Having a color checker in your camera kit such as X-Rite’s Colorchecker Passport Photo
($119 on B&H Photo’s website) is critical for properly exposing for white balance. Especially for portrait photographers. Recently I found out about XRite’s product on a photo shoot with fellow photographers from the AAPA Media Group. Each photographer swore they don’t leave home without their color checker for fashion and portrait shoots. I decided to order one for my next fashion photo shoot. Being a fellow GEAR savant, ordering the gear was not a problem! Upon arrival of the Colorchecker I read the instructions thoroughly and viewed an excellent YouTube video on achieving the perfect color using X-Rite’s Colorchecker Passport. The video revealed that I can use the color checker for portrait and landscapes! I highly recommend viewing a YouTube video on the color checker. There are plenty to chose from.
Now for the good stuff – A picture is worth a thousand words. See before and after pictures below.
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Camera raw photo before applying white balance using color checker. This is what the camera sensor saw but not what my eyes saw through the lens. The model’s blouse and jean color are off.
Photo taken of model holding the X-Rite Color Checker Passport Photo in the same lighting conditions.
Final processed photo after applying custom white balance from color checker in Lightroom. The blouse and jean color match what my eyes saw during the shoot.
PRO ADVICE: Invest in a color checker. It is worth the money to get the “colors right” and “white balance right”.
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