Mooda wrote:

"Crownfield" wrote:

my silly noise snipped..

Thanks, but I'm looking for information about using a Westcott Digital
Calibration Target to set correct white balance when shooting a high key
set.

A high key set is one in which the white background is deliberately
over-exposed to the extent that it becomes indiscernible in the photo. The
subject is lit separately, and correctly exposed. When shooting a high key
set with a digital camera, if you don't set the exposure and white balance
correctly, bands of grayish-blue or pinkish-red color appear in the digital
image. Correcting those bands without altering the exposure or white
balance of the subject can be difficult, often requiring matt work.

I've heard from several sources that the Westcott Digital Calibration Target
is very helpful in setting the correct exposure and color balance. But
there's some trick to it; it's not done in quite the same way as setting
white balance off an 18% gray card, from what I've heard.

the white balance, custom set in the camera should still hold, right?

then the only question is how much to lighten the background.
some experimentation, looking for 255's in the white,
should get you very close. I suspect those banding problems
will happen only in overexposure overloading the sensor.

I did search in both google and google groups, and found no joy.
searching for 'high key set' got more useful information.
http://www.tallyns.com/Photo_Tech_Tips/techtips.htm


also, have you considered a chroma key blue / green background?

shoot a relatively normal shot, strip the background in processing,
and then, with the digital sensor out of the way,
juggle the forground any way you want? lighting should be easy,
and the editor should show no band problems.

any changes in the forground will have no effect on the background.


Can someone who has used the Westcott Digital Calibration Target for high
key photography please explain the technique? Thank you in advance.