Is a gray/white/black card enough for accurate color, or do I need a color chart?
Asked 9/29/2015
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I have a card with black, gray, and white bands. If I include it in a photo, is that enough to correct the image for accurate color in post, or does it only help with white balance? I understand white balance can adjust both temperature and tint, but I’m not sure whether a neutral card is sufficient for full color accuracy. If not, what kind of target should I use for more reliable color reproduction? I’m shooting with a Nikon D800.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
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For normal lighting, yes.
For bizzare or novel light, no.
"Normal" means sunlight or incandescent lighting, or other lights that try to immitate that (since it's what our eyes work with). Poor "color rendering index" lamps will be lacking but that's how it looked in person too!
For odd colored lights, you need more data points to know just what is happening, and you still have underlying ambiguity: correct for blue lights and you don't know if the object was supposed to be blue or was grey.
The color is subjective in photography, since we're not making scientific instrument readings. So you end up adjusting the actual green leaves in the picture to match the impression of the live scene, and don't need a formal green folage patch on a color bar.
A color chart can be handy for matching across different shoots, calebrating the camera profile, and learning about the camera's response; and of course in understanding "nasty" lights even if you don't rely on automatic correction based on them.
I found the x-rite "passport" useful for those reasons. And I could still pull it out if I wanted a reference for (e.g.) heavily-filtered stage lighting.
Originally by user33948. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user33948
10y ago
0
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A neutral card is enough for white balance, but not always for fully accurate color.
If the card is truly neutral and photographed in the same light as the subject, you can click it in post to remove the color cast. That usually works well under normal lighting such as daylight or tungsten-balanced light, and it corrects both temperature and tint.
But white balance alone does not guarantee perfect color. Overall color accuracy also depends on the camera profile/color transform and on the light source itself. Under unusual or low-CRI lighting, a neutral card may not be enough, because some colors can still reproduce inaccurately even after WB correction.
So:
- For most everyday photography: a good neutral white/gray card is sufficient for white balance.
- For more demanding color-critical work: use a color chart/target and, if needed, build or use a better camera profile.
A ColorChecker-style target is the kind of tool commonly used when you need more than white balance alone. Also note that inexpensive black/gray/white cards are not always very neutral; often the white patch is more useful for WB than the gray patch.
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AI10y ago
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