Custom WB

[peety3]

FWIW, the Canon manual suggests using a white card to set white balance. In reality, gray vs. white makes no real difference as long as they are spectrally neutral. The 18% gray card was primarily used for setting exposure, not white balance (because in the days of the gray card and manual exposure settings, white balance didn't exist - we bought color-balanced films for the conditions we'd be shooting in, with no way to change 'on the fly'). However, gray cards are spectrally neutral so they work well for setting a custom WB.
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The big difference with a white card is that it's easier to overexpose a white card than with a grey card. An overexposed &lt;neutral&gt; card will come up white "automatically" (all of the RGB values will be maxed out, and if R=G=B=max you have white).

[Damian S.]

Wow, thanks everyone. Great advicefrom all. I'm learning so much, this is great. I don't shoot in RAW very much (bad, maybe so) but the less post-processing I have to do, the better, for me. That will probably change as my skills improve but for right now I'm concentrating on capturing, as best I can, what my eyes are seeing - learning the capabilities of my camera and teaching myself as much theory as I can. So far the grey card has worked great - especially indoors (with outside light from a window) and especially with photos of family where they want the shots right away (no chance to go home and process). Any how thanks all. Some of you guys are too technical for me right now, but I'll get there! Eventually. Thanks again everyone.

[Damian S.]

Thanks for the welcome neuroanatomist! Good to be here.

[Derek Reese]

I just bought a Lally Cap. I'm anxious to see how well it works.