- See, the thing with having long hair
and wearing black and wanting to shoot YouTube videos
is that your hair literally gets everywhere,
so this is essential.
What is going on guys?
My name is Chris Hau and if you've clicked on this video
I'm assuming you're a photographer and you wanna learn
about getting color accurate photos
because that word is somewhere in the title
of this YouTube video.
But what does getting color accurate photos really mean?
Have you ever looked at your photos and thought
man the color looks a little bit off
or maybe my skin tones look whack.
But essentially you may notice that your colors
look a little off and you want them to look
a little bit more natural or color accurate
and that's what we're gonna explore in today's video.
So let's jump into it.
I was gonna do the thing where I got over the lens
with a hand, but we're not gonna do that.
We'll do this instead.
(upbeat music)
Okay, so I just wanna preface this
before we jump into all these different tips.
I'm not a color professional.
Is that the terminology, a colorist?
But I do have a friend who is a professional colorist
and I gave him a call.
I was like yo Mitch, I'm doing this video
about color accurate things, getting the truest color,
can you give me some tips?
Can you consult on this video?
He was like, yeah no problem Chris.
Here's some tips.
So between my opinion where I think I'm pretty good
at color and a professional opinion
from someone who does this as a living,
here are bunch of tips to get color accurate photos
so let's jump into tip number one.
Alright, tip number one, get it right in camera.
So if you guys have a higher end DSLR
make sure you guys have selected raw
when you're shooting your photos.
This will give you more flexibility in post.
The next element is to really nail the white balance
in your environment or the set that you're shooting on.
And if it's a cloudy day make sure you guys select
the cloudy white balance, but if you wanna take it
a step further, understand what that little K is
in the white balance and that stands for Kelvin,
which is like a temperature gauge to really understand
what temperature it is in that room.
So the higher the number, the colder the environment.
So if it's 9,000 it's a very cold environment
and if you go further down like 1,500 Kelvin
that's like a very warm environment
like a candlelit environment.
So really understand what the temperature of your room is
and match the white balance for it.
For example, my Aputure 120d is 6,000 Kelvin.
So if I go into the little K, select 6,000 Kelvin,
boom, the colors look amazing.
Now, if you guys are beginners, you can select
auto white balance.
Most higher end DSLRs these days
actually do a pretty good job
at getting the white balance right
in the environment that you're shooting in,
but it's not always perfect, so I would highly encourage you
to actually learn how to set the white balance correctly
so that your photos look just like extra minty.
And not minty like they look green, they look good.
Mint as in like they look mint, good.
I just wanted to clarify.
Alright, tip number two is to use an 18% grey card.
Now you're probably wondering, hey Chris,
what's an 18% grey card and how does this align
with getting color accurate photos.
Well good question dominoes 12, 12, 65, 91, 14, 12.
The username I created for this person.
Essentially what you're gonna do is when you're on set
you're gonna take out this little 18% gray card
and you're gonna find a nice area
where the light is even, place your gray card down
and take a photo of it.
Then you're gonna go into your camera settings,
find the custom white balance.
Most higher end DSLRs have this.
You will select the photo for it to read
and essentially what it's gonna do
when it's reading that photo is it's gonna be like
oh that's 18% grey, so I'm gonna make sure
all the other colors are relative
and we find the exact white balance of this scenario
'cause maybe it's actually 6,124 degrees Kelvin.
Maybe that's the exact white balance of the situation
that you're shooting in and finding a custom white balance
is the best way to get the truest form of color
in that situation.
Now, let's say you guys forgot to do
the custom white balance on set.
We're gonna go into tip number three right now,
which is finding the appropriate and truest white balance
afterwards in post production.
Now, what I do is if I'm not changing
my shooting environment, what I'll do
is I'll take one photo of this little
color checker right here, which has 18% grey right there.
Then I'll go into the Lightroom, upload the photo
of this little color checker.
I'll take the eyedropper tool and I'll select 18% grey,
this little cube right there
and now I have the custom white balance
for that environment and then I'll sync that white balance
to all my photos from that specific shooting environment
and boom, now all my colors look whoa amazing.
Tip number four is spend the money on good quality filters.
Now the cheaper quality polarizers and Nds
have things called color casting
where essentially an image could be too magenta
or too purple or it changes the colors
just a little bit and these weird artifacts appear,
so if you want good quality images,
spend the money on good quality filters.
Alright, the next tip is to pick the ideal environment
to edit in.
Now what I mean by this is that I'm sure
there are some of you out there that have gone
to a Starbucks in the middle of the day beside a window,
I've actually done this too many times,
and then you start editing your photos,
you export, you look at it and you're like
this looks like garbage.
My exposure's all weird.
What's happening in the shadows here?
What's going on with the color casting that's going on?
It's because your eyes are biased to that environment
that you're editing in.
Now let's say you tone that light back too far
and now you're in a dark environment
with the monitor just like wrapped around you.
I'm sure we've all done this
where you're just in dark and you just have
your computer monitor and you're like
I'm editing away.
Well now your eyes are gonna get too strained
from the computer monitor
and you're also gonna make weird decisions on exposure
and color and lighting and all these other things.
So the most ideal environment to edit in
is nice dim, even lighting and pick a color temperature
that feels relaxed to your eyes in that environment
and that's how you get good color while you're editing.
Alright, the next tip is to use a good quality monitor.
Now, when I asked my friend who is a professional colorist,
I'm like what's one of the most
important parts about coloring?
I said it a little more serious than that.
But he told me to use a good quality monitor.
Something that's not biased to certain colors.
Something that is designed for content creation.
Now in my case, I use the Viewsonic VP3881.
Now, in full transparency, I did partner
with a Viewsonic on this video
to talk about this monitor.
But this thing has been a huge asset for a company.
I mean, like look, look how big it is.
It's like extra, extra large.
It's actually 3,840 by 1,600.
That is huge.
Literally, if you do the math, that is 16, 16,
no that's not the math.
Let's do that again.
That's six million pixels.
Should we count each one here?
- [Man] 2,000 years later.
- Six million pixels.
Counted every single one.
No we didn't.
I just said the ending.
Another thing that I really love about this,
is like you can have like Lightroom up
in this section over here and like client notes over here
and then like Netflix over here, obviously
'cause we're gonna be watching a show
while we're getting some work done
and have The Office playing in the corner
'cause there's so much room for so many applications
and pages and different screens to have up.
- Look at all this floor space.
So many activities.
- 'Cause it's 38 inches wide and it's super big
and 21 (mumbles).
But anyways, I was originally gonna get two monitors,
but instead of getting two monitors
I just have like a really big one
and now I don't have this like gap in the middle,
which is really nice while editing.
So I love that too.
So now if you're editing in sRGB color space
or using a Rec.709 LUT to actually monitor your video
if you're a video editor,
your color is actually gonna be the truest form of color.
Now, you can't blame the monitor if your color looks bad.
But I've already said this and this is one of the most
important parts relating to this video
is dead on color accurate, which is a huge asset
when you're coloring or making professional content,
especially for clients or if you're making money
off of your content.
Now, if you guys don't believe me that it's color accurate,
they actually give you these little report cards
of your monitors, specifically your monitor.
So it says like BP381 color calibration factory report.
And it says things like delta E, gamma curves.
Wait, wait, let's make this a little bit better.
We got the delta E, we got the gamma curves,
we got the uniformity SRGB and you got the little monitor
with the luminance and color uniformity.
It's color accurate.
Essentially, this monitor is great for color correcting
and actually doing color grading
and things along those lines.
And my last tip is to take breaks often.
So when you're editing for too long,
you can go so far down the rabbit hole
that you start overcooking your image
or it starts to look overly edited
or it starts to look not natural anymore.
So take a break.
Go and cook dinner.
Watch a television show like Jack Ryan,
which is actually pretty good.
It's amazing.
Actually, it's really good.
But essentially come back to your image in the morning
the next day and take a look at it.
Are you still happy with it?
Does it still look good?
If not, you can fix it and reedit.
If it still looks good, then boom, you've got a great image.
Also, fun little fact, this is actually
an extra little tip, but if you're editing in Lightroom
make sure you put your image onto full screen mode.
Your eyes can kind of be influenced
by the different images on the screen
and the different toolbars and all that stuff.
If you put it into full screen mode,
you get to actually see your full image
and there you can make sure your color
still looks good or is accurate.
So the tips that you guys just heard
will help you get to a neutral point in your photography.
From there, then you can add the creative decisions
on more interesting color techniques or anything from that,
but this gives you a baseline start,
something that is color accurate.
P.S., clients really love this,
especially if they want natural skin tones,
unless your client has asked for something creative,
they usually prefer something that looks natural
and close to what they're shooting
and what their product represents.
Okay, so this is actually a quick insert
'cause I'm editing the video right now,
but I wanted to share an actually super funny story.
So Lizzy's mom came over last night
and she came into our office and she was like
wow that's a sexy monitor you're working on.
Sexy monitor.
Yeah, I guess apparently this monitor is sexy.
So if you guys want a sexy monitor that's all black
and has a nice stand, this monitor is apparently
Lizzy mom approved.
Also, on a side note.
I just got a little heads up.
There's actually a huge discount going on
from November 18 to December 22.
So the monitor is actually on sale for 879.99 now.
So go check it out.
And also if you guys are wondering,
I'm sure this question is gonna come up,
it actually has HDMI ports, both the big and small ports
and takes USB type C3.1, so if you use a MacBook Pro
like I do, just connect it in and it instantly works.
So yes, it's great.
Alright, back to what we were working on before this.
Okay, let's get down to brass tax.
Even with this being a sponsored video from Viewsonic,
I still would pick up this monitor.
It's been a huge part of my workflow recently.
I legitimately use it every single day
and as a professional content creator
and having a color accurate monitor
and something with this much space to work on,
it's been a big part of my workflows.
And on that note, if you guys saw any value in this video,
please press like.
As you know, it actually makes a difference.
Subscribe would love for you to join along.
We're gonna be talking about camera photography tutorials
as well as photography business.
So if you guys are interested in that,
much more coming soon.
So make sure you hit the bell
to be notified for future videos.
I guess I'm gonna see you guys in the next videos.
Peace out everybody, love ya, be safe.
Whoa.
I didn't mean to do this 'cause I joked about
not doing it and then I did it and now we're here.
You guys can select one of these videos if you want.
It's a cool video or you can do whatever you want.
I'm just gonna wait here.
And keep fixing all the little hairs that are on my body.
Should I like this in the bio?
I can like this in the bio.
Peace.