Gray Card

[Chunk]

I finally picked one up and I like how it simplifies snow scenes. Here are my first tests.

[gahspidy]

Very good results, Chunk. Great exposures and crisp white snow. how are you using it?

[Chunk]

I hold the gray card in the same light and in the same orientation as the subject and fill the viewfinder with it - then partly depress the shutter release in aperture priority to get the shutter speed to use with that aperture and use manual exposure settings.
I noticed that in manual exposure my camera gives me a scale in the viewfinder so I can also use that to indicate correct exposure using the graycard while adjusting aperture and shutter speed.
Once you find the correct exposure you can use it to calculate how much exposure compensation to use. That would have been about 1 2/3 stops today. I'm interested in seeing how much that varies with different lighting and subjects.

[gahspidy]

Good work, Chunk. I like the idea of placing the card in the scene for Gray point adjustment later in PS. I have read about a photographer that used "tone balls". they were small wooden balls of white, gray, and black, and she would place them in the scene and later use them to adjust the grays, blacks and whites in PS and then clone them out. I don't see myself getting too carried away with that. You have come out with good results. I'm just curious, do you feel it has really helped you get a shot right that you think you would have had a problem with? I find that i have gotten a bit spoiled with the excellent exposure meter that is built into the Canon Elan and it usually comes across even under the tough situations . I have also come to know this camera well enough to know when I would need to go a stop or so over or under. I remember seeing some posts from you in the past that would have been tricky exposures, and they were handled very well. These experiments and trials are great for getting an even better understanding of the gear and the principals of exposure evaluation etc., but I'm wondering if you feel this is something you will continue to use.

[LeeIs]

Exposure meters assume that the scene has an average reflectance of 18%. When you shoot a subject that has a higher than average reflectance, like snow or sand, the meter will set the exposure to produce an under exposed photo. The opposite is also true. When you give the camera an 18% Gray Card to sense it will give you the right settings for the lighting conditions. Use those settings and your shot will be properly exposed and snow will be white instead of gray.
You can also put the card within the scene on a test shot and then use that in setting the gray point for the print of the final shot.

Good explanation as I didn't know what a grey card was either. Although I might have heard of it on a few occasions. Dark snow sorta like the fire hydrant shot the other day.

Nice pristine, clean shots by the way. The colours are dead on and very vibrant.

[chopperward]

hiya

nice snaps!

can you get these cards from camera stores etc?

what size are they?

hopefully there will be snow in northampton, uk to test this out!

[Chunk]

can you get these cards from camera stores etc?

what size are they?

hopefully there will be snow in northampton, uk to test this out!

I bought mine in a local camera store. Two 8x10 inch cards were $10 US. I'm going to be giving one of them to a friend who is heading for Antactica in a month or so. He shoots slides and has asked me for help in learning how to shoot snow scenes.

If you go to http://bhphoto.com and search for "gray card" you will find some.

Wish I could send you some of our snow that we are supposed to get today. Do you get much there during the year?

[Chunk]

Good explanation as I didn't know what a grey card was either. Although I might have heard of it on a few occasions. Dark snow sorta like the fire hydrant shot the other day.

Nice pristine, clean shots by the way. The colours are dead on and very vibrant.

Thanks for the compliment. I'd suggest giving it a try since there is not much cost involved.

[Chunk]

Thanks Gary. I'm not sure how much I'll be using it in the long term. The shots I took while using it all came out quite nice.
I usually choose something in the scene to meter on based on how I think I want the final photo to look and take extra shots metering on different parts of the scene. For a while I think I will be using it as the learning tool you suggest, especially when I get into environs new to me (which I hope happens more often).

[drg]

Good detail and range without the dreaded snow wash out. I take it you are using the card with custom white balance? Any additional exposure compensation?

[mjs1973]

They look pretty good Chunk! I have a gray card in one of those old Kodak manuals you gave me along with the darkroom equipment. I have thought about tearing it out and putting it in my bag, but just haven't done it yet.

[juzzus]

They look pretty good Chunk! I have a gray card in one of those old Kodak manuals you gave me along with the darkroom equipment. I have thought about tearing it out and putting it in my bag, but just haven't done it yet.

There another good way to carry a "gray card" along without taking up too much space to your camera bag , that is get a fabric/cloth that shares the same gray/tone as to the gray card and sew it onto your camera bag(be it inside/outside/back or bottom) ... this way you'll never leaves home without it ;)

[Chunk]

I've come to pretty much trust the automatic color balance in my Panasonic camera and that's what I used in these. I just used the graycard for exposure calculation.
Thanks for looking and commenting.

[juzzus]

Nice exposure Chunk , the snow is white but not glaring when viewing thru my monitor ... It's indeed a very very useful tool .

[Chunk]

Thanks. I'll probably use it in a lot of cases, not just snow.

[jar_e]

Gray cards? What did I miss? Besides being totally loss in your piece of amazing technology, I do like the first one.

Jared

[Chunk]

Exposure meters assume that the scene has an average reflectance of 18%. When you shoot a subject that has a higher than average reflectance, like snow or sand, the meter will set the exposure to produce an under exposed photo. The opposite is also true. When you give the camera an 18% Gray Card to sense it will give you the right settings for the lighting conditions. Use those settings and your shot will be properly exposed and snow will be white instead of gray.
You can also put the card within the scene on a test shot and then use that in setting the gray point for the print of the final shot.

[Lava Lamp]

I finally picked one up and I like how it simplifies snow scenes. Here are my first tests.

Nice exposures. I've always heard that you can use the palm of your hand to replace a gray card. Do you think that's true from youe experiments? Of course, you might be wearing mittens in that scene.. ;)

[Chunk]

I used to use the back of my hand or a nice green lawn with my K1000. I haven't checked it against the gray card yet but it seems like the hand used to be about 1/2 stop off - I forget which way. The grass worked pretty well, I think.

[dbutler]

I don't know why I thought that a gray card wouldn't make a difference with digital. I just did. So I threw mine out. Being the sloppy photographer that I am ( I know that surprises a few of you but I really am!) I simply shoot snow at +1 then +2. Figure one is bound to get it almost right. But these shots are fabulous!!