Just substitute Home Depot for whatever hardware store is available in your country. What I would be interested to see is what happens if the swatches you use were from different paint companies. Imagine getting the "Behr look" or the "Benjamin Moore look" with your colour checker calibration lol

[@randyrektor]

This is hilarious and so well done. Nice work, James.

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Thanks, Randy!

[@lscstudiosvb]

Thank you so much, this is so awesome- I've been doing video work as a hobby for a long time now, and I'm just getting started into the "professional" filmmaking world, but I'm on a really tight budget- but I'm also a super crafty person and love fun little projects like this so I will definitely be making it! Thanks again!!

[@WoolyJumper5]

This is so good for the starting out film making community James, thanks man.. Great job

[@willbermudez2386]

I really dont know how i didnt think about this in the begining lmaoo, i will go to home depot tomorrow. Thanks😅😂

[@rhalfik]

Now here's a fun part: You can look at the differences and come up with a second correction to tame down the oversaturated colors. You should get nearly identical result.

[@shivamgupta5190]

You're doing such a good work. Plus the quality of vids, the production work you've put it in .. you're gonna get a boom soon ! ~🤍

[@shivamgupta5190]

Also have no access to home depot, if anyone has any alternative lmk :)

[@AdventuresInVideo]

I really want to solve this problem! Is there somewhere around you that has similar paint samples from another large brand? Maybe there's a way to figure out the equivalents.

[@Hindsight101]

This is amazing going to home depot today. Also thanks for the list of colors

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Let me know how it turns out! I'd love to see your results!

[@Hindsight101]

@@AdventuresInVideo First I have to say I can only imagine how long this took you. I knew what to look for and it wasn't easy. I got about 90% of the colors I will go back tomorrow and get the rest I just got tired of looking at cards. If you still have the cards, the numbers at the top middle would help, so someone would know if they are in the right section. If you don't I will give them to you if you want, once I have all the cards. The skin tones are the ones I am having the hardest time finding.

[@Fridelain]

Now if there was one in Spain...

[@Mikemenn]

Mr. Archer did a LOT of leg work. Thanks! After getting to H.D. discovered finding each swatch by name was going to be tedious. So here you go... To easily find the Behr samples he used, start on the left side of the Behr section (most Home Depot's have the same display) and go top-to-bottom, left-to-right using the swatch Behr Code below. (These are NOT in the order on the card.) ORDER BEHR CODE NAME ....................... Section 1.......... RP2-4............ Wild Berry.................. Red & Pink 2.......... RP5-4............ Hibiscus Flower......... Red & Pink 3.......... RP5-5............ No More Drama........ Red & Pink 4.......... OP4-5........... Japanese Koi............. Orange & Apricot 5.......... OP8-4........... Splendor Gold........... Orange & Apricot 6.......... OM4-4.......... Nairobi Dusk............ Orange & Apricot 7.......... OS3-7........... Earth Fired Red......... Rust & Brown 8.......... YP6-5............ Solarium................... Yellow & Lime 9.......... GP2-4........... Laser......................... Green & Emerald 10........ GP6-5........... Park Picnic................ Green & Emerald 11........ GS6-7........... Trailing Vine............. Olive & Sage 12........ BP2-2............ Kauai........................ Turquoise & Violet 13........ BP6-4............ Bella Vista................. Turquoise & Violet 14........ PP3-5........... Dark Cobalt Blue....... Cobalt & Violet 15........ PP8-5........... Virtual Violet............ Cobalt & Violet 16........ PM6-5........... Violet Aura............... Cobalt & Violet 17........ W11-3........... Vibrant White........... Whites 18........ G4-2............. Great Graphite.......... Grey 19........ G4-7............. Carbon Copy............. Grey 20........ G9-7............. Black.......................... Grey 21........ G10-2........... Classic Silver.............. Grey 22........ OH-8-14........ Glass Sapphire.......... One Coat 23........ OH-8-16........ New Age Blue........... One Coat 24........ OH-10-2........ Iron Mountain............ One Coat

[@ludvigrigger]

Thanks!

[@ajwilliamsmedia]

Love it! The blues were a little more saturated with the Poverty Checker, but some might like that look? Definitely worth making one if you don't have a checker already. Great video!

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Yep, I personally like the way it turns out a little better, but I also know that it's technically incorrect because color correction should make it look closer to reality (for subsequent color grading) rather than making it look cool, but for a free tool I can definitely work with that output!

[@Isaypreach]

Not the poverty checker lol. I feel it though

[@D29.H45]

what if i dont have a color checker, is there a way to match it? i couldn't find the same color here I'd be great if someone redoes this but using more specific swatches and explaining from which brand is it

[@k.wrennn]

This is so funny and practical!, for the cost its already perfect!

[@teresashinkansen9402]

Would not be better to simply pick similar colors and tones and then under ideal lighting calibrate a color profile to that specific set of colors? That way you have accurate colors regardless of how accurate are they compared to the real color checker.

[@abbbee8918]

So you need the original for the software and the colours for matching!

[@franciscorossier4859]

Great work! Would it be an idea to share the RGB values of those samples for the people out of the USA? then I could either print a version of it or go to HomeCenter here in Chile and try to find the closest color samples to those values. Thanks in advance!

[@TokosCreatives]

You still need one... to make one. How can I know the corcect hue if I don't own one? Great vid tho!

[@AdventuresInVideo]

I got you, fam! I put all the colors in the description.

[@metreweli]

I am going to home depot tomorrow morning ✌️ Thank you

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Let me know how it goes!

[@metreweli]

@@AdventuresInVideo It went perfect, used some gaffers tape, now i have pretty nice color checker

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Glad it worked!

[@robrosielle9658]

Wow awesome work some of the shots I liked the poverty colors better specially the sky, best hack ever.

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Same! I was totally surprised by how well this worked!

[@tomdchi12]

I just bought my... um... Nth color reference chart (I've lost count), a DSC Labs One Shot Plus. I have peculiar interests. That said... you really don't need a color chart most of the time. You haven't been hired by J Crew to perfectly reproduce the eggplant color of their new dress, and you probably aren't documenting anything for scientific reference. You want your footage to look good. The #1 thing is a good, neutral 18% grey card (maybe the one thing to consider buying.) Nail color balance - ideally when shooting, and then check it in post and adjust as needed. Then the #2 is human skin tone (assuming there are humans in what you shoot.) That you can check against the skin tone line in a vectorscope in pretty much any current video editing package (like Resolve... for free!) Beyond that, color is.... pretty subjective. The fact that the chart you made by eyeballing paint samples under fluorescent light (double check under sunlight and go back for different chips if they look off!) worked pretty well shows how charts usually aren't super necessary. One thing charts can't fix is bad light sources like junk fluorescent or junk LED lights. You shot your tests under sun and sky light, which helped both charts get good looking results. Where your DIY chart would probably have problems would be under some whacked out old fluorescent tubes that emit odd bits and pieces of the visible spectrum, but... no color balance, chart or post grading can fix stuff like that 100%.

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Yep, it's always hard to color correct weird light because there's not enough spectrum there to work with. And I agree generally about white balance being most of the benefit, except that if you're putting a gray card in front the camera you mght as well put a color chart there as well! I find it's faster for me to snap everything into place with a color chart than to do the white balance, technical lut (for LOG/HLG), and skin tone adjustments separately.

[@AffordBeauty]

Quality content!

[@mppalves]

This is really cool man! congrats and thank you!

[@john2510]

Even where your chart produced different colors from the SpyderCheckr, it may be incorrect to assume the SpyderCheckr is the one that's closer to being correct. Another colorist posted a video criticizing the accuracy of the Spyder colors. This is probably a really stupid question, but has anyone tried taking a photo of a color chart under ideal lighting conditions and using that... or testing and printing a screen capture of a chart as a photo? Would it not reproduce sufficiently true? I have a SpyderCheckr, but I'm reluctant to risk having it damaged in regular use.

craaaazy it looked way better than i thought :D i mean i would love to have a "chroma du monde" color chart so ... any poverty hack on that thing ?

[@igg5589]

It works to be similar to SpyderChecker, but why both final "corrected" images are so off with white balance? :/

[@RoryChapman]

Late to the party here, but amazing! Better than no colour checker. One question... How would one make this without the original to compare the colours to?

[@AdventuresInVideo]

I made this video for people who don't have $150+ to drop on a color card (which is a LOT of people, once including myself). I stated in the video of it It's always best to buy the real thing. However, if you can't, and you have to take matters into your own hands, this can help improve things with a low budget camera that has janky color issues.

[@RoryChapman]

@liefbamberg6415 But i don't care about being perfect. I'm interested in building one for fun.

[@rehanlive2]

Awesome stuff. PovertyColor looked warmer and I actually liked it. Found you through Twitter and definitely subscribed 🙌🏼

[@corgikun2579]

this was very cool, very very, very cool just like you said, if you have the money get the real thing but some people are just starting and they need to see the magic first

[@IvanPizhenko-o2r]

Absolute 🔥 But it seems like "povertycolor" results a bit more saturated colors that original SpyderCheck. I'd apply some very small negative saturation correction after it.

[@STONJAUS_FILMS]

i was wonderifn if you try to print it instead

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Very likely won't work because printers vary so much in how they print color. The benefit of the paint chips is that they're very carefully printed and calibrated.

[@GoldenTeeTV]

when both new you probably won't see much of a difference. But over time is when you will. The good color chips maintain while the others will fade turning them useless. Or worse making you think that color chip result is the base line. But I'm in agreement with hating spending $100 on what looks like a $10 card. I have the same feeling about talley lights in regards to their pricing and what they actually are. :)

[@AtlantaMetal]

So I made one, looks great… but you need a key for the software used in Lightroom and can’t purchase it?

[@bakerfx4968]

I actually like the look of poverty checker better. The unfortunate side of this method is you have to either search for the exact colour names you used, or have a colour chart already lol Thanks for the video I might actually try and make one

[@woscar84]

is there the white middle gray and black chart for poors?

[@JasonLorette]

Very cool, I read a blog once where someone tried this and I thought about trying it, now that I’ve seen it work, may have to go to Home Depot. 🤪

[@AdventuresInVideo]

I'd love to know if it works for you!

[@JasonLorette]

@@AdventuresInVideo If I try it I’ll let you know, hey I made a beauty dish (that I’ve used for years) out of a large mixing bowl. :p

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Nothing wrong with mixing bowl beauty dishes! They work great!

[@ady7d77]

what you don't explain is if you colo correct at 2 pm and filmed at 5 o'clock?, does color change or how you deal with it?

[@john2510]

That seems to be a different subject. You need to capture the chart in the existing light conditions. If the lighting changes, for whatever reason, you would need to recapture the chart under those new conditions.

[@ivan-chesnokov]

For the comparisons you should have used a diagonal cut without the added black bar.

[@NewCompVisuals]

You're my hero!

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Thanks! I'm my hero, too! 😄

[@FatihVideographer]

Great video! I'd like to make the poverty checker but here in Turkey, I can't find Behr color samples :( By the way are they free on Home Depot?

[@pauloeskitch8634]

Hi James, thanks for your video. How do you use this home made color checker for still photography without the color checker software?

[@dubanhernandocastanedamora7196]

You are my hero

[@nextlevelcraig]

That was pretty cool! Maybe it's me but seems like the blues were a lil different. Like I said that could be just me. Still very cool and creative!

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Yep, it was hard to find blues that matched exactly, so it's definitely not an exact duplicate, but at least gets you into the same ballpark!

[@doganayger]

It works!!! The blues are more saturated but OK! Thanks!!

[@michaelmiklosofficial]

Hi Does the colour chart work for a 10 bit?

[@Soy_ArieLinGo]

OMG! I need it 🔥🔥

[@WizardOfCheese]

those uncorrected shots look nothing like uncorrected shots i've taken, what are you doing to get them so washed out and dull? lol

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Shooting LOG to protect exposure

[@janieisbored]

James, you’re a genius lol I’ve been making my editing software do all my color corrections bc idk what I’m doing and it usually ends up really bright or really dark. This will help a lot!

[@easypeasyabcsy7883]

We can use any kind of color set. But it would be much better to profile the set with a professional spectrophotometer. Or just to order 5 times cheaper card from China which is available in different sizes with color data listed. As for me, I bought an old QP ColorKit 1 with 5 small cards and a super large card from Ali.

[@PaoloCaringal-ep4bu]

how do they compare with the more expensive ones? Which one did you get? I'm going to buy one soon

[@alwayschasing]

Sweet! Going to try this out! Thanks! Btw, new subscriber.

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Thanks for subscribing!

[@abstractmodule4574]

Poverty checker looked better on a few of those shots to me.

[@jonathancomer1185]

Amazing...love it!

[@jennyandrievna4627]

Hi, Thank you for the video. Non-photographer here with a question that may pertain to this. I have a friend who is an artist, and I ordered a print of hers from Saatchi, and it came directly to me from Saatchi. My friend wants to know if the color is good, and I was hoping to take a photo of the print in sunlight outdoors. Would it be useful for me to put something black and white next to the print? Thanks in advance for any advice if you feel like giving it.

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Interesting question! That probably would indeed help, as long as it's close to a pure white and pure black. (Bright white printer paper is a good bet ) The white alone would probably do the trick, actually. And I'd recommend doing it not in direct sunlight but probably something more diffuse, like window light.

[@jennyandrievna4627]

@@AdventuresInVideo Thanks so much for the advice!

[@uroshavalon]

A small hickup, how do you select colors in a paintshop if you don't have Spiderchecker. Sorry to be mean, your video is great but that's the fact.

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Well, I did list all the colors in the description so you wouldn't need to do that. 😬

[@israelfernandezosorio]

My gosh thank you

[@austinnunns9826]

Freaking. Genius.

[@mustii22]

Effing brilliant 😂👏🏻

[@ryn1986]

Has anyone tried printing out the chart with a decent printer? Would be interesting to see those results....

[@h8shunlou]

Poverty colors for the win!

[@sythanh14]

2:21 so basically you need the datachecker before proceding :)

[@AdventuresInVideo]

No, because I listed all the colors here. 😬

[@gmartinezm]

I got my set today from Home Depot.

[@AdventuresInVideo]

I'd love to know how it goes!

[@Zarkmex]

Tomorrow morning the first thing I’ll do is going to Home Depot

[@SeacredusYT]

Not in America. but seems fun to try out. Great vid!

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Do you have similar paint sales where you are? Maybe we can find an equivalent!

[@xpez9694]

the poverty color adds just a scootch more yellow and blue saturation. makes me think you could make a color checker LUT to really mess up your color in your footage if you were feeling experimental and freaky...LOL

[@LeadGraffiti]

Don't you still need some kind of software? It also strikes me that you might be able to adjust a few of the SpyderCheckr colors and push the results toward some interesting or more personally desirable directions.

[@AdventuresInVideo]

Yep, usually you'd perform the actual corrections in your editing/grading software. You definitely could tweak them for more interesting effects, but usually the idea is to use this step to correct them (to a consistent "normal") and then do the actual color grading as a separate step. That said, it's all up to you how you want to do it!

[@HistoricMetals]

I searched to find this to validate this very idea, which I thought I had thought of all by myself (lol, I should know better than to think any of my creative ideas are original anymore hahaha) anyway, wouldn't it stand to reason, that you could basically use anything on earth that is reasonably "white or black" enough and maybe some colored plastic doodads? I thought the goal was to make pleasing images that match across cameras. Why doesn't it work to just put the same item in a test shot from every cam, say a colorful toy or literally *anything* with solid primary colors, a box of dollar store magic markers perhaps? and then just... match them... right? no? if so why not?

[@AdventuresInVideo]

An original idea is still an original idea even if someone else thought of it first! 😅 The main reason is that these well-established color cards are a known quantity, so their exact color codes are built in so the software can automatically correct them. You could approximate the same results by using a fully custom color card, but you'd probably have to some manual work to match them instead of just having the software do it.

[@HistoricMetals]

@@AdventuresInVideo Oh right on, well I expected the labor part, but I thought that was just part of the territory with any of the options. Thanks!

[@piotrgdula2417]

The colors of the poor version are perhaps even a little nicer. Certainly more saturated.

[@paperstacksfilms]

The poverty color looked wey better imo

[@zenobiazorachacko1705]

Who else is here for poverty engineering

[@ioxmedia]

Poverty engineering produces a chart that completely fails a vectorscope, Spyder's also fail. X-Rite (now Calibrite) is the only one I have seen after extensive research that actually matches up on a vectorscope, Spyder's neutral grey is fine however, but for colours, do not trust them.

[@dedskin1]

You can use whatever you want , dont you get it , doesn't have to be their colors , if the purpose of it is to match the look of 2 different cameras , Photoshop can do this given a picture of pile of shit plenty info , it can do it . Now if you want accurate colors that is a different animal all together . Who is guaranteeing you those Spyder checker colors are correct , you checked it against what ? They are correct for 100$ , there are more correct ones for 1000$ and then still correctier ones for 10 000$ , just depends how deep you wanna go . But , these colors have a known Value , you can make them in photoshop , take that shit to your Professional printer , and if hes a professional printer , he must have calibrated his printer, after all that printer is printing the pictures you made with that collor checker right ? So ? why not give him to print you a color checker , And there you go , instant color chart made in photoshop , exact known values , printed on a dependable corrected printer , maybe 5$ , or free , depends how your printer likes you , mine likes me , he wont charge me .

[@theOfficialOludare]

Poverty engineering 🥹🥹