DIY Grey Card

[Joves]

I read in another forum that some people cut the bottom off of white drink containers. They use it like an Expodisc.

 

[nikonpreap]

I just use a white piece of paper

 

[JerryPH]

I've heard that metering off of green grass works good too. Does it?
(The grass is brown most of the year here.)

Metering and white balance are 2 completely different things. :mrgreen:

One can meter off of ANY mid-tone to get proper exposures, but this has nothing to do with getting your white balance "perfect" or not.

Besides, as Big Mike once mentioned... sometimes we don't want perfect WB, and I agree. There are times I *don't* want a person to have perfect natural skin tones, but rather I want that more rich healthy looking golden glow and that comes by sometimes throwing off the WB on purpose.

 

[Arch]

taking a white balance from green grass is used for IR photography using a filter... just FYI.

 

[Josh66]

Metering and white balance are 2 completely different things. :mrgreen:

One can meter off of ANY mid-tone to get proper exposures, but this has nothing to do with getting your white balance "perfect" or not.

I never said anything about white balance... My question was entirely about metering, and getting a proper exposure.

taking a white balance from green grass is used for IR photography using a filter... just FYI.

Yes, I know - that's how I usually WB my IR shots (grass, or leaves - whichever is "greener"). :thumbsup:

 

[JerryPH]

I never said anything about white balance... My question was entirely about metering, and getting a proper exposure.

My error. In a discussion about DIY grey cards, WB and related, I suppose that your question out of the blue about metering could be construed in the manner that I answered.

 

[Josh66]

My error. In a discussion about DIY grey cards, WB and related, I suppose that your question out of the blue about metering could be construed in the manner that I answered.

I think you're getting your threads mixed up (or combined) - there's another recent thread on using gray cards for WB...

Anyway, no problem - I see how this stuff can happen, I'm sure I've done it before too.

 

[christopher walrath]

The hand 'trick' works well Christopher (and Jerry) thankyou!

You're welcome. And remember, nothing is 18% grey until you put it there. Go Zonies!

 

[Roey]

There is a pull-out grey card with highlight, camera raw white balance, midton, and shadow in the book, "The photoshop cs2book" by Scott Kelby. Perhaps newer versions and other photo books may have the "freebie" in them as well. This book is a good investment.

 

[Mike_E]

Here's something that you very likely have on hand..

http://super.nova.org/DPR/ZoneSystem/WhiteTowelMethod.pdf

 

[JerryPH]

The only part that I find a bit strange is at the end where they say to calibrate your light meter to the towels. If your light meter needs any kind of calibration, it's time to get a new light meter.

 

[Mike_E]

I think that all he's suggesting there is to make sure that your flash meter matches up to your camera's meter. They are not all perfect (especially if you buy a used one) and if your new (ish) meter doesn't read the same you can use the towel to match your hand held meter to your camera for consistency. (by either an onboard adjustment or by noting how much variance there is)