The Colour Of Truth

If that sounds like I have pinched the title of the next Terry Pratchett book, I apologize to Terry. If it turns out to BE the title of his next book, may I please have some of the profit?


The reason I chose it was a sequence of events yesterday that pointed out the need for me to buy something I sell. I wonder if I can bargain me down in the price...?

I shot a studio job for my social club, illustrating their new costumes for a theatrical event. I chose to do it on a white paper set with extremely bland four-softbox light to eliminate shadows and to get the detail of the embroidery and chased steel armour in all its detail. It was not art so much as illustration. Shoot was easy - fixed lighting, preset white balance in camera, exposures constant. Pull the chain and rotate the next damsel or armoured knight into position.

Back at the processing computer I opened in Camera Raw and made sure that I had a neutral white on the
backdrop paper, cropped and straightened the 140 images, and gathered them up for contact sheets. The printout for the contact sheets ground through the printer and....

Aw, poop. I must've done something wrong. The background is all beige muddy looking. Well, it is 11:00 PM and these are just contact sheets and I'll tell 'em to disregard the colour balance and I'll correct it when I print. Funny, it looked good on the screen and I've just done the Spyder the last couple of days. Ah, well, it is 11:00 and I'm going to bed...

This morning I put the contact sheets into the car, intending to deliver them after work. Just as I got out I glanced at them in the normal morning sunlight. The muddy backdrop is gone - it is clean white, like on my computer screen. I brought the folder of sheets into the shop and looked at them under the Grafilite we have in the window - and then under the Grafilite that sits by our printer. The backdrop is clean. The Grafilite is the same as clean daylight.

The lighting in my computer room led me astray - I need to remember this and to get my own Grafilite so that It does not do so again.