Building Camera Profiles - Color Management for Photographers - page 160

man and dog and simply try each until I could produce acceptable camera
profiles. Even that process wasn't guaranteed to succeed, and was time
consuming and expensive.
Software and hardware products used in building camera profiles has
improved to some degree since I began using LinoColor Dcam in the last
century. Digital cameras have changed tremendously. The solutions for
creating ICC profiles for digital cameras are still works in progress. In this
chapter, I hope to point out some of the reasons why this is the case, and
discuss what can be done to produce the best possible color from our
digital cameras.
Sidebar
Metamerism: Sooner or later, when color management is discussed, the word metamerism
gets mentioned. Metamerism is a phenomenon whereby two color samples of differing spec-
tral properties appear to match when viewed in one illuminant, but appear differently under a
another. For example, there could be a situation whereby viewing a print illuminated by one
light source produces acceptable color. By simply moving that print into a different location
with a different kind of lighting, a severe color shift may appear.
Metamerism can be a good or a bad phenomenon. Keep in mind that this metameric effect,
whereby two colors of differing spectral properties appear to match, is what makes the repro-
duction of color images and color management possible (see Fig. 5-1). Without metamerism,
we would never be able to get two different print processes to match each other or the screen
to match a print. When shooting a scene, it is possible to find a situation where two objects
appear to our eye to be different colors. However on film or in the digital file, these objects
appear to have identical color. This is an example of a type of metamerism. In this case, the
Fig. 5-1 This illustration
shows the effect of
metamerism in several
forms. (Graphic courtesy of
GretagMacbeth)