 Robyn Gwilt |
White/Grey Cards For WB I often see people referring to balancing their White Balance and taking a pic of a white card - where do you do this? At home? Under perfect conditions, and what are "perfect" conditions? Or do you do it at the venue where you're going to shoot - eg, at the wedding, where its not very bright perhaps, do you turn up the lights to maximum? Thanks
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Peter M. Wilcox |
A white card (or grey card) is used to adjust the WB at the time of shooting, so it is only useful when used under the same conditions as the shot you want to adjust. In other words, in the same lighting - usually just before or after the picture you wish to be able to correct. The grey card can also be used to adjust exposure in addition to white balance. Some cameras allow you to set a custom white balance by taking an exposure of a white card and saving the data in the camera.
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Debby A. Tabb |
Robyn, You have gotten a great response from Peter! And as far as where you get them, well, you can get them anywhere and just by making them. At one company I was with (CPI), they just used a cardboard card with a flat grey card glued to that and then for a white card, they had white clip boards in sleeves. The grey and white cards need to be flat or matte. And you want them as clean as possible for each shoot. Aim and frame for the middle of the card for balance. I hope this helps!
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Robyn Gwilt |
Thanks so much Peter and Debby - great help!
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Sharon Day |
Robin, I noticed you have a Canon, so I don't know how those work, but with the Nikon D70 if I want to use a white card for white balance it has to fill the frame then I can use the Preset to adjust the WB in the camera. If you were to use a small white card and take a pic under the same lighting as you'll be shooting under, then if you shoot in Raw you can change the WB by using the eye dropper tool in PS's Raw converter by clicking on the portion of the image that has the white card. PS will then change the WB to the appropriate color. I use PS CS. PS7 and below doesn't have RAW capabilities.
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Robyn Gwilt |
Tks Sharon - I can pre-set wb in-camera - will try this weekend possibly - going away till Sun pm, so see y'all next week
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Darrell Jensen |
I have used to use a grey card at all my shoots (including weddings), and especially when the shot is critical. I have another product that produces the same results that I now use regurlarly. It's the ExpoDisk©. It now replaces my grey card. You can find it at www.expodisc.com . I recommend it.
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Robyn Gwilt |
Thanks all - one last question, how far away should I be when I focus on this card ? Darrell, why would you use a grey instead of a white card?
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Debby A. Tabb |
I am not sure I will explaine this as well as Peter did. But the Grey card is a nutural. It will give the camera a starting point to see the colors as true. and since color and white are read differently venue to venue- it is good to clear (or balance)the camera memory so to say, and give it a nutural setting place for each venue. I do hope that makes sence.
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Peter M. Wilcox |
Hi Robyn, Distance isn't important with either card, it should be placed in the same light as the subject you want to balance. If you are setting custom WB it is probably good to place the card by your subject, then move close to the card for the test exposure so it fills as much of the view as possible. The grey card serves as an exposure aid as well as color balance. The typical grey card is 18% grey, which is what the camera assumes the scene is when it calculates exposure. Metering off of a grey card will let you manually set the exposure when you have a scene which is difficult to expose (snow, for instance). Otherwise, the camera would assume that all of the snow (in this example) was actually 18% grey, and under expose the shot (the snow would end up as grey).
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- Svami Gurupremananda Contact Svami Gurupremananda Svami Gurupremananda's Gallery |
Hi Robyn, using any gray card or even Kodak 18% is not accurate, as there may be some color in that gray. Macbeth ColorChecker is expensive. The WhiBal card is reasonable and easy to use. Even if you don’t purchase it; it is worth going to their web site to learn about White Balance and gray cards. You can watch an interesting video at http://pictureflow.fileburst.com/_Tutorials/WhiBal/index.html
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Robyn Gwilt |
Thanks Peter and Swami I appreciate all your efforts and responses.
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BetterPhoto Member |
Hi Robyn; Figgered I'd give you a little explanation on the grey card. If you mix every color you can possibly see, all the reds, whites, blues, browns, greens, every color, you will get a color that's about 18% grey. This is what your camera's meter is geared to. By using a grey or white card, you will force the meter to regear itself to that tone. With the grey card, there is no fluctuation in tones. No light or dark, no bright or shadow. It's pretty much a pure tone. Yes, it may hav some minor fluctuations, but you will usually find your colors more accurate. Welcome to BP. Have a great day and keep shooting,
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David Earls |
Hoya makes a nifty little self-pouched microfiber lens cloth that you can clip to your camera strap, it sells for whopping $2.95, and it's 18% gray.
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Robyn Gwilt |
Thanks Mark and David :)
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