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How Many Use Gray Cards?

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Dene

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I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum for posting a question regarding the use of a gray card. I have a 30D and my fairly new laptop (Paintshop Pro XI calibrated), never shows me the proper colors indoor or outdoor, especially whites after extensively playing with the WB. Would I benefit from using the card?
Thanks
 
Dene said:
I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum for posting a question
regarding the use of a gray card. I have a 30D and my fairly new
laptop (Paintshop Pro XI calibrated), never shows me the proper
colors indoor or outdoor, especially whites after extensively
playing with the WB. Would I benefit from using the card?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Joe Peoples writes:

Purchased it at Calumet. Works much better than the Kodak 18% card. Have you considered shooting RAW? If this isn't an option, look into Expo Disc, which may work better for you than a gray card, as far as convenience and speed. I use the gray card, because I mostly have a fixed set up. There's also a color correction plug-in, called Color Washer, that may help also; though I'm not sure if it works with PSP.
 
I am a huge fan of the WhiBal. I shoot in RAW and take a shot of the WhiBal for each of my setups. With one click of the WhiBal shot in ACR, I can copy the white balance setting to the remaining shots from the session.
 
It's as important a CF card or a lens for me. Why would you NOT use one? I ca vouch for the WhiBal as well. Good product, stands up better then a Kodak paper card.
-Kent
 
Joe Peoples said:
Dene said:
I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum for posting a question
regarding the use of a gray card. I have a 30D and my fairly new
laptop (Paintshop Pro XI calibrated), never shows me the proper
colors indoor or outdoor, especially whites after extensively
playing with the WB. Would I benefit from using the card?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Joe Peoples writes:

Purchased it at Calumet. Works much better than the Kodak 18% card.
Have you considered shooting RAW? If this isn't an option, look
into Expo Disc, which may work better for you than a gray card, as
far as convenience and speed. I use the gray card, because I mostly
have a fixed set up. There's also a color correction plug-in,
called Color Washer, that may help also; though I'm not sure if it
works with PSP.
Click to expand...
Member said:
Thanks for the tip on which card to use Joe. I just recently returned from the Dominican and took 340 pictures of my family etc. in JPEG medium, and shooting raw would've required too much pp after we got home. I feel that you have to have quite the grasp of Adobe CS2 to make it worthwhile to shoot in raw anyhow. My wife took as many photos with her 3 year old Fuji 6.1 mp and they rendered better colors and printed 8X10 better than my camera, very rich, tack on colors etc. My 580EX flash had it's advantages over her little pop up one however!!!
Click to expand...
Dene
 
I use a plain old cardboard gray card. I cut and hinged mine so it folds to fit a pocket of my camera bag -- and also offers some protection to the gray side. I find it more convenient than the lens attachments and just as effective as the more expensive alternatives, though it's possible the plastic cards would last longer.

Yes, it will help. First you can set a white balance in your camera. Second, if you also do a test shot with the gray card in it you have a known neutral gray when you open the files in the computer.

--
J.R.

Somewhere south of Amarillo

http://jrsprawls.com
http://fotolocus.com
 
I also use a WhiBal when I am not shooting in my studio (I know what color my studio lights are already). Some on-location shoots can sometimes have some really weird colored lighting (vapor lights, or other weird greenish/orangy lights) like in a church or in a gymnasium.

The white balance is particularly important when shooting without a flash at high ISO settings or when mixing multiple light sources. The other time that it is commonly needed is when shooting in a place where there is a lot of foliage (makes everything look greenish). I always shoot RAW.
bigbee said:
I am a huge fan of the WhiBal. I shoot in RAW and take a shot of
the WhiBal for each of my setups. With one click of the WhiBal shot
in ACR, I can copy the white balance setting to the remaining shots
from the session.
Click to expand...
--
Antonio Cotto
GemPhoto
http://www.myspace.com/gemphoto
http://gemphoto.fotopic.net/
http://ujenatalent.com/photographer/11253.html
http://www.modelmayhem.com/member.php?id=886
 
I'm also using WhiBal and there are 3 of them. Standard and most popular on is the size of credit card, another one for studio is larger (some 20 cm by 10 - I guess). There is another one much larger (arround letter size) but I only have the two first.
--
Bartek
 
Certainly, you can adjust to your heart's content afterward, but if you have a shot with a gray card in it, you can set the correct white balance with one click, in your preferred post processing application. I always shoot raw, and always take a shot with a gray card in it, if there's any way possible to do so.
--
Rodney N. Yerby
http://www.pbase.com/RNYerby
 
You can change the WB in the computer when using RAW, but unless you are very experienced you're going to be caught in the following trap: first you change it a little and then you think it looks a little better another way, then you keep fiddling and changing until you're not sure what the hell is right, so you start over and this goes on and on and on... And that's not even assuming that your monitor and printer are profiled and your color management is correct, because if these are off you're going to find that what you worked so hard to get on the monitor doesn't look good at all on the print...

The gray card helps by giving you a good, firm starting point that is very close to "correct" and very "repeatable". Often that is often all you'll need. Firm, repeatable "starting points" are a large part what's involved in getting good at the technical aspect of photography...
--
http://www.genero.smugmug.com
 
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