In addition to the white balance patch, the ColorChecker Passport Creative Enhancement target includes blue patches for warming portraits and red patches for cooling landscape images. Just like using lens filters with film, you can warm up portraits to make flesh tones look healthier. Or if you’re shooting outside, you can alter the white point to achieve richer blues and greens in a landscape.

Choosing a blue or red tint actually creates a new “neutral” to allow for a little more creativity. When you select a warming or cooling patch, the white balance values will be corrected to the neutral values shown in the preview window of whichever photo editing software you are using. For example, when selecting a warming patch, the actual patch is a blue tint. The software will balance that sample patch to neutral, and all other colors will shift slightly to the opposite of blue, which is yellow. Then, if you select a patch that is more blue, it will shift all of the colors to more yellow.

White Balance Portraits with “Warming” Patches

"Warming up" skin tones in portraits can portray a more appealing and healthy look than purely accurate tones. Try each of the ColorChecker Passport warming patches to see which gives the effect you desire on your subject. When you find something you like, use the same patch to white balance for other lighting conditions to achieve a more consistent appearance for cases where a similar look is required.

White Balance Landscapes with “Cooling” Patches

While some landscapes can benefit from a warmer appearance, others would benefit from lush green tones. The reddish cooling patches on ColorChecker Passport are designed specifically to enhance the cool greens in landscape photos. Click on each of the patches to preview the adjustment, and select the patch that gives you the best look. Save the setting and apply it to other landscape images that were shot under that lighting.

Tip: You may not want to use the White Balance or Creative Enhancement targets in an image where the color cast is important to the overall image, like photo of a setting sun. To retain your desired cast, set the camera to its daylight setting and do not white balance.