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Tutorial for How to Color Grade DSLR

In the days of film photography if you needed a film for tungsten lighting, you either purchased that type of film or used the correct filters with daylight film to obtain the correct color grade. Digital camera have the ability to change the color spectrum of the sensor by changing the cameras white balance. However even with these settings digital sensors may have slight variation in their color registration. There is a simple way to grade the color on your DSLR at home.

Things You'll Need

Red, green, blue, yellow and white poster board cards
Computer monitor calibration program.

Instructions

- 1
  Attach your camera to a tripod and position the camera into a shooting position you will use for the entire test. It is best to do this test indoors where the lighting conditions remain constant.
- 2
  Turn your DSLR on and set the white balance to "Custom." Take a picture of a pure white test card. Set this card as your cameras white balance. At this point you have told the camera what white is under the light conditions you are shooting with. Whether you are using studio strobes, an external flash or household lights, the camera is now set with a constant white balance.
- 3
  Take a picture of a red, green, blue and yellow card. At first shoot them all separately and the arrange the card with the white card you used to set the white balance and take a picture of all five cards.
- 4
  Download the images to your home computer. Look at each image at 100% and compare the image to the actual card and look for any variations between the two. Digital monitors can also reproduce color incorrectly. Before completing the test it is recommended that you color calibrate your computer monitor as well.

Photography