 BetterPhoto Member |
Grey Card and White Card Can someone please tell me what a grey card and white card are? And how do you utilize them to set your camera? Thanks!
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John Wright |
They are exactly what their name implies... A grey card is a stiff piece of card board that is colored 18-percent grey (also known as middle grey). Essentially you take your grey card, place it in the scene that you are shooting (if shooting a portrait, have the person you are photographing hold the card in front of their face for a moment). You then fill the frame of your camera with the grey card (which does not need to be focused), take a meter reading to find out what your camera should be set to (f/stop and shutter speed). Remove the card, set your camera to the settings you got, and fire away... A white card is used to set the white balance. This has to do with color temperature. You use this to set a custom white balance. How you do this varies from camera to camera. Hope that helps...
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Mikki Cowles |
Even simpler, once you are ready to shoot your image, and are concerned about exposure in higher contrast situations, just point your camera to the grey card and lock the AE, then compose the shot, and take your picture. Cameras best understand the language of grey - that is, even though they capture color, they read light "levels", and try to adjust an image to have a middle grey with an equal amount of lighter and darker shades for a well-balanced image. White, grey and black are values that when the camera recognizes them (via a white card, although you could also use grey or black to set the proper color temp), all the other colors fall into the proper value and hue. Anyway, that's what I've been able to figure out so far...:o)
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John P. Sandstedt |
I guess I'm just a little too old. A white card has absolutely nothing to do with color balance - rather it provide a reflectance of 90% [as opposed to a gray card's 18%. I guess digital users need equal time. You can use a white card in the same way you use a gray card; you just have to divide by 5. Now, I realize five is tough exposure correction, but it will work!
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Guess they've found another use for it.
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