One Stop to Picture Perfect

Controlling your image colour quality in stills and video

If you’ve ever had the problem of shooting the same subjects over the period of a day using multiple cameras and in varying lighting conditions but yet still have to arrive at a consistent end result, the guys at Datacolor may have just saved you a lot of time and heartache. Never more obvious than when shooting Weddings where the bride and groom can lead you through the joys of shooting in a poorly lit church with a range of stained- glass diffused lighting, candles and in the worse cases... bar heaters! The group scenes invariably involve decamping to the outside and whatever natural light is available and then finally the inside shots for the reception deliver you into yet another lighting set up with a possible coup de grâce of an evening disco to complete the lighting extravaganza. If you are using multiple cameras and also shooting video across the same range of conditions then you really are giving yourself a potential nightmare for making sure everyone looks equally tanned in all shots and it doesn’t look as if the bride has had four changes of gown as she appears to be in ivory in one set of shots and beige in another etc. With so many variables it’d be nice to have an easy way to set some control over what you’re doing, allowing you to match different cameras, deliver a neutral white point for shots ( where needed) and control your contrast across your entire shoot. Fortunately new to the market is Datacolor’s SpyderHD, the top of the line Spyder product. This clever bundle of invaluable elements puts you in the driving positioning. Fortunately new to the market is Datacolor’s SpyderHD. This clever bundle of invaluable elements puts you in the driving position from the first shot of the day to the last viewing of the end stills and video.