Consistent colour with in a studio environment

Dose or has anyone got tips on the above title with out spending £80.00 on a Gretag Macbeth colour checker link

ideas welcome but i think it's my only option

James

Ps what % is the grey checker in photoshop ?

Hi Pink

If you are going to do some serious studio work then may I suggest that you do a grey card calibration at the commencement of your session. You will notice quite a difference and a grey card from a good suppler is pretty cheap. You can calibrate your colour in Adobe Camera Raw very easily if you are just doing a short quick studio session.
Good luck

Ian

£64.40 better? link
If you want colour accuracy then that's it.

When you want to have a good white balance then a greycard will do but colours within that can be not 99% right, if you're doing creative stuff though then a grey card will do you well.
You will probably play whit colours anyway.

I just set the colour balance to 'flash' and the results have been perfect every time.

Its never occurred to me to try but how do actually take a colour balance from a grey card with flash?

The same way as by ambient light I would presume, but with the flash lighting the card.

I'd forgotten that you actually had to press the shutter release button on Pentax dslrs

You could just colour balance from your background if you were using white or grey paper rolls

Do you mean accurate, or consistent?

If you mean consistent, then a sheet of A4 paper will do the job nicely. Just hold the paper where the subject would be and take a white balance reading. If you shoot RAW, then just take the image - you can pick a white balance off that and apply to all shots from the same session.

If you mean accurate, then a colour chart is the way to go. A GM chart is fine, but I've used the QPcard 201 (which is much cheaper, and smaller) and had very good results too. www.qpcard.com
(They are helpful as you can carry them around with you!)

HTH!
Matt

I use a grey card for my white balance witch is fine and work well

But I am finding people eye can change in colour from one shot to the next can any one explain why? (no alteration done to lighting or camera settings)

But the eye or camera change the colour

James

what are you using for lighting?

sorry Don

strobe lights with soft box's and strobe on back ground with umbrellas


all balanced ie the two rear strobe's are the same make and type and the soft boxes and strobes are the same make.

James

could the eye's be picking up light from a (window, house bulb ?)
I thought the strobes would cancel this out.

that could be it, strobes don't cancel it out because you use equipment to defuse the light, also the background can bounce the light of to objects in the room.

Your strobes (esp budget models) may not be maintaining color consistency from shot to shot, esp if they don't get time to fully recharge and cool between shots...
your modeling lamps may not maintain color consistency if they are dimmed or fluorescent..
ambient light could still be a factor... esp at high iso or if bright enough to affect exposure...

Don what is esp ??

would a qpcard help or better strode's the strode's I use are one's from photodeals and here is the following spec for the strobe's

Flash Head 150W Specifications
Guide no (m 100 asa) GN38
Flash Duration 1/700th second
Trigger Voltage 3 Volts
Recycling time 2.5 secs at full power
Output error ± 1%
Modelling Bulb 150w Full/ Off/ Proportional
Colour Temperature 5500 ° K

hope that reads right

James

especially

set your color balance to flash, use a white card and fire off a number of shots in a dark room, and check them for color balance do a series of tests with and without modelling lamps at various power settings... see if they all come out white, and with even exposures.