Colors are important in photography. But with digital photography, it is a long path from the light of this world to the computer. At the heart of the digital camera is the image sensor which records the image. Almost all digital cameras actually record image data with a complicated array of colored filters over tiny light-sensitive photosensors (more detailed information on Bayer filters is on wikipedia. Foveon sensors use a different technology but they have their own set of issues). At this point, more advanced models of cameras allow this image to be recorded in this “raw” format (we recommend always shooting in raw format over jpeg, but that’s another discussion).

Now, in its raw format, a photo would be unrecognizable. Complicated algorithms can process—the digital equivalent of darkroom developing—the raw file to create a jpeg file which is viewable by web browsers and printers alike. Part of the raw processing is determining the colors of individual pixels, or points, in the picture. Although engineers at companies such as Adobe have camera color profiles for most models of cameras, each specific camera may handle colors a little differently due to manufacturing tolerances. To ensure the best accuracy in the colors coming out of the camera, a standard color chart can be used. A popular color chart is the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport, which a friend generously let me use on a recent shoot. This contains a number of colors which are very accurately printed.

After taking a picture of this chart, you have to tell the computer to analyze these colors. In the past, people used slow, complicated Photoshop scripts. I found that Adobe now provides a DNG Profile editor which will create a camera profile. I followed the directions on their tutorial, though I had to convert my Canon raw file to a DNG file (Adobe also provides a free converter program but you can also do this when importing photos with Lightroom).  This quickly and easily created a profile for my camera.  The last step was to move this profile into a location for Adobe programs to use, which on a mac is /Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/CameraProfiles . That’s it! Now you can use the new profile in Lightroom or Photoshop as a starting point for your editing.