Building Camera Profiles - Color Management for Photographers - page 180

profiles. Anything that can make color management easier and less com-
plicated is a benefit in my opinion. We all know color management is too
complicated, right? I was shocked that when a product did come along
that made dealing with digital camera files easier, and some color geeks
embraced this process, a group of other geeks thought we had lost our
minds.
Other Targets
Although two of the targets discussed are intended solely for building
camera profiles, some other targets are worth mentioning. GretagMac-
beth recently released a group of targets that are useful for white bal-
ancing and gray balancing images for use in RAW converters or even after
conversion from RAW data. The White Balance Card and the Gray Scale
Balance Card are physically the same size as the 24-patch Macbeth Col-
orChecker target. Both are spectrally neutral, which is something that
cannot be said of the standard gray cards available in most camera shops.
The main difference between the White Balance Card and the Gray Scale
Balance Card is that the former is fully white over the entire card. The
Gray Scale Balance Card actually has white, gray, and black on its front
surface. These larger cards make it much easier to use some kind of click
balance eyedropper on captured images due to their size. If you can afford
only one card, I'd probably recommend the standard GretagMacbeth Col-
orChecker since the other colored patches on the card, though small, do
provide useful feedback. I would highly recommend you always shoot at
least one of these targets at the beginning of each photo session if possi-
ble. Certainly when photographing people, having a reference like this
will make working with products like Adobe Camera RAW and other types
of RAW converters a lot easier.
The standard 24-patch GretagMacbeth ColorChecker is an excellent ref-
erence for color correction. In addition, it's very handy when the time
comes that you want to examine how well your color management
processes are working. You can capture and output this target and then
compare the image on screen to the printed image of the Macbeth as well
as the original target. Note that there is also a very small version of the
24-patch Macbeth ColorChecker known as the Mini ColorChecker . This
card is about the size of a business card and is useful for tabletop
photography.
What Products Are Available?
Most of the major players making color management software have prod-
ucts for building both scanner and digital camera profiles. Some use the
same scanner module and others have dedicated software for dealing
with digital cameras. Among those are GretagMacbeth's ProfileMaker 5
PhotoStudio Pro (a complete profiling suite for the professional studio pho-