What a great read. I don’t know that I’ve ever considered how a camera “sees” color. I’ve given a lot of thought to how different light sources affect the way color is rendered (CRI) - and I remember choosing film based on the colors it captured - but I realize now I’ve missed a huge chunk of information by not considering the tightrope that camera companies walk between color rendering and ISO performance. Fascinating.
One question that comes to mind: how does camera white balance fit into all of this? I’ve heard some people say that as long as you shoot in RAW, that white balance doesn’t matter - you can just change it in post. But I’ve heard others who say that white balance does in fact matter and that getting it right in the field allows you to better separate colors during post processing. What’s your take on this?
It definitely doesn’t matter. The WB just encode some settings that Lightroom or Photoshop use to process the raw anyway so changing them afterward is the same process… You could effectively not store the white balance and only apply it in post processing (but it would be a bit weird not being able to see your preview)
I usually try to get the wb as close to what I see in camera as I can. Granted it’s two screens I’m looking at so anything I choose is somewhat arbitrary, but it’s really there to jog my memory when I’m editing. Was the light giving me cool colors or warm? Was it a greenish glow under the canopy or more clearly neutral? When in doubt I just go with what I feel serves the photo best, but with a RAW image and a Linear Profile I can start from a more-or-less unaltered state.
Another master in depth article from you Tim. I throughly enjoyed this and it helps me to perceive how our emotional states of mind can somewhat influence our perception of a scene. If we are constructing the hue in our mind, perhaps we shift them according to mood?
Thanks Alister - and I think you’re right we probably do perceive things slightly differently depending on mood. After all, our perception of colour is mental, not physical. If we’re in a good mood our perceptions and memories are probably ‘painted’ with the other times that this has happened!
It’s difficult to do that as the screen on the back of your camera probably isn’t colour accurate so if you want proper accuracy, you’d have to check the image on the back of your camera compared to your calibrated screen. If you’re just after a clue as to what it looked like, definitely worth doing though. Personally I use a set white balance (daylight, but sometimes a little warmer or cooler depending on conditions - daylight can look too cool sometimes). Whatever serves the photo best, informed by your memory and any reference you have, sounds perfect to me!
Thanks!