Author: Tylar McCane Mueller
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Tags: Gray card , Importance , Click-on , quick balance , white balance , TMMPhotographyOC , TMM , Tylar McCane Mueller , Tylar Mueller , Mueller , Save money , save time , learning about white balance , TMM teachings
Why is the Gray (Grey) card so important?
Most camera's have a built in auto color correction. You may know these settings as Auto, Tungsten, Halogen, Sunlight, flash, cloud, shade, some cameras have a K-Kalvin, and again some have a Pre-White balance.
Now, lets talk a little about the importance of either selecting the correct white balance for the scene you are in. This means, Light source either it be the sun,flash,sun reflective-Ambient, flash reflective. Sun is also known as ambient light. Ambient light is the reflective light that falls on your subject or area without you influence. or direct light form the sun. (Flash ect.) Ambient light can also be the light in a room that is constant and motionless. What do you mean motionless Ty? Well, the lights on your walls don't move around much, and the flash on camera, or hand held flash moves around the room. Therefore you are able to direct the light, and not be an ambient light. We know the definition of Ambient as: completely enveloping; "the ambient air"; "ambient sound"; "the ambient temperature"; "The ambient light", The light that covers more surface in the area you are in, but filtered and reflective. Remember. We use the ambient light more than you might realize. Something I always try to teach my students is: just before you take your photos, remember too see the light. yes.. that sounds very strange. "But of course Tylar, We always see the light" Yes but really, truly see the light. Take a moment to Stop and see all the different types of light in the area you are. Try to not just start taking photos, but stop and see all the different gradients of light. The darks, mids, and highs in your seen. Remember, the mids are your gray points in your seen. And why I'm going through all this too explain a gray card.
Think of your seen as your gray card pack. Most gray card sets come with a black, gray, and white card. Why? Because your seen, and in every photo you take have these three gradients of light. Now.. Here is a photo of a gray card. This is my card set I use for most if not all of the my photos, and work.
Photo of Grey card purchased on ebay (Works great!)
(I white Balanced this shot by using the Mid, Gray point dropper in Lightroom.)
Ok, now we know what a Gray Card looks like. Did you know you can use this card to white balance the 100s of photos you have shot today in 1 fail swoop? Granted, you have shot in the same light that you photographed your gray card in. For Instance, Say your in sunlight. Put your camera on RAW-if supported, have your model/subject-or just lay the card on the ground, and take a photo of it. It's that easy. Now your light will be balanced in all the shots for that light, and time of day. As long as you can use a mid dropper in a digital photo program.
I even go as far as make a cropped gray card and label the time of day, light setting, and white balanced used. I do this so I can use it for other photos around that time of day.
So, what have we learned? USE A GRAY CARD! It will cut the the time of getting your photos out, save money in your photography business, and make that hole digital dark room not so harsh on your back! Plus the whole human brain not being able to remember colors-that in a later quick teach.
TMMPhotographyOC
Newport beach Ca.
Tylar McCane Mueller
Yes, you take a photo of your gray card, Preferably in (RAW) format. I will do an article on the importance of RAW and White Balance
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Importance Of Gray Card (Not Relying On Auto White Balance All...