{"id":4413,"date":"2013-10-01T08:48:44","date_gmt":"2013-10-01T13:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/?p=4413"},"modified":"2013-10-01T09:16:11","modified_gmt":"2013-10-01T14:16:11","slug":"incident-light-metering-on-the-cheap-using-an-18-gray-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/?p=4413","title":{"rendered":"Incident Light Metering on the Cheap: Using an 18% Gray Card"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Denali<\/a>

Denali Sunrise from Reflection Pond<\/p><\/div>\n

You can have many of the advantages of a $300 – $400 incident light meter for less than $20. Sound too good to be true? It isn’t too good to be true. This is about as close as you can get to a photographic “free lunch”.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When I fist became serious about metering (one of the first signs a photographer is really serious about the quality of their work), I couldn’t afford an expensive incident light meter, so I bought a Kodak 18% gray card. It was a wise decision. If you don’t have an incident light meter, I would highly recommend you get an 18% gray card and learn how to use it.<\/p>\n

I just revised and expanded my article on how to use a gray card. You will learn the tips and tricks of using a gray card to simplify and improve your metering. You will have better exposures, and better exposures means better colors<\/a> from your camera. A gray card is also one of the best ways to set a custom white balance on your camera. Setting a custom white balance is another way to get the best colors your camera is capable of producing. So go read Incident Light Metering on the Cheap: How to Use an 18% Gray Card<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Photographer<\/a>

Photographer Metering a Gray Card<\/p><\/div>\n

Links<\/strong><\/p>\n

Incident Light Metering on the Cheap: How to Use an 18% Gray Card<\/a>. This is the seventh in a series of articles that begins with Why Is Exposure So Important?<\/a><\/p>\n

Order an 18% gray card in your choice of several versions in the Photo Goodies<\/a> section of my Photography Store<\/a> which is powered by Amazon.com and backed with Amazon’s excellent service and guarantee. My first choice is the Kodak brand but Delta is a good alternate choice. Prices range from $12 to $20 for a pair, but they are 8×10 inches in size and you can cut them in half so you are actually getting four 5×8 gray cards for your money. You can also get a collapsible gray card made out of fabric for about $30.<\/p>\n

My most complete guide to exposure, incident light metering, and using a gray card is in my highly recommend book, Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies<\/em><\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 It is simple enough for beginners, but advanced enough to be used in photography classes at two universities. You can learn more about it here<\/a> and order it at Amazon.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can have many of the advantages of a $300 – $400 incident light meter for less than $20. Sound too good to be true? It isn’t too good to be true. This is about as close as you can … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-metering","category-photographs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4413"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4421,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4413\/revisions\/4421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}