Update on X-Rite Passport Color Calibration

Late in 2010, I bought the X-Rite Color Checker Passport and did an initial review of this color management aid. I’ve been carrying this small plastic case around in my camera bag, and I do pull it out and take a photo of the color panels when I’m taking an image in tricky lighting conditions. This past weekend was peak blooming season for Virginia Bluebells and so I hiked into the woods to take some good images. My trusty Color Checker went with me and I came back with some great close-ups of the blossoms in this shadowy woodland setting. I thought it would be interesting to compare a before and after view of the bluebells with the color correction turned off and then on so that you can see the difference it makes to my Canon 5D. Each picture has been properly white balanced (using the gray panel of the x-rite) and exposure and saturation adjusted. I then selected the color profile I created in this setting and exported one image from Lightroom, set the color profile back to Adobe Standard for the second image. On this sort of blue, the new color profile makes a tremendous difference – definitely reinforced my view that this small tool is an essential one for a landscape photographer to carry in their camera bag. The differences are not as apparent when I convert the pictures to sRGB to post them here, but on my monitor and prints there is a tremendous difference in the hue and saturation – trust me!

Adobe Standard Color Profile

X-rite color profile

You can buy the X-Rite ColorChecker on Amazon: