Accurate Colours

[Jonno]

Someone has asked me could I take a photo of the hull of their fibreglass boat so they can get paint to match it's colour. It seemed like a good exercise to see how accurate I could get the colour in a picture. (The boat is bright orange).

Any tips?

 

[philthejuggler]

That is a minefield - don't do it! The problem is that different monitors and printers will show the same colour differently. If you send your photo for printing then the printers will probably adjust the hue automatically which means the final picture may be nothing like the actual colour.

If you are serious about reproducing the exact colour you would need to calibrate your monitor and use special printing profiles - the use of these is outside my experience & I'm sure someone else could comment.

I just wouldn't entertain the idea!

Phil

 

[B1ts]

I agree, you will struggle and spend lots of money and time probably, if its fglass and he is repainting why not sand a bit to get the colour onto another medium to colourmatch to?

 

[EOS_JD]

You could do a custom colour balance and take the shot. Just don't change the colour in PP. - But yes it will be difficult to get an exact colour unless you have a fully calibrated system

 

[Nod]

Is the boat painted bright orange or is it the original gel coat colour? If it's painted, you might be able to get a flake of paint off to get an exact match (although the chances are that over the years it will have faded) and if it's the gel colour (and the maker's still in existance) you might be able to get a reference colour from them. Final option as a respray of the whole hull in a colour that's as close as they can find to the original.