Special considerations for a colorblind photographer?

[David R Munson]

So, here's the deal. I'm partially colorblind. I didn't even know until about two years ago when I got a health check for a work visa in Korea. I did color corrections for photographers while working as a freelance assistant before I left the country, and never had any complaints, but none of the work was exactly color-critical either so there was certainly margin for a bit of error. In the long run, however, I need to be able to produce fully color-accurate work for clients when doing things like architectural and still life photography.

Assuming I've done lots of research on this topic as it relates to methods used by other photographers, what steps and perhaps additional checks, etc would one recommend for me? Keep in mind that my ability to distinguish colors isn't all there, but is mostly there and functional (it's that par that isn't there that's the problem). Are there any non-standard or atypical tools/concepts/procedures I should look into building into my workflow? Or are the established procedures that are already out there already sufficient?

[Ernst Dinkla]

Go by the numbers, like many printers did with CMYK separations, check what Photoshop reads on spots where your eyes do not tell you the right information.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst

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[KirbyKrieger]

You can have measured the exact range (hues) in which you are color-deficient.  You can probably create some kind of mask or filter to show you these hues in an image.

It seems a cumbersome work-around, but it could at least provide you some kind of warning -- a "map of unknowing".

I used to teach painting.  One of my students was partially red-green colorblind.  He very much wanted to overcome this handicap, and developed elaborate formulas for mixing colors he could not see.  For painting, his efforts seemed misguided -- the end result was odd-looking paintings instead of very odd-looking paintings.  (I tried to get him to embrace his difference, but that was not his interest.)  For photo-editing (and dependent on the severity of your deficiency) you may be able to use the current technology to successfully mask your color blindness, but -- afaik -- there is no way to actually overcome color-blindness.  If the numbers tell you that the hue is 254 and you don't know what the hue "should be" -- what can you do?

I'm tone deaf.  I ask my musical friends whether a voice or an instrument is in tune.  For work, you may have to do something similar.

[David R Munson]

Kirby - That's precisely the sort of suggestion I was hoping someone might have. I hadn't considered anything like that, but will look into it now, or at least make plans to once I'm back in the US and have English-speaking resources available to me again.