Now one thing I
always do when taking portraits is shoot tethered,
and that always used to be with my camera connected to my MacBook Pro or laptop.
But that has now changed to being my iPad Pro because
it's way more portable and convenient.
I use the CaptureOne app for the tethering, which works so incredibly well.
Literally just open the app, plug in your camera,
you can also use it wirelessly and you're up and running.
You can even use it to tether to your iPhone if you have one.
The only problem I find
is that the screen on the iPad out of the box is too contrasty.
It's set up so that it gives the richest colors
and the deepest blacks for when using apps, watching movies,
playing games, and looking at pictures, which is great
but not ideal when using it for tethering or maybe even editing.
However, I have the 6th generation 12.9” iPad
Pro running iOS 17.3.1, and this has Reference Mode,
and this we can use to kind of calibrate the screen to something
more suitable for photography.
Reference mode is actually available on the 12.9” iPad Pro
5th generation or later, and requires iOS 16 or later.
So reference Mode, as it says on the Apple website,
is a display mode for professional content creation workflows
such as color grading, editing, and content review,
where accurate colors and consistent image quality are critical,
and when it's turned on, the iPad Pro will display
reference color for these common color standards.
So not a screen calibration as we know it, but more a case
of getting the iPad to display the values of a certain color space.
So here's what I mean and how we do it.
So on my iPad I go to the display and brightness option
and then at the bottom of the screen we see reference mode,
which as you can see is turned off.
I'll tap to switch it on.
Then in here we have fine tune calibration.
Now if I tap on that, we have the fine tune calibration
settings with a measured section and a target section.
So first of all, I need to use my calibration device
to take a measurement of my iPad screen to let me know
what the white point values are of it at the moment.
So over on my Mac, I have my calibration device plugged in.
And for this I'm going to be using my Calibrite Display Pro HL.
You could also use a different model device like the earlier Calibrite
or X-Rite but I'm not sure about devices like Color Munki.
Anyway, with that plugged into my computer,
I then open up the Calibrite Profiler software.
We can see here my calibration device is listed
and has a green outline, meaning it's working and good to go.
So I click on next
and then I click on the D65 icon here at the top
to come to the white point and luminance section.
In the white point section, I'll click on custom
and then measured,
and then from within the pop up
I'll choose measure second screen luminance.
And then next.
Then I'll rotate the ambient diffuser
on my Display Pro HL so that it's now to the rear position,
and when it is, I'm able to click on where it says White Patch
which then brings up this pop up which has a white window
and a measure button. Now
this is what needs to be on my iPad screen so that I can take a measurement.
So to do this on my Mac, I go to the system settings
and then displays.
I'll then click where we have this + icon
and from within here I'll choose Mirror or Extended to iPad,
and then I can just
drag this pop up over onto my iPad, because it's now
acting as an additional display for my Mac, and it's
doing so wirelessly.
I'll place my screen calibration device
on the iPad screen in the middle of the white window area,
and then I'll click or tap on the measure button.
After just a few seconds, the device has taken a measurement,
and here's the results;
a luminance value of 98.093
an x value of 0.309,
and a y value of 0.326
So now that I have those values, I'll input them into the Reference Mode,
Fine Tune Calibration section on my iPad.
So x is 0.309,
y was 0.326
and the luminance I'll put in as 98.
Now if you get an error when inputting the values,
it might be that your region doesn't accept the point symbol,
so just use a comma instead.
The next thing I need to add in is the target values of the color space
I want the iPad to reference or mimic
and from the ones available I'm going to go with sRGB.
So I'll go to Google and search for
sRGB x and y values.
That throws back a load of results but the one I'll go with
is the one from the International Color Consortium.
When I click on that, it actually downloads a PDF
which when I open up shows me the x and y values here.
So we have x of 0.3127
and y of 0.3290
So I'll add those in,
and I'll just go with a luminance of 100, which will be just great
for when this is being used for tethering and maybe any editing that I do.
And then I simply click on done,
and when I do, you might see a slight change in the screen on the iPad
as the measured adjustments are adjusted to fit the target values.
And that's it.
So from now on, when I'm tethering or even editing, I'll just come
into the display and brightness section and turn on Reference Mode;
for all other times I tend to just turn it off for best viewing experience
when using apps, watching videos and so on.
So that's all there is to it, and it really does make a difference
when viewing images on the iPad in Reference Mode.
Without it, I tend to find that I'm always having to explain to the person
I'm photographing
that the images they're seeing aren't what they'll really be like;
the iPad is making look dark, contrasty, and a little bit oversaturated.
But anyway, I hope that has been useful.
If it is, then as usual, tap on the Like button, click on Subscribe
if you haven't already and I'll catch you in the next video.