X-Rite

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A Different Kind of Contest From Photofocus – Win a Printer!

Posted by scottbourne on August 15, 2011
Posted in: Contest. Tagged: , .

It’s time for a new contest. Enter to win Canon 9000 printer with color management software and a set of premium Ilford paper! We’ve never given away a printer before so this should be fun.

How to enter: – Follow Scott Bourne on Twitter – Follow ILFORDimaging on Twitter (If you are already following no need to unfollow and refollow.) Then send the following message via Twitter. Note: Twitter has changed its policy to no longer allow disabling of link shortening – so if you need to use a different link to get to the same exact contest page that’s fine. As long as people end up on this page – that’s all that matters. The rest of the Tweet must be identical to the one below. Tweet the following message:

Enter to win a Canon 9000 Printer & premium inkjet paper & more fm @ILFORDimaging & Scott Bourne. Pls RT. Info http://bit.ly/oUNQFc

The Prizes: Grand Prize (1 winner):
1 Canon Pixma Pro 9000 Mark II Inkjet Photo Printer
3 Ilford Gold Fibre Silk 13×19/50 sheets
3 Ilford Smooth Gloss 13×19/50 sheets
3 Ilford Smooth Pearl 13×19/50 sheets
3 Ilford Smooth Luster 13×19/50 sheets
3 Ilford Smooth Fine Art 13×19/50 sheets
1 X-Rite ColorMunki Photo

Official Rules: All general Bourne Media Group/Photofocus contest rules apply.

In addition: No purchase necessary to enter or win.

1. You must be 18 years or older to enter.
2. You must be following Scott Bourne (http://www.twitter.com/scottbourne) and ILFORDimaging on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/ilfordimaging)
3. You must send out the above tweet EXACTLY as it appears – failure to do so will disqualify you. Do NOT put @ sign in front of scottbourne anywhere in the Tweet.
4. The prize will be awarded on October 1, 2011 by Scott Bourne via Twitter and on Photofocus.com
5. If you live outside the US you are responsible for any taxes, custom duties and shipping in the event you win. We will only ship the prize to a US address. Foreign winners must be able to retrieve the prize from a US address to be eligible to win.
6. If users make lots of Twitter accounts in order to enter a contest more than once, they’re liable to get all of their accounts suspended. Anyone found to use multiple Twitter accounts to enter will be ineligible.

Scott Bourne will keep a record of each tweet in a database and then a random number generator picks the winner. Due to the volume of requests we receive, we cannot and will not answer ANY questions about the contest on Twitter or via e-mail. The information you need is all right here.

As always, if you are not a fan of these contests, please don’t participate. For the tens of thousands of you who do enjoy the contests, we’ll continue to try to find new contests and new prizes that will make it fun and interesting to be a part of the Photofocus family. Thanks for your support. If you’d like more info on Ilford products that are currently available check out ilford.com.

Announcing Our Photofocus Spring 2010 Flickr Contest Winner

Posted by scottbourne on May 1, 2010
Posted in: Contest, Site Info. Tagged: , .

Today we announce the winner of our Spring Flickr contest.

We had a great group of pictures to choose from. I guess we could have selected any of several dozen images we liked, but in the end, Astin’s shot of the Las Vegas strip wowed us.

Here’s a short critique of the image and why it was chosen. It appears to be an HDR/Tone Mapped image and the technical bits were done very well. The image just pops right off the page. Note the horizon doesn’t cut through the center of the frame, which would be distracting. The fountain center and the tower at the Paris hotel are both just slightly off kilter to each other which creates a nice balance. The image is well exposed for HDR and everyone we’ve shown it to, wether or not they like it, admits it is arresting.

Congrats to Astin. Please send us Flickr mail from your account so we can contact you for shipping information. You win a brand new X-Rite Color Checker Passport.

We’ll be adding another contest very, very soon so keep submitting images to the group. All images there are eligible for each of our new Flickr contests.

Thanks for entering and congrats once again to Astin.

P.S. – for those of you who say we never give prizes away to non-USA residents, please note that Astin is from Canada. :)

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This post sponsored by X-Rite Color and the ColorChecker Passport

The Photofocus Spring 2010 Flickr Contest

Posted by scottbourne on April 15, 2010
Posted in: Contest. Tagged: , , , .

Copyright Scott Bourne 2007 - All Rights Reserved

If you are a member of our free Photofocus group on Flickr, or if you would like to join, there’s a new reason to post your images for all to see. We’re running a Spring Photo Contest. On May 1, 2010, we’re going to select one of the images on our site and award the winner a brand new X-Rite Color Checker Passport.

You can post any image(s) you like with the exception of images you wouldn’t want your children to see. We’ll be selecting the winner based on originality, composition and impact.

To read our contest rules, visit our LEGAL page on Photofocus.com – http://photofocus.com/copyright/

We will be announcing the winner at Photofocus.com on May 2, 2010. That’s all there is to it. Post one or more images, be a member of the group, wait to find out who won. If it’s you, we’ll contact you via Flickr Mail to get your address and ship you the Color Checker Passport. Good luck and have fun.

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Sponsored by X-Rite Color and the ColorChecker Passport

X-Rite Color Checker Passport Mini Review

Posted by scottbourne on November 24, 2009
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: .


Guest Post & Photo by Ara Roselani

X-Rite ColorChecker Passport is a pocket-sized plastic case with “target” panels for white balance, color correction and warming/cooling.  The accompanying software has an Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop plugin and a camera profiling application.  X-Rite, who also makes the Pantone Huey monitor calibration system, recommends it for both landscape and portrait photography.

For my demo, I took the passport case on a portrait shoot in an outdoor location on a cloudy day. My model held the case open for one shot at each location and lighting change.

Back at the editing desk, I installed the software.  The camera calibration is fast and the software walks you through step-by-step.  You start by dragging a DNG copy of a picture containing the Color Checker case into the application window.  The software automatically detects the location of the color checker (or you can draw a box around it if detection fails).  Click the “Create Profile” button when it’s done, and launch Lightroom.

In the Camera Calibration options in Develop, I selected the new camera profile.  Immediately, I noticed a subtle difference in vibrance and tones–especially in the greens and skintones.  The patches for warming and cooling were quick and helpful with the white balance dropper.

I used the shots of the model holding the passport case to fine-tune individual colors.  This is my favorite part.  The ability to see each color and tweak individually goes way beyond white balance and picks up a lot of subtleties.  Oftentimes, I find that correcting the white balance overall will adversely affect a particular color.  With the passport case present, I could focus on individual colors–it has common colors such as sky blue, leaf green and skintones.  It’s a travel-sized version of their classic 24-color panel.

Once I made all the color changes I wanted, I applied that profile across my shots from the day.  If you shoot JPG and can do in-camera adjustments, the white balance panel will allow you to adjust on the spot instead of waiting for editing.

The included documentation isn’t particularly helpful, and the outside package doesn’t explain the product’s process very well.  There is a downloadable online video tutorial for the product, and extensive footage of photographers using it.  As X-Rite says, this tool isn’t accurate unless your monitor is properly calibrated.

Overall, I’ve enjoyed working with the Color Checker Passport.  It costs less than $100, is quick and accurate, and fits in my back pocket.

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This post sponsored by the Digital SLR Store