How to Use a Color Checker Passport Photo | Mark Wallace | Exploring Photography

[@BugBobsWildWorld]

Mark, this is absolutely the best discussion of using the ColorChecker Passport I've ever seen. Others tell us that it's a good product, but don't walk us through how to use every bit of it. Thank you!

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tommynikon2283]

I’ve been using the same for 15+ years; the same one. It’s totally worth it. Prior to that I was using a 8x10 gray card for critical shoots, location and studio. Also, fill the screen as much as possible with the card, skin tones, a critical color, etc.- makes “eye dropping” later much easier. ALSO….Calibrated monitors a must!

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us! It's always good to hear from experienced photographrs.

[@JerryLoisPhotography]

Mark - echoing all the other positive comments!!! THIS IS THE BEST VIDEO OUT THERE to explain what the color checker is, and HOW TO USE IT. FROM A TO Z. I CANNOT thank you enough for taking the time to provide what is one of the best, most educationally perfect videos available. Calibrite should pay you a zillion dollars, and inscribe your name in their Hall of Fame for the work and clear information you gave all of us. Plus! BONUS! Learning how to correlate what the color checker shows to the histogram in LR, and how make intelligent, by design color and tone adjustments - just fabulous! I would have never matched the row of colors in the checker to the color values in LR so I could see the exact color settings and how they read. I am agog and dancing the happy dance with all this wonderful "knowing"!!!! THANK YOU!

[@SigurdDecroos]

Very nice! Would be interesting to see the workflow in DxO and Capture One as well as a follow-up video.

[@mattp9029]

Incredibly comprehensive. I bought one of these a while back and understood the basics, but this is much much deeper. Not a pro but just very interested in photography. Thank you!

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Jwitherow1964]

Well you already tough me to use my light meter like a pro, now I am learning the color checker I am order it and with this video I feel confident I will be able to use it. Thank you

[@daveh.354]

THANK YOU!!! See all these photography videos where someone will say "Use one of these", but never explain how to use it... This is great.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

You bet!

[@TeddyCavachon]

Its worth noting with respect to defining centering the spike of a gray card histogram as “correct” exposure that the standard for doing that changed in 1975 when the ISO system was adopted for rating film speed and calibrating meters. The standard used for film speed and meters prior to 1975 was ASA (American Standards Association) and 18% was selected as the calibration point because and average outdoor scene would reflect 18% if the directly measured incident light. In that way a meter just pointed at an outdoor scene by a photographer would produce sufficient density IN THE SHADOWS to reproduce SHADOW DETAIL on a print. But as Ansel Adams taught me and thousands of others The Negative to get precise exposure of shadows with Zone 1 hints of detail just barely registering on the negative one should meter off an 18% Kodak Gray Card held in the incident light with glare not the actual scene. According to those working in R&D at Kodak back when the switch was made to the ISO standard Adam’s threw a hissy fit because the ISO standard uses a value of 12% not 18% as its calibration point. I’m not exactly sure why that change was made but I suspect it might have been because basing exposures off 18% card readings would result in overexposed highlights on transparency films (Kodachrome, Ektachrome, etc.) and there is no margin for overexposure with slides as there is with negative film which can be overexposed by two stops and still make full range prints with normal contrast. Adams had created a cult that worshiped 18% Middle Gray as Zone V as the center of their universe and was able to convince Kodak to continue making and selling the 18% Gray cards which is why they are still sold today. But if you actually read the instructions which come with them you will see a caveat which says reading with modern ISO rated meters (and all digital cameras) need to be reduced by about 1/3 stop to prevent over exposing digital highlights 😮 The gray patch on the color checker is likely 12% reflectance not 18% to conform with the ISO film speed calibration method which why when exposure is adjusted to center it on the histogram the highlights in the file should be correctly exposed. But in the test shots in this video it appears the RED CHANNEL in the skin highlights are clipping. This can occurs in skin before clipping is indicated via the clipping warning in the playback or live histogram based on a gray or white area because skin reflects more RED than GREEN and BLUE. It causes the highlights in the skin to get a flat waxy looking appearance and can be confirmed by looking at the RGB channel histograms individually. On most camera the RGB histogram in the playback and live histograms on mirrorless camera are influenced by the WB setting of the camera. So if the WB is set for mid-day 5500°K daylight but the photos are taken earlier or later in the day then the actual WB may be warmer and the RED channel in skin more likely to clip in the brightest highlights creating that flat waxy look. For that reason it is good practice to set custom WB off a known neutral gray card so the monochrome histogram will be balanced to the actual color temp of the light and use the RGB version of the histogram in live view and playback to be able to monitor the RED channel separately. For setting exposure I use white and black wash rags instead of cards because they can be draped in 3D shapes which created shadows and the loops in the fabric created specular highlights similar to the way the flat facets in hair, fur and feathers do. I base over all exposure on keeping the brightest non-specular highlights on the white towel 1/3 stop under clipping in the JPEG thumbnail based playback (which uses the camera’s WB setting) and shadow detail based on visual inspection of the texture of the black towel and how it’s values fall on the histogram. When mixing flash and sunlight I use the sun as back rim light and set ISO/Shutter/Aperture keep the sunlit parts of the white towel 1/3 stop under clipping and then with flash in front always start with turning on a centered shadowless as possible fill light raising its power based on recording detail in the black towel THEN turning on the key light places in the same vector the skylight is creating its lower contrast 3D modeling to match the same highlight pattern but with more normal contrast, raising key power to 2/3 under clipping which puts the “shaded side white” 1/3 stop below the non-clipping sunlit whites. No need to use a light meter for setting the flash power or ambient exposure 😊

[@joebarker5719]

Always wondered about those! Thank you! Really appreciate you walking through the WHOLE PROCESS!!! This is so helpful!!!

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

You are so welcome!

[@robnew7481]

Just ordered this and cant wait to play with it and make life better!

[@mikebartow9415]

Thanks that was very informative. I have a data color checker but did not know how to use all the features. I have a Nikon Z9 and would white balance using its function of taking a picture of the 18% grey and with camera correction set that as a preset. I can store up to six of my own presets. Your video has expanded my knowledge to fine tune it to a greater extent. Thanks!

[@stafdevriese6489]

I’m using this for so long but learned new things now. Thanks a lot and greets from Belgium !

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Glad to help!

[@tmewborn1]

Hi Mark, This is an outstanding explantion of color, color checkers, calibrations, etc. I learned so very much from this video. Thanks very much for inoarting your extensive knowledge.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Great to hear! I'm glad the video helped out.

[@josephchan4198]

Good class. Hope to see a product photography class during the fall or spring. Thanks.

[@dektold76]

Thank you, Mark. This video is a definite keeper in my favs. Very well explained and I’ll refer to it in the future many times, over.

[@greatpix]

I've been using them since they first came out and for decades before that the full size Colorchecker.

[@nigelowen9618]

The best explanation I’ve seen!

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Thanks for the kind words. :)

[@Carl.65]

Thanks Mark, super useful content as always. Good to know I'm doing it right for once. I discovered the colour checker passport and camera profile calibration when doing some product photography for my wife's ceramics business. The colours in the jpgs out of camera looked fine but the LR camera profiles/adobe profiles had significant colour shifts. Once I figured out what was happening I bought the colour checker and it works very effectively.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Great to hear! It's so rewarding when you discover a process that works. Thanks for sharing!

[@davidstucker7102]

Have used the color checker passport for as long as it has been around. Have done the profiling and color correction. Have never seen an explanation of the colors and grey scale on the top. Thanks for the information of what they do.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

It's such a handy tool. Simple but powerful.

[@lecolintube]

Love to go through a deep dive into ICC profiles with you! Thanks so much

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

I'll add that to my list of future videos. It seems you're not the only one asking for a deeper look.

[@clissonplage]

thanks for these explanations with a demonstration it is much clearer indeed for novices like me Thanks

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Glad to hear that! Don't hesitate to post questions on videos. That's how I get ideas for new videos.

[@silverboisilverboi9316]

Fantastic video, great detail of how this works.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@John_1033]

Thank you for going over everything on the Color Checker. I have used it a few times. It would be nice to learn how to delete the profiles after you are done with your post processing. Thanks again.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Calibrite has a tool for managing the profiles. It's on the same page as the other software. If you want to delete them they are buried deep on the hard drive. Are you using a Mac or PC?

[@John_1033]

@@MarkWallaceVideos I am personally using a Mac. I did find another video that explained how to delete old ones. Thank you very much Mark.

[@paulmaschak5267]

I use the color checker passport too but no need to flip to the page with large grey panels as the top row has multiple neutral grey levels. Have you calibrated your camera sensor w/ lens using multiple color temps? Strongly recommend that. This is also useful if you ever Astromodify you sensor (enables you to take daylight shots since filters on top of the sensor have been stripped out)

[@adamaufdencamp5080]

Wonderful video. Would the calibration file generated from the passport photo be better named by say camera and lens? That would also account for possible color cast from the lens.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

You can name your profiles in a way that best works for you. But, even if you calibrate for a camera and lens, you still have to take into account different lighting scenarios. So a Canon R5 + 85mm f/1.2L II could be different on-location or in studio. Or with a different softbox/umbrella, etc. That's why I usually name my profiles to the exact photoshoot and setup.

[@jose8868]

By far the best video on using ColorChecker Passport (and there are tons of videos on KZbin). I have a question. I use Canon DPP4 as my raw editor. If there a way to create a Canon Picture Style from a photo that includes the Color Checker? Or, if I use Canon DPP4 I can only use the Color Checker to assign white balance?

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

I haven't ever used DPP4, so I don't know. Hopefully someone who's reading this knows the answer! You could also reach out to Calibrite, they are pretty good at answering questions. calibrite.com/us/contact/

[@guylehman9482]

Thank you very much. Huge amount of great information!!

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ronwhite7304]

Great video, Mark!

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Thanks!

[@BrandonPorsche]

Great Video Mark, Many Thanks to you ....

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Very welcome!

[@bulletsie]

Love your explination on how to use the colour card, I've a tiny mini colour classic checker card that is one of the cars you used in the video that just has the swatches on it, but not the one with the various whites. I must try and find it as I never used it before. I did buy a grey card from Amazon recently and used it last shoot I did, when using the eyedropper to select the white balance on the greycard it did not work out too well it made skin tones horrible and yellow and the whites went not white! Trying adust the brightness so the grey from the grey card was 50 ish in the RGB range made everything too bring and I was neatly 2 stop increase (I was shooting in studio using feathered lighting aiming for a vintage look so things would be a little underexposed. Possibly the el-cheapo grey card from amazon was the issue...............get a lot better results when I adjust using my eyers to my own tastes.....Plus I'm using Luts after I process the image just before export to alter the colours in the end......but I would like my colours to be accurate when I start to edit my photos. Have my screens profiled using the istudio calibration tool does not really make a huge differennce between calibrated vs uncalibrated think I paid over 500 bucks for the xrite colour checker studio hardware at the time.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

I'm guessing the grey card you bought was not a calibrated target. Just a gray piece of cardboard. :) Quality does count. Monitor profiling really makes a difference when you're printing and need your monitor and printer to match. If you're not printing a lot, you can get away with a default screen profile.

[@filmic1]

Nice clear survey for Lr. I have PS 5 and I bought the competitor DataColor Spyder Chekr 24. It's all new to me. I usually just find my white point and black point in my PS file and work from there. Haven't got my feet wet with the DataColor yet. You explain the process quite clearly though. Clearest one I"ve watched thus far. Thank-you.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

DataColor has different software and workflow. I used some of their gear in years past, but switched to Calibrite about a decade ago. I haven't used the Spyder Chekr so I'm not sure what the differences are. Let us know how it goes! :)

[@Squeezesify]

Hi Mark! This is THE BEST VIDEO and explanation I have ever seen on the ColorChecker! I have one myself, and I have Tried to use it on portraits as well as in woodland photography. The latter can be hard. I sure needed this fine systematic talk. Does Adobe Camera Raw also have the same export feature, or will I get the same result if I just open the actual picture with the ColorChecker in it directly in the Calibrite program as a stand-alone? Thank You! Kind Regards, Jan, DK

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

ACR doesn't have the same export feature, you'll have to use the Calibrite profile tool to create profiles for ACR.

[@bobby350z]

Nice explanation. Thanks.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

You're welcome

[@charlesstephens5974]

Well presented!

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Thank you!

[@Concienciaplena1]

Now i need a color checker...

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

They are really great. I've been using them for many years.

[@looseshoulderssumali7311]

This is very useful, thank you!

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

You bet!

[@dvongrad]

Calibration is important because you don't want a devil with a blue dress on! 😀 On a more serious note, I have a couple questions: 1. I've heard it said that the ColorChecker should be replaced every 2 years. Is this still recommended if it is used only on a few shoots under consistent lighting and not every time the light changes on more frequent shoots? 2. At about 33:00 of the video, the left edge of the histogram appears to be clipped, thus showing a white marker. Depending on what colour that marker is, would you consider adjusting the blacks to eliminate the clipping? Love all your videos! Keep them coming!

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

1. Yep, you should replace it every two years. I'm not sure how stable the colors are after that. If you're not working on critical colors (catalogs, etc.), then I'm sure you can use your ColorChecker for much longer. 2. You can click the white triangle, and the clipped areas will appear in blue. In that image, the clipped area is just a tiny part of the background. It doesn't matter to the image; it should be totally black. So, for that image, no adjustment is needed.

[@dsorx]

Great explanation. Do you create a new profile for every shoot? You created one in this video, but you didn't have a whole bunch of new profiles there to choose from. It seems like over time you would have hundreds of camera profiles that would never be used again.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

@@dsorx I delete the profiles I’m not actively using so the list doesn’t become super long. For this video I removed all of them to keep things easy to understand.

[@kubasadstudio]

nice video for beginners thank you so much

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

My pleasure 😊

[@sarahmocke]

Superb video

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Thank you so much 😀

[@lecolintube]

Thanks so much! That’s awesome 🤩 Gracias

[@chiragdarji1990]

Always Great to Watch & Learn. To lot Thankyou So Much All The way From India 🇮🇳🎥📸 CHIRAGDARJI

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Thanks so much! I need to head back to India again soon. It's such a great place.

[@chiragdarji1990]

@@MarkWallaceVideos WELCOME TO INDIA 🇮🇳 IN Advance Please Let me know if Available Surely Meet You CHIRAGDARJI Thankyou

[@llamarvasquez1803]

Thanks for the awesome tutorial... have a question? When I'm doing my calibration it takes two seconds and it does nothing else happens. Do you think something conflicting with my software and Lightroom it does not show up no more after 15 seconds successfully or nothing.. thoughts? Thank you very much sir

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

It could be a lot of things. I'd make sure you Lightroom is up to date and then I'd uninstall the ColorChecker software and reinstall it with the latest version. If that doesn't fix things, contact Calibrite. calibrite.com/us/contact/

[@KenToney]

I’m still watching video but should I do a WB adjustment then the color calibration or calibration first?

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

@@KenToney calibration first.

[@KenToney]

@@MarkWallaceVideos thanks, seems like I asked you that about 10 years ago 😂😂

[@steveb013]

Hi Mark a quick question about the color checker passport, my concern is why have a camera profil, if in lightroom there's a camera matching profile ( not adobe ones ) that already exists , are they the same ? or its the "Same" that adobe "think" they are for example the R5 MKII ? Also I would like to know, is the color checker passport is usefull for landscape shots ? thanks, and I hope that you will understand my question

[@ToddNormanE]

Thanks!

[@snaht1]

i love it you got a sub.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Thanks! Welcome to the channel :)

[@polskaeuropa7668]

Thank you

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

You're welcome

[@ElementaryWatson-123]

The white/gray card can rarely give the best WB, and in fact shooting around trees like that there will be a lot of green tint on white card and screw white balance. WB is a matter of taste. I find doing WB by hand much superior to relying on white card. The same with exposure, you practically never want the middle gray in the center, your taste should guide you in biasing exposure levels.

[@kdj.imagery4317]

Are you shooting with Canon gear? I believe that if you shot in the portrait profile the Canon models tended too over do it with the reds. I don't have the Passport version I have a larger one that just has the colored squares, can these be used in video applications? I want to start shooting stock video clips and in landscapes if it were partly cloudy the WB would be changing more noticeably than with stills.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Yep - this was shot with a Canon R5

[@vperalta]

Is there a difference between color checker that comes with a white cover vs the black cover? Do these checkers expire?

[@chazM6116]

THEY WILL TELL YOU IT DOES TO SELL MORE LOL

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

I don't know of any Caibrite ColorChecker Photo that has a white cover. There's only one version. Perhaps you're thinking of the Photo vs Video ColorChecker. They have different targets suited for different needs. But even the Video ColorChecker has a black cover. Send me a link to the product you're referring to, I'm curious.

[@Mersuharrastaja]

I buy that passport few weeks ago but Datacolor's own software does not make profile for Capture One. :(

[@chazM6116]

ITS NOT DATACOLORS TOOL

[@Mersuharrastaja]

@@chazM6116 I do not know who manufacturer's is, but in my tool it is printer Datacolor's logo on top of it.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

That's a different product from Datacolor, not Calibrite. Different brands and different products. I use Calibrite because they are far superior in my experience.

[@ZeroNilNada]

The “blue vs. gold” dress argument would not exist if everyone did the steps in this video! 😂

[@denizahmet2299]

Middle grey is 50.8 in Lab colour / 120 in Adobe RGB / 118 JPEG SRGB / 128 Adobe Histogram. If you're using a light meter you want to make sure it's calibrated accordingly.

[@JayJayYUP]

I assume a laboratory service is required if you want to get a light meter calibrated?

[@denizahmet2299]

@@JayJayYUP No you can apply an offset in the meter to adjust to your setup.

[@JayJayYUP]

@@denizahmet2299 Sorry I guess I'm confused, I imagined light meter calibration would require a known reference source verified by another meter/device to then be able to calibrate another.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

You can calibrate a Sekonic light meter with a calibration target from Sekonic. It's very accurate. sekonic.com/sekonic-exposure-profile-target-ii-for-sekonic-light-meters/

[@JayJayYUP]

@@MarkWallaceVideos Discontinued ;-( guess it's time for second hand hunting. Though what I was talking about, wasn't profiling your camera, I mean't calibrating the actual Sekonic light meter itself to make sure itself is functioning correctly.

[@cosmo0080]

it is only important if one is shooting for a magazine or print as people rarely have calibrated screens

[@alansach8437]

Yeah, I asked the grizzly bear to hold the color checker, but he didn't cooperate!

[@AbbasBinYounas]

Hi Mr Wallace, a fine video as always. Do you think there's a poor man's version of the Passport out there?? 😅😅😅 It sells for more than 10% of my take-home pay where I live 💔😭

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

There are other brands, but I don't know what the quality is. I've used some different brands in the past, and none come close to Calibrite. And they are NOT sponsoring this video, I don't make any money from them. It's my honest opinion based on experience.

[@TungstenOvergaard]

I'm here for Sara, not the content. To be fair.

[@LordAngelus]

Simp

[@MichaelHodge]

Takes to long to get to it.

[@bunnyban5365]

Sara is all i can see I could care less about photography

[@ToddNormanE]

Thanks!

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Thank you!!