X-Rite ColorChecker Passport workflow?

The funny thing is, you can't calibrate the input to Aperture but it does have soft proofing for output. In Lightroom you can calibrate the input but it doesn't have soft proofing.

With full disclosure, I don't own the color checker passport but I've played around with it and I agree that it is pretty cool. I haven't used it in conjunction with an Aperture workflow, but Aperture is my main tool in processing/maintaining my image files (along with photoshop). The software that allows the colorchecker to work with photoshop/acr/lightroom is pretty usefull, but unfortunately, as you've found, the colorchecker doesn't work with Aperture in the same way.

My suggestion would be that while you can't create profiles in the same fashion in Aperture using the colorchecker as the colorchecker does with lightroom, you can still make a preset based upon the passport itself.

I'm pretty sure that you could make global adjustments/enhancements to an image of the passport, make a preset, and apply it to other images in similar lighting. Not as slick as the interfacing of the colorchecker and acr/lightroom but I'm pretty sure it would work nicely.

I'd be curious to hear with others have to say.

Best,
CD

Message was edited by: ChristopherDavid

I have the color checker and has proved to be fairly useful when creating camera profiles for Lightroom. I can't see how it can be used properly with Aperture to be honest. You need to be able to shift colour hues in 24 places to be able to create an accurate profile. It can be used for white balance and you may be able to create a preset with some colour shifts just using your eyes as a guide but the results and the time it would take may not be worth it.

The ColorChecker is only useful for faithful color reproduction. You can still set your color temp, white and black point using the ColorChecker. Having all your lighting conditions related problems solved.

Getting the White Balance, Black and White Points is only step one for accurate colour. You have to be able to correct the hues too. The colours in Aperture are closer to the Color Checker than the jpegs or CNX for Nikons in my experience but not close enough for product work.

If you have Photoshop and ACR then you could use ACR with the Color Checker and save out jpegs / Tiffs for storage in Aperture but its a fairly clumsy workaround.

Well, actually, it is seldom important. For most applications of photography it is far more important that the frame in visually appealing. No one will care whether the bride's gown or that tree on the horizon has the same LAB values in the frame as when the photographer noticed them.

Of course there are some instances when faithful reproduction is actually an issue. But in these cases, your ColorChecker alone will not suffice, since your lighting then actually needs to have the same spectral properties as daylight. Which, as we all know, varies during the day and during the year. So in the end of the day, faithful reproduction is Utopia. Your ColorChecker will get you a bit closer, but it can't by controlled in the end.

Let me just add to the voice of Mac users who would like to be able to use the Color Checker with Aperture.

I have the Color Checker and it would be awesome to be able to make color profiles based on it. Definitely a time saver.