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I'm trying to understand how necessary are the camera profiles (own) in a commercial shoot/product photography. I photograph clothes on a white background on a model (to make it clearer, something like this theiconic.com.au or this H&M and etc)

I am using X-rite Colorchecker passport and Adobe Camera Raw. But the results are very controversial. It looks worse than using a standard profile - Adobe Color. Although it is quite possible it does show more real colors. It is also not clear which profile to use Adobe Color or Adobe standard.

It is difficult to choose: either more real colors or to make them look more pleasant to the human eye

However, I have little experience with this type of photography.

I would like to know what other photographers / companies do in this area? How do they achieve the most pleasant and at the same time accurate color reproduction? It would be interesting to learn about any experience in this area.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Do you have your monitor also calibrated? If not you can't tell the colors you get with ColorChecker are wrong. Also when shoot with ColorChecker you should create profile for particular lighting conditions and use it instead of Adobe profile \$\endgroup\$
    – Romeo Ninov
    Dec 14, 2018 at 18:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Romeo Ninov I did not say that he is bad, I said that he is controversial. Yea monitor calibrated. And of course I created a profile under a my specific lighting. I heard that some photographers use the standard profile adobe and do not bother. Someone use colorchecker passport and quite satisfied. I just wanted to learn about the experiences of others. And why they use this method or etc. It’s very hard to see which works better - standard adobe or colorchecker profile \$\endgroup\$
    – user2899758
    Dec 14, 2018 at 18:28
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    \$\begingroup\$ Example shots of the same scene using each method might be helpful in understanding exactly what it is you are trying to ask. In general, though, for commercial shoots how "necessary" anything is or is not depends on what the customer's expectations are. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Dec 14, 2018 at 21:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ This is potentially a great question. If womeone else want to edit something to make it better, please do. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rafael
    Dec 15, 2018 at 22:07

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Yes. Each lighting can be different, therefore in order to produce the most accurate colour for the end product, each lighting situation needs to be profiled properly.

Personally, when I am shooting for a client (we both expect exact colour), I will pop a ColorChecker in the same lighting either at the beginning or the end of the shoot.

When I am processing the images, I use that profile created with the ColorChecker, as I know for a fact that it is correct.

Note; if I am working in Lightroom, I will make sure to go into the Develop module, Camera Calibration, Process:, and make sure to use the most up-to-date setting.

All of these profiles can have an effect on the colour. A detail of a an ornate piece of pottery

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