Jean-Francois OKane Photographe et Conférencier Montréal » ColorBalance

The Color Balance

TheStudioCoach — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:33:19 +0000

THE COLOR BALANCE ALSO CALLED THE WHITE BALANCE IS A TECHNIQUE THAT WILL ENSURE A PHOTOGRAPHED OBJECT TO BE CAPTURED WITH HIS REAL COLORS, ENSURING AN OPTIMAL RENDERING AT THE MOMENT OF DISPLAY ON THE COMPUTER MONITOR OR ON THE FINAL PRINT. YOUR CAMERA HAS SETTING OF EXPOSURE AND COLOR BALANCE THAT CAN BE SET TO AUTOMATIC BUT AS YOU WILL SEE ON THE WHY PAGE AUTOMATIC DOES NOT MEANS EXACT.

New StudioCoach product

TheStudioCoach — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:24:00 +0000

The videographers dream for white balances, the WhiteBeam now enters the market! It is an 8″ disk that is placed in front of the video camera lens in order to do the white balance in 5 seconds flat. This ensures continuity of light and easy matching of sequences. For more information…

Now available on line, the PhotoMasterTarge t measures only 10″x15″ and is ideal for the photographer on the go. Just like the ColorBalanceCoach, it allows you to control contrast and exposure.

FAQ PhotoMasterTarget/ColorBalanceCoach: When I take the picture of the grey surface, should I leave my WB settings to AWB to take the picture for use in setting custom WB ?

TheStudioCoach — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 15:38:00 +0000

For Canon, Nikon and other brands, it does not make any difference the mode that you are in when you take the image you will use for setting the white balance. As a second step the camera will white balance the surface or the image that you have chosen to perform the custon WB.

The FAQ are fuelled by user’s questions.

How to read the photographic histogram?

TheStudioCoach — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:27:00 +0000

How to read the photographic histogram?
watch this video to learn about the histogram.

Official launch ColorBalanceCoach

TheStudioCoach — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 20:45:00 +0000

(TEXTE FRANCAIS À LA SUITE DU TEXTE ANGLAIS)

Montreal Photographer Turns Inventor
Making Digital Photography Color-Perfect at the First ShotMontreal, Wednesday, September 27, 2006- This week Montreal Photographer Jean-François O’Kane will introduce in a world premiere, a new colour balancing system for digital photography that he invented and perfected himself at the Photokina international fair in Cologne, Germany. The “ColorBalanceCoach” is a collapsible disk that looks like a photographic reflector. Made to fit in any photographer’s bag, it confirms in a matter of seconds the whiteness of the white, the exposure and the contrast before a single shot is taken.

“I developed the ColorbalanceCoach as the only tool that a photographer needs to keep with him at all times to take color-perfect pictures. As a photographer I pride myself on producing high quality images, but as an artist, I want to concentrate more on the image itself than on the tools and process”, explains Jean-Francois O’Kane.

Mr. O’Kane developed the unique “ColorBalanceCoach” as a one-step easy to use tool for photographers. More than two years in the making, this tool was created as the answer to many questions from the hundreds of people he has taught in his lecture series as “TheStudioCoach”.

Why is a colour balance needed?
The color balance, also called white balance, is a technique that ensures that photography captures real colors, and produces an optimal rendering on a computer monitor or final print. Some digital cameras have exposure and color balance settings that can be set on automatic, but unfortunately, automatic does not necessarily mean exact and photos are often discolored.

The “ColorBalanceCoach” is made of 4 distinct regions called patches. The largest is the grey patch, made of chromatically neutral synthetic material, 18% reflective, that will remain stable in density and color for years to come. The black patch reflects only 5% of the light it receives, the white reflective patch will reflect 95% of the light and the dull translucent patch will reflect 85% of the light. The translucent patch is made of 100% colorless white fabric that will allow a shoot through white balancing area as well as a reflected low-light reflected white balance patch.

Canadian and World-wide Distribution
This new tool will be available in Canada as of October 10, 2006 thanks to Booth Photographic that has announced the coverage of the Canadian market through its network of 150 dealers. As well, it has just been confirmed that Aurora will take on the world distribution of a special edition of the ColorBalanceCoach disk.
-30-
Note to media:
Mr. O’Kane will be in Germany until October 2, and in Paris from the 2nd to the 5th. He will remain available for interviews by phone. He will be available for interviews in person upon his return.
For visuals and video instruction visit www.colorbalancecoach.com.

Source:
Emmanuelle Rondeau
Expression Communications for «ColorBalanceCoach»
T: 514-347-1114 or mailto: erondeau@expressioncommunications.com

——————————————–

Un photographe montréalais devient inventeur :
Il conçoit l’équilibrage parfait de la couleur
dès la première pose pour la photographie numériqueMontréal, 25 septembre 2006- Mardi 26 septembre 2006, le photographe montréalais Jean-François O’Kane lancera en première mondiale au salon international Photokina à Cologne, Allemagne, un nouveau système d’équilibrage de la couleur pour la photographie numérique, procédé dont il est l’inventeur. Le ColorBalanceCoach est un disque pliable sem! blable à un réflecteur photographique. Conçu pour s’insérer dans l’étui de transport du photographe, il confirme en quelques secondes la blancheur, l’exposition et le contraste avant même le premier déclic de l’appareil.

« J’ai mis au point le ColorbalanceCoach afin qu’il soit l’unique outil nécessaire pour obtenir un parfait équilibrage de la couleur en tout temps. En tant que photographe, je me fais un point d’honneur de livrer des images de haute qualité, mais en tant qu’artiste, je veux me concentrer davantage sur l’image que sur les outils et procédés », explique Jean-François O’Kane.

M. O’Kane a développé le ColorBalanceCoach pour en faire un outil complet et facile à utiliser. Fruit de plus de deux années de conception, cet outil a été créé pour répondre aux nombreuses questions de centaines d’élèves inscrits à des conférences qu’il dispense par l’entremise TheStudioCoach. !

Pourquoi est-il nécessaire d’équilibrer la couleur ?
L’équilibre des couleurs, ou équilibrage des blancs, est une technique qui permet de capturer les couleurs réelles et de produire un rendu optimal à l’écran ou à l’impression. Quelques appareils numériques sont dotés du réglage automatique de l’exposition et de l’équilibrage des blancs, mais cet automatisme n’est pas toujours synonyme de précision et produit souvent des photos pâles.

Le ColorBalanceCoach est composé de 4 échantillons. Le plus grand échantillon gris est fait de matériel synthétique chromatiquement neutre dont la densité et la couleur demeureront stables au fil des ans ; il réfléchit 18 % de la lumière. L’échantillon noir ne reflète que 5 % de la lumière, l’échantillon blanc en réfléchit 95 % et l’échantillon translucide mat en reflète 85 %.
Ce dernier est fait de tissu 100 % incolore permet aussi de faire une balance de blanc en mesure incidente.

Distribution canadienne et mondiale
Ce nouvel outil sera disponible au Canada à compter du 10 octobre 2006 grâce à Booth Photographic qui couvrira le marché canadien par l’entremise de son réseau de 150 revendeurs. De plus, Aurora vient d’annoncer qu’elle assurera la distribution mondiale d’une édition spéciale du disque ColorBalanceCoach.
-30-
Notes aux médias :
· M. O’Kane sera en Allemagne du 26 septembre au 2 octobre 2006, puis à Paris du 2 au 5 octobre. Durant cette période, il sera disponible pour des entrevues téléphoniques. Les entrevues en personne seront accordées dès son retour.
· Pour voir le produit et sa vidéo rendez-vous à www.colorbalancecoach.com.

Source :
Emmanuelle Rondeau
Expression Communications pour ColorBalanceCoach
T: 514-347-1114 ou courriel : erondeau@expressioncommunications.com

The quality of light

TheStudioCoach — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 00:56:00 +0000

Very often I’m asked by students why the color of the same object may look different in 2 consecutive pictures?
The more obvious reason is the usage of the auto white balance on the camera, but in some occasions, we found the flash used to be defective. If the flash does not send the same amount of light each time, it can do so by changing the intensity or even the voltage to light the flash tube, sending a different light temperature.
Even if you use a ColorBalanceCoach disc to set your aperture, if the flash varies its power from time to time, even the best calibration tool will not allow you to take perfect pictures.

Take a look at the best affordables and reliable flashes on the market: Aurora

Jean-Francois O’Kane
www.TheStudioCoach.com

Color Balancing or color correcting

TheStudioCoach — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 16:45:00 +0000

Would you rather Color Balance once at picture taking time or color correct all night after a shoot?
Or: Who painted my wall yellow?
The digital era brought with him a whole lot of fun things, unlimited shootings, everlasting roll of film and perfect auto modes. Oups! I’m starting to talk like a salesman. The auto-everything camera is not out yet.
Let do the test: ask your best subject to stand in front of a white wall while wearing a red sweater take a auto-exposure and white balance picture, now change for a green sweater and shoot and try a blue one after. Then look at all 3 pictures side by side on your computer screen.
The red sweater has a “greenish” wall, the green is on a “reddish” wall and the blue on a yellowish wall. Hey? Where is my white wall? The auto mode ate it! Or painted it!
“Color Balance” / “white balance” these 2 expressions are synonymous and can be used indifferently; because if you set your white to be exactly white, then your colors will be on target.
The auto exposure and color balance features in a camera are set and programmed to look for neutrality, the exposure will try to make everything grey, to prove it aim at a white wall with nothing on it , shoot and you get a grey picture; while the auto white balance (or color balance) will look for an equilibrium of color it may be programmed to look for a white wall but if you place in front of it a big red patch it will try to find the balance in your picture and to compensate for an abnormal area of red will try to compensate by adding green, the opposite color.
To fight the wall painting monster you will need a white balancing tool and an exposure control tool. A new product is available:
The solution is the ColorBalanceCoach disc , it will assist you in performing incident or reflected white balance, your exposure and the full calibration of your image by using the displayed histogram. To use it: Set your camera on manual. Set the exposure on the grey patch. Take a picture of the ColorBalanceCoach using the setting you just measured, then check the histogram, you should see 4 separated peaks, not touching neither end. Make a custom white balance on the grey patch or through the translucent white patch, set it as the working white balance . Shoot!

TheStudioCoach’s TIPS on white balance:

–2 minutes of your time to do a good white balance at picture taking, will save you hours of color correction afterward

–Learn to look at your histogram, it will tell you the thruth. Your LCD display behind the camera may not be exact.

–Get a color balancing solution that fits your camera bag, you then have no excuse for to taking it along on photo trips.

Jean-Francois O’Kane,TheStudioCoach.com